| 張新權是個優秀的風景畫家，眾多表現鄉村主題的作品曾經是他的專長，明媚的陽光、幽雅的樹木、古老的村屋和恬靜的小橋流水是多年前他筆下的常見題材，而灑脫爽利的筆觸和明快鮮亮的色彩則成為他的標誌性風格。
2002年，一個偶然的機遇使他對民國時期的老上海産生了最初的興趣，並促使他完成了第一件表現“十里洋場”——外灘建築群的作品，以此為契機，他開始把大量的精力投注在對城市歷史圖像的研究之中。他發現，在工業文明開始萌動於中國的那個特殊年代，上海的樓房、街道、港口、船舶以及有軌電車等形象，構成了一組組非常入畫的視覺符號群，他擅長的用筆和用色方式也非常適合表現這樣的都市景色。
從那時起，張新權找到了他在風景畫創作上的全新語言。在他瀟灑、迅疾而充滿快感的筆觸下，外灘、蘇州河及其周邊的大量歷史建築都開始成為他描繪的對象。從稀薄的涂刷到厚重的堆砌，他對畫面形象的塑造充滿了節奏感和音樂感。從單純的忠實記錄到自由的意向表現，他其實並不拘泥于真實的歷史風貌，畫面也越來越主觀。那些上世紀三、四十年代經典的上海舊貌在他的作品中甚至開始變得有些抽象，有些概念化，從中可以看出，他已經在以一種個人化的歷史觀對昨日進行隨意性很強的組合與重新解讀。
在這些時而虛構、時而真實的風景中，熟悉的今天正漸漸被淡化，而陌生的昨日卻被強烈地凸顯出來。事實上，國內許多城市正在為營造與恢復歷史特色而進行著全新規劃，在大量殖民地時期的建築被列為重點文物保護單位後，眾多帶有歐美新古典主義風格的建築物正拔地而起，許多被拆除多年的有軌電車線路也正被推上復建的議程。在這樣一輪又一輪的懷舊風潮中，張新權的作品顯得生逢其時，懷舊，正是這個高速發展的時代所必然引發的文化鄉愁。
現在，張新權的描繪對象已經不僅僅是老上海，他把上世紀初工業化時代歐美都市風景的許多視覺符號都引入了畫面，我們可以把他的作品看成是一個當今的藝術家對都市歷史的感喟和懷戀。從《橫街》到《十字街頭》，從《河道》到《海灘》，從《蘇州河》到《碼頭》，他的作品正走向一個更加寬廣的視野，他所描繪的對象，是一種概念化了的風景，因而，我稱之為“歷史的風景”。這些風景，在張新權的畫面里正被重新組合著，早期殖民時代上海曾經擁有的繁華，在他的筆下逐漸超越了歷史時空，而那些被概念化了的都市風貌，正在他全新的系列作品中被夢想幻化、融合，進而成為一種頗為異樣的視覺奇觀。
李旭 2007年7月8日
Zhang Xinquan, as an outstanding landscape painter, used to specialize in depicting rural life, such as brilliant sunshine, elegant trees, ancient village houses, tranquil bridges and streams, with the free strokes and bright color as his signature style.
In 2002, Zhang happened to develop an interest in old Shanghai of the Republic of China period, which drove him to his first painting, “The Metropolis Old Shanghai”, portraying the architectural complex in the Bund. Thereafter, he devoted himself to probing into the historical images of the city, to find that in that very age when industrial civilization budded in China, the images of buildings, streets, ports, vessels, and trams in Shanghai made up the picturesque visual symbols of the city, and his painting and coloring style was just designed for that.
Since then, Zhang has already found his brand new language in painting landscapes. His unrestrained, swift and pleasant brushwork touched the Bund, the Suzhou River and other surrounding architectures. His painting is always rhythmic and musical no matter he does it with watery coating or massive pileup. He is not confined to the historical scene itself, but turns from loyal recording to free expressing, more subjective way. The images of classic old Shanghai of the last 30s and 40s is abstract or even conceptualized, where we can see that he is randomly assembling and unscrambling the past with a personal historical view.
In those sceneries, some imaginary while others the opposite, the present we are familiar with is fading and the unacquainted past becomes the foreground. Actually, many cities in China are making urban planning to restore their historical characteristics. Neoclassical occidental buildings are rising abruptly and trams that were removed years ago are put on the agenda to be rebuilt, after the structures of the colonial time were preserved as cultural relics. In the trend of nostalgia, Zhang’s works come out at the right time, as nostalgia is just the cultural necessity of the fast developing society.
Currently, Zhang is not confined to the images of old Shanghai. Instead, he brings many visual symbols of the occidental cityscape of the last century into his works, to exclaim over and look back nostalgically on the city history. From “The Bystreet” to “The Crossroad”, from “The Watercourse” to “The Beach”, from “The Suzhou River” to “The Wharf”, his paintings are being produced in a gradually broadened horizon. What he is depicting is the conceptualized landscape, to be reset in his paintings. Therefore, it’s defined as “historical landscape”. The prosperity of old Shanghai in the colonial period, transcending time and space, together with the conceptualized cityscape, is miraculously transformed and fused in his works, as a peculiar visual spectacle.
-- By Li Xu, July 8th, 2007
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