不知你是否旅行過絲綢之路？當你穿過沙漠、越過高山，最終到達一片水草茂密之地時，這片綠洲便是敦煌了；這片靜謐的所在不僅用連綿的水域沖刷了旅行者周身的勞頓，更用上千座有著上千年曆史的佛像雕塑和畫像，讓你可以處在這四百九十二座廟宇間，身獲半刻休憩，心卻雲遊天外。
這些壁畫通常是被作為一項十分嚴格的冥想懲戒而被完成的。在整個繪製過程中，那一筆筆勾勒、一點點上色以及近距離地去審視這些色彩拼接後形成的奇跡般美麗的圖畫，讓被懲戒者在專心且虔誠的繪製中能夠凈化心靈、修養心性。莎莉認真的審視每一幅畫的結構和充盈在精心勾勒的肢體線條裏的情感：通常，畫筆都是用一種仿佛清風拂過草坪的精美而輕柔的觸感作畫，然而在這些作品中，你看不到錯綜且精緻的線條，取而代之的是粗放且目標明確的畫風；人物也仿佛都帶著動態，哪怕是在安靜睡眠中或在平靜冥想中的人亦是如此。你可以從每一個靜止的畫面中看到動態——思想的動態、回憶的動態，如是等等。
不能忽略的是，動態的流動性最常體現在奔跑的馬群和飄動的絲帶上。而這種動態巧妙的讓觀者可以很自然的把目光從一幅畫移動到另一幅上，畫面中蘊藏的文化和傳統也在這流動的神態中將旅行者帶回了畫面中那個縱馬馳騁、衣帶飄飄的年代。
為了緬懷過去、回憶那段神話的、真實的、虛擬的歷史，這些作品用一種極富感染力的飽含著近乎天真的樂觀和對於未來承諾的熱情，試圖將歷史向前推進到現代。畫作裏的人物都有著孩童般的純粹，正如Sally所做的，她要試圖剝光角色，來讓我們看到人物最本質的模樣。
這種繪畫手法已不僅是比喻之類，她是將其抽象化，用色彩的厚度、質感、渲染，來描繪人物、記錄旅行中的風景及昏暗的燈光下洞穴。藝術家一直在尋找的那些色彩，不是代代傳承下來的色彩，而是有感而發的色彩，是那像只開一瞬或永開不敗的花一般的色彩。
就這樣，小小的商旅隊伍，帶來了一幅大型壁畫，以及一張張小草圖和一本本充滿了想像和情感的見聞筆記。如此，我對Sally未來的作品充滿期待。
先父曾在他漫長而又快樂的人生中旅行過許多地方，但他從未經歷過這段他總是渴望踏上的偉大的商旅之路。他應該也像我一樣，從莎莉的畫作中體會到了各中趣味。這片綠洲帶來的片刻寧靜，就如同進入畫中故事裏的世界並在其中駐足。藝術家的天賦是分享，事實上莎莉確實與我們分享了許多。
David J. Lieberman藝術建築師
多倫多大學建築學院景觀和設計專業John H. Daniels教授
Dun Huang Mogao Grottoes--the paintings of Sally Huang Wong
I have not yet journeyed the Silk Road crossing the deserts and the mountains to stop at the oasis that is Dun Huang; an oasis to refresh the weary traveler not only with its waters, but in the company of a Thousand Buddhas carved and painted over a thousand years, moments of pause and reflection in four hundred and ninety two temples.
The frescoes are often copied as a rigorous meditative discipline to learn to draw and to paint and to closely examine the wonders of the polychromic compositions. Sally looks deep into the images distilling their structure and sensibilities into the lyrical lines of gesture. Often, the brush strokes have a delicacy and gentle tactility as they lightly graze the campus; they are, however, not intricate fine lines but bold in their width and clear in their intention. The figures are always in motion, even in moments of slumber or meditative calm, motion of thought, motion of memory, motions of journeys as yet to be discovered.
The dynamic fluidity is most apparent in the horses and in the flowing ribbons. It is the constant movement that leads the viewer from one painting to the next, and references the many cultures and traditions that have contributed to the caves and temples as both source material and as visitor.
In admiring the past and in recalling histories, mythical, factual, and fictive, the works attempt to move forward with an infectious almost naïve optimism and enthusiasm for the promises of the future. Often the figures are childlike in their simplicity as Sally attempts to strip bare the characters to their essential qualities and elemental conditions.
Might it lead from figural representation or re presentation to abstract compositions where the gestural strokes become fields of colour and the paint in its thickness and texture remembers the varied landscapes of the journey and the dim light of the caves. The artist is searching for colours,colours not only of heritage but of emotions,colours that like flowers might bloom only for a moment or last forever.
And to questions of scale: do small canvases lead to large murals, to small sketches, even collected notebooks of sites only of the imagination and emotion. I look forward to her future work.
My late father travelled to many places in a long and pleasured life. He never travelled the Silk Road, the Great Caravan Route, a journey he always desired. He would have found pleasure in Sally Huang Wong’s paintings as do I. The calm refreshment of the oasis is as simple as pausing to step into the stories and the space of a painting. The gift of an artist is to share, and she has shared a great deal.
David J. Lieberman artist architect
Professor John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture Landscape and Design University of Toronto