我和筱芳很早就认识了。上世纪90年代初，我们在出版社是同事，后来我调到画院没几年，他也调了过来，我们又做了同事，应该说我们是很有缘了。

　　筱芳长得魁梧，很敦厚的样子，冒一看会以为他是一个粗线条的汉子。诚然筱芳的性格有很硬朗的一面，但同时他也十分细腻。他温文尔雅地待人，当别人需要的时候，他总能够毫不犹豫地给予帮助，对于人家相托的事情，他也总是尽善尽美地完成；对待工作，他极其认真，默默地把一切张罗妥当。他是一个说话不多但思维敏捷的人，走路做事慢条斯理却富有热情。

　　筱芳在绘画上出道很早。早在上世纪70年代他才二十出头，作品就频频入选上海及全国性画展并获殊荣。但他从不在人前显摆，我和他熟识多年，也是最近才通过一些艺术回顾展事看到他的一些早年作品，了解到了他艺术创作的经历，从中我们可以看到其个人艺术风格发展的轨迹。

　　筱芳所作人物画，从写实着手。上世纪80年代初，他创作的《养猪姑娘》《乳白》《创业者》等作品在社会上产生了一定影响。

　　《创业者》创作于1983年，是一幅人物众多、关系繁复的大型主题创作。筱芳在作品中较好地把握了人物动态以及人物之间的相互关系。尤为难能可贵的是，当时我们对于国际上艺术潮流还知之甚少，而他的创作已经有意识地借鉴了现代构成的某些表现方式，由此可见他在艺术上勇于探索的精神。

　　其后的二十多年间，筱芳在中国画转型的大背景下，一直努力进行人物画创作新形式的探索和尝试。在他的一系列作品中，可以看到他在继承传统的基础上融入了现代平面设计的理念，以时空交错、色墨交融的处理方式，来突现作品的平面装饰效果，丰富和深化作品的内涵……通过一系列创作实践，他逐渐形成了自己独特的绘画语言。

　　从筱芳最近几年的作品中，我们可以感受到一个明显的飞跃。相对而言，假如说他前几年的作品存在着人物造型、色彩处理等方面的一些不足，那么近期的几幅作品，如《军号嘹亮》《前进、前进、进》等，显然已突破了以上问题，他的作品无论是创作视野还是绘画语言的运用和表现上，都日趋成熟，给人以更饱满、更有力和更丰富的感觉。这几年筱芳从加强人物造型训练着手，拓展选题，反复推敲，精心打造了一批优秀美术作品。仅以2009年为例，这一年中，他的作品入选了四个重要的全国性美展，这在同行中是罕见的。

　　主题性创作是筱芳的作品中最生动、最感人也是最重要的部分。《军号嘹亮》《上上下下》《前进、前进、进》《和谐》《肩负人民的希望》《花样年华》等，题材广泛，涉及社会生活中方方面面，无论是反映军队建设、革命先辈、抗震救灾，还是人们喜闻乐见的百姓生活，无不体现了一名画家强烈的社会责任心和严肃的创作态度。

　　筱芳的进步，除了悟性以外，还和他坚持不懈的勤奋态度分不开，他始终以学习的姿态对待艺术创作，不停地勤学苦练，不停地观察思索，不停地推倒重来，上下求索，永无止境。他在单位里的日常工作比较繁忙，平时琐事不断，但无论多么忙累，时间缺乏，他都以顽强的毅力挤出时间来坚持艺术学习和创作，这种坚韧和执著的精神令人感慨，这缘自他对艺术的热爱。

　　现在，筱芳将多年的心血选编成一本画册，这是一件令人欣喜的事。作为同事、同行、朋友，我由衷地为他高兴。对于一名专业画家而言，这本画册是一份回顾和小结，更预示着新的起点。借此祝愿筱芳开辟出更广阔的创作天地，实现又一个艺术的飞跃。

　　I have known Xiaofang for a long time. At the begining of 1990’s, we once worked together in a publishing house; after that I went to art academy and also he came to the academy. We two are brought together by fate..

　　Xiaofang, being of strong build, is very honest and sincere, and seems a blunt man at the first glance.  To be sure, he is forceful, but he is of fine sentiments as well. Treating people with gentleness, he is willing to help others all the time; he works hard and arranges everything very well. Always remaining silent, and yet being quick-witted, he speaks and acts methodically but enthusiastically.

　　Early in 1970’s, when Xiaofang was just at his age of a little over twenty, his paintings were often chosen as exhibits and awarded on Shanghai as well as national exhibitions of paintings. But he has never made parade of his achievements. I didn’t know his early paintings until I read them on some retrospective art exhibitions; from his early paintings, I understand his art experience and his art style.

　　Figure pictures painted by Xiaofang have style of practice. At the beginning of 1980’s, his paintings such as “Pig girl”, “Milky white”, “Creators”, etc. exerted a certain influence on society.

　　“Creators”, painted in 1983, is a large theme picture with a number of figures. Xiaofang arranged these figures very well in behaviors and in positions. The fact that he has used the modern technique of expression introduced from foreign countries is especially commendable; this shows his courage in exploration.

　　In more than twenty years after that, Xiaofang has made great efforts to explore a new way of figure paintings in the background of transformation in Chinese paintings. A series of his paintings tells us that he has had the idea of the modern plane design on the basis of tradition; interlaced with time and space, and mixing color with ink, his paintings have revealed the effect of plane ornament and formed a distinctive art language of his own.

　　We can see a marked progress from Xiaofang’s paintings he made in recent years. His paintings, in several years ago, were deficient in figures and colors, but now are greatly improved, such as in “Resonated with the bugle”, “Advancing further”, etc. He has not only broadened his horizons in artistic creation but also developed his painting languages, becoming more rounded and forceful and richer in his painting technique. In recent years, Xiaofang has improved figure shapes, developed subjects, weighed his techniques repeatedly and painstakingly created a number of excellent paintings. In the whole year of 2009, his paintings have been chosen as exhibits on four national art exhibitions. Few painters can do what he did.

　　Theme paintings are the most vivid, moved and importent parts in Xiaofang’s paintings. All his paintings, such as “Resonated with the bugle”, “Up and down”, “Advancing further”, “Harmony”, “People’s hope on us”,  “Flowering years”, etc., are related to all parts of the society, including construction of the army, revolutionary ancestors, earthquake relief work, life of common people, etc., showing his keen sense of responsibility for the society and strict attitude to the painting..

　　In addition to good comprehension, Xiaofang’s achievement comes with assiduity, observation and exploration uninterruptedly. No matter how busy and how tired he is in day-to-day work, Xiaofang perseveres in his studies and creations of art. This indomitable spirit comes from his ardent love for art.

　　It is a joyful thing for us to see that Xiaofang, taking him many years of painstaking work, compiles an album of paintings. As his colleague and friend, I heartily rejoice at him. This album represents a review and a summary of the past, as well as foretells a new starting point for a painter. It is to be hoped that Xiaofang will establish a new branch in paintings and make another leap in art.