曹俊 | 跨越视界的艺海领航者

这位艺术家的生平同其作品一样引人入胜。他1989年毕业于山东科技大学矿业工程专业后，毅然弃矿从艺。这条另类之路赋予其作品以科学理性与艺术感性交融的特质。

The trajectory of this artist is as fascinating as his work. Graduating in Mining Engineering from the Shandong University of Science and Technology in 1989, he gradually left this predestined career to devote himself to art. This unconventional path is undoubtedly what gives his work this quality of scientific observation coupled with unbridled artistic freedom of expression.

But curiously, these cosmic explosions evoke for me as much the infinitely large as the infinitely small..Abstraction in Cao Jun refers to Taoist philosophy and this fundamental idea expressed by Lao Tseu that "the very small and the very large meet" [1]. In his paintings like "Turning Around the Universe" or "Opening and Closing". Cao Jun gives visual form to the Taoist maxim that "the lao is great, the heaven is great, the earth is great, and man is also great", four greatnesses that reflect each other.

细品曹俊荷花系列的用墨技法，他不仅以画笔捕捉植物之美，更似生物学家解剖标本般解析荷花，却又带着诗人的敏感。这不是林奈式的科学分类，而是堪比兰波《元音》的诗意体验。尤其令人惊叹的是，他将摄影般的精准对焦与泼墨的恣意挥洒完美结合，令现实在眼前渐渐消融。

Look at how he manipulates ink in his series of lotus flowers. These compositions are not just pretty botanical representations. Cao Jun dissects the lotus flower like a biologist analyzing a specimen, but with the sensitivity of a poet. It's not Linnaeus cataloging species, it's Rimbaud exploring vowels. I find particularly striking the way he juxtaposes the quasi-photographic precision of details with ink splashes that seem to come from another world, as if objective reality dissolves before our eyes.

《哲人心影》144X104cm

2002年，曹俊移居新西兰，在奥克兰创立了一家画廊。这一地理迁移与其艺术创作的转折相契合。西方的影响开始渗入其作品，但这绝非对新市场的妥协，而是对全新表达可能性的真诚探索。

In 2002, Cao Jun emigrated to New Zealand and founded a gallery in Auckland. This geographical uprooting coincided with a turning point in his artistic journey. Western influence began to permeate his work, not as a concession to a new market, but as a sincere exploration of new expressive possibilities.

此时，他的作品焕发出令人振奋的活力。他超越了“东方艺术”与“西方艺术”的二元对立，既不囿于中国传统，也不盲从西方规范。他不是在表层融合中稀释两种传统，而是创造出独属于自己的视觉语言。

That's when his work becomes truly exciting for me. He begins to transcend the easy categories of "Oriental art" or "Western art". He is neither in the pure continuation of the Chinese tradition, nor in the servile imitation of Western codes. He is not in a superficial fusion that dilutes the two traditions. No, Cao Jun creates a visual language that belongs only to him. 

这种创新令人联想到哲学家弗朗索瓦·朱利安关于中西思想根本差异的论述：西方追求事物的本质，中国更关注持续的变化。这一特质在曹俊的作品中得到完美诠释：他的构图不拘泥于固定形式，而是捕捉瞬息万变的自然之美。

His approach reminds me of what the philosopher Francois Jullien writes about the fundamental differences between Chinese and Western thought. Jullien notes that where Western thought seeks to grasp the essence of things, Chinese thought is more interested in continuous transformations ^[3]. In Cao Jun's works, this perspective is manifest: his compositions do not fix a stable reality but capture transitory states, mutations, passages.

《亘古一瞬》90X138cm

曹俊的“新宋式”系列既汲取宋代绘画精髓，又融入当代审美意识，这并非简单的怀旧再现，而是成就跨世纪对话的一种重构。在他笔下，传统山水画转化为时间凝固般的半抽象作品。正如中国艺术评论家尚辉所言，曹俊的作品“既古典又现代”。

Take his "New Song Style" series, where he draws inspiration from Song Dynasty painting （960-1279）while infusing it with contemporary sensibility. This is not a simple nostalgic reproduction, but a vital reinterpretation that makes the centuries dialogue. Traditional mountain landscapes transform into semi-abstract visions where time itself seems suspended. "The old and new times coexist", as Chinese art critic Shang Hui writes about his work^[4].

曹俊的用色尤为夺目。尽管中国传统水墨山水注重墨色层次的微妙变化，他却大胆运用清澈灵动的蓝色、浓烈奔放的红色和璀璨夺目的金色。这种色彩运用绝非随意为之，而是服务于其宏大的宇宙视野。他独创的"曹俊蓝"已成为艺术标志，被西方艺术品供应商推广。这抹蓝似海洋之深邃，如苍穹之辽阔。恰如瓦西里·康定斯基探索色彩背后深邃的精神内涵和情感力量，曹俊同样坚信，色彩不仅是装饰，更具有超物质性。“曹俊蓝”不单是一种颜色，更是通往意识新维度的门户。

What I find particularly stimulating is the way Cao Jun uses color. While Chinese tradition often favors subtle variations of black, Cao Jun does not hesitate to employ electric blues, blood reds and flaming golds. This bold chromatism is not gratuitous but serves his cosmic vision. His signature blue, literally called "Cao Jun blue", has become his trademark, to the point of being marketed by a Western artsupply company. It is a blue that evokes both ocean depths and celestial vastness.

This palette is not without recalling the experiments of Vassily Kandinsky. who sought to explore the spiritual and emotionaf properties of colors^[5]. Cao Jun shares this conviction that color is not merely decorative but possesses a metaphysical dimension. His blue is not just blue, it is a gateway to other dimensions of consciousness.

《冲气为和》90X138cm