从去年开始，牧羽在很长一段时间里集中画云。这样的体验，使他在晴空中的万端云絮和阴天里的苍穹树影之间，找到了一种持续沉醉的乐趣。

　　云亦有形亦无形。仰望长空，或空灵超脱，或阴翳漫布，牧羽笔下的云流露出逃离都市的隐逸情怀，又浸透着那种自由无碍的释然。正是那些飘动不定而又自适自足的“形象”，使牧羽继2012年《边缘风景》、《突围》等系列创作对于都市文化与城乡交界区的观察、思考之后，将视角转向了天空中自由漂浮的云。在《云图》系列中，对于云的轮廓边缘与空间关系的处理，使牧羽对笔墨的性格有了更深一层的把握，在运墨的收与放的经营和用笔的力度控制之间，较以往更多使用了破墨、撞墨、撞色，通过墨痕边缘的交叠强化笔墨的丰富性与视觉张力；同时，他对于纯色的使用较以往更为恣肆大胆，淡色则敷得更透更薄。在很多作品的场境中，他放大了地平线上逆光的反差，使得这些荒野中、村落间、山坳上的云沉重而虚幻，仿佛一个巨大的隐喻，在孤独的时空中弥散。

　　云既存于自然，也通于人心。也正因如此，在所有的自然物象中，也许云是最难把握和造型的。不论在中国还是欧洲的绘画史上，云作为一个奇妙母题总是出现历代画家的笔下，作为山水画中山林间的云烟，或是宗教壁画里苍穹的形状。在五代两宋时期的山水画中，山间的云雾通常对于画面的空间图式常具有重要的意义。南唐文人李中有诗《春云》：“阴去为膏泽，晴来媚晓空。无心亦无滞，舒卷在东风。”凝水而形，聚散随风，云的无常与淡然皆在其中。与山石野卉一样，云气也经常被寄予画家人格与主体心绪，仿佛带着生命的有机体，在灵动变化中暗示造化的规律与玄机。

　　1972年，法国艺术史家余伯特·达弥施从沃尔夫林和潘诺夫斯基的图像学理论中获得了灵感，以福柯新历史观的角度，对于文艺复兴意大利画家科雷乔的教堂天顶画中云的形象展开了讨论，完成了《云的理论：为了建立一种新的绘画史》一书。在这项饶有趣味的专题中，达弥施认为画中的云层起到了一种建构空间与透视的功能，甚至开启了一个不同于文艺复兴时期通行的透视法的视觉叙事。由此，云作为飘渺的自然物象，既构造了时空，又充当了空间与心理的介质。牧羽笔下的云不亦如是？

　　“云可观而不可揽，云是物而非物。人之所以目之为物并假以名，在地而去之远也。使能胁生双翼，上抟十万而入云中，则四顾苍茫，原来杳无一物。”牧羽抒发在《云图序》一文中的了悟，凝结了他这几年来对于生活、自然、生命与水墨的感触。对于牧羽来说，云图作为精神的肖像，承载了太多难以言尽的深长滋味，珍贵、孤寂而又微茫。

　　造化如斯，心迹如斯。

　　二零一三年岁末于北京

　　（于洋：评论家，中央美术学院副教授、中国画学研究部主任，首都师大美院史论系主任）

　　Impression of Clouds in Vast Sky

　　—a Commentary on Wang Muyu’s Chinese Ink Painting Series Cloud Atla

　　Since last year, Muyu has been concentrating in painting clouds, which let him indulged in either multifarious scenery of clouds at sunny days or shadows of trees at cloudy days.

　　Watching shapeless clouds in the vast sky, you might imagine they have certain shapes—either as otherworldly fairies or as overspread nebulae. The impression of such ceaseless changing clouds with free spirit in sky let Muyu turned his attention to them, after his series painting of Border and Breakthrough in 2012, which expressed his observation and reflection on urban culture and urban-rural fringe. In series painting of Cloud Atlas, Muyu further grasped characteristics of Chinese ink painting while dealing with rim of cloud and the spatial relation between clouds by applying ink with different hues and controlling the pressing force of brush—with more brushwork of dashing, mixing and mixed hue. It enhanced the richness and visual impact by overlapped ink marks. Meanwhile, his applied dark color more boldly and light color thinner and more transparent. In the scenes of many his paintings, the contrasts of backlighting above the horizon are sharper, let the clouds look dignified and dreamlike above wildness, villages, and valleys, as if a metaphor for the solitary of space-time.

　　The cloud is not just a natural phenomenon, it always in our minds. Because of this, among all natural images, perhaps it is most difficult to profile appropriately. In both painting histories of China and Europe, cloud always was an intriguing motif for painters through the ages—smoky clouds above forests in landscape painting and clouds and sky in religious fresco. In landscape paintings during the period of Five Dynasties and Song Dynasty, the motif of clouds above and mists at mountains usually played an important role for spatial schema of scene. Li Zhong, a Southern Tang Dynasty scholar, wrote a poem Spring Cloud:

　　Cloudy day goes and sunny day comes,

　　it helps crops and decorates the sky.

　　By free spirit, it always floats,

　　With east wind, it rolls high.

　　It forms by condensed vapor, accumulates or disperses by wind. In this way, cloud implies its mutability and composure. Cloud, along with mountains, stones and wild flowers, is often painted to express artists’ characters and moods. In ceaseless change, it implies law and mystery of nature, as if it has life.

　　In 1972, French art historian Hubert Damisch got his inspiration from Wolfflin and Panofsky’s iconology theory, presented his discussion of Renaissance era Italian artist Correggio’s cloud image in church ceiling painting, and completed his book Theory of Cloud: Toward a History of Painting from perspective of Foucault’s new history. In this interesting subject, Damisch thought the clouds in paintings played a role for constructing space and perspective, it even opened up visual narrative which is different from the popular perspective method in Renaissance era. Thus, cloud, as an ethereal natural thing, was not only used for construction of time-space, but also served as a media between space and mentality. Is it also true for Muyu’s cloud painting?

　　“Cloud is visible, but not reachable, it is something but also nothing. People regard it as something and name it, for the reason that we people are on the ground and far away from it. Suppose we have two wings and are able to fly in the clouds, we look around and only find nothing”. Mr. Wang expressed his sentiment in the preface of painting series Cloud Atlas, which was a summary of his thoughts about life, nature and Chinese ink painting. For Muyu, the Cloud Atlas is an icon of spirit that bears too many deep, precious, lonely and hazy feelings which are beyond words.

　　The nature as it is, his soul as it is.

　　Written at the end of 2013, in Beijing

　　(The author of this commentary: Yu Yang, critics, associate professor of China Central Academy of Fine Arts, director of Department of Studies in Traditional Chinese painting, director of art history department in Capital Normal University.)