我说徐仲偶是版画家里边的“秀才”。我这么看，总是因为我看到事事他都有独到的见解，又十分的欣赏他的思辨能力的缘故吧，没想到，他干起活儿来，虽然智慧仍是智慧，却完全像个“打工的农民”。

　　今年八月，我在他住处见到地上有一摞胶合板，整张的，足有一米多厚。我问他是准备刻的吗？他说，都已经刻过了。什么时间刻的呢？他说是捡零碎时间一点一点刻出来的。

　　这真是让我感到意外，能与之类比的劳作只有农人的锄禾，让我钦佩！

　　那些画就是印在这个画册里的。

　　以前，他做了许多的“系列”，各个都是有“板眼”的，而且够“狠”，直到做了那幅10米的长卷，我才感到他的画法、画境其实是“松”的，“松”是不容易的，成熟到一定程度才“松”得。从那以后，我私下断定，他会尝试往意象里走，直至抽象。

　　他现在的这一批画虽然与文字书写有关，但是，他尽把文字表意的属性消解掉，只留给人以图形的精神层面上的感动；这些画，无关乎“真”，也是只关乎精神的。这就是能“钉”进心里去的一种抽象。果然就抽象起来。

　　这些画，因为它的气势，即使与大型油画、中国画比肩一处，也不会有些微的不敌。

　　完全可以“正装”挂在墙上的这么好看的画，他这回却说“不要端起”，而是要将其融进环境里去，与建筑紧紧地支撑在一起、贴附在一起。因这样一来，他的版画就大大地跨出了一步，介入了公共艺术的空间。建筑、环境因了这样的艺术的主动介入，也产生了相得益彰的契合。

　　这些画，宜远观。远观，天地似恍然而广大，因之而心旷神怡了。

　　这件事做得辛苦，也做得好惬意呀！

　　广军

　　2009年9月21日

　　I’ve always regarded Zhongou Xu as an“intellectual”for his unique insight and reasoning ability not very common among graphic artists. What I couldn’t expect is when he works, though working with his usual brilliant mind, he acts like a farm worker.

　　In August this year, I spotted a pile of plywood plates on the floor of his house, more than 1 meter high. I asked him, “what do you want to make out of this?” But he answered,“it’s already done.”“How could you possibly find the time to do this colossal amount of work?”“I collected bits and pieces of my time.”

　　That really surprised me. I thought the only thing that could compare to this is the labor of a farm worker picking up weeds from the field. I felt awed instantly.

　　Those works now appear in this catalog.

　　Before this the artist has already completed many woodcut series, all meticulously made and forcefully presented. But not until I saw his 10 meter long masterpiece did I realize his work and the ambience surrounds it are totally“relaxed”. Relax is not as easy as it sounds. It can only be achieved when the artist is matured enough. From then on, I’ve anticipated, quietly, that Xu would embarked on the road of imagery, even abstraction.

　　The series that we see now, though associated with words and writing, are deprived of the words’meanings. What is left is the spiritual impression that the pure graphic projects. These works have nothing to do with“reality”, instead they are dealing with spirituality. It is an abstraction“nailed”into our heart. Abstract indeed!

　　These works, with their strong presence, are nothing less when compared to important oil painting and ink painting pieces.

　　Though they are each brilliant artwork in its own right, this time, Xu proposed not to hang them up and appreciate them separately as museum works, but to see them as an integral part of their environment, inseparable from the architecture. Through such attempt, he has permeated his work into the realm of public art. Architecture, environment and art interact with each other as a result of his positive intervention.

　　These works are better looking in distance. Looking from afar, the physical dimensions seem to expand and so do the spiritual dimensions of the viewer.

　　This is indeed painstaking and yet pleasure-generating work.

　　Guangjun

　　Sep 21, 2009