Yu Runde is indeed a brilliant artist– at least he is a person of integrity who disdains to please the market with mundane works.

However, he is recognized by most people for his devotion to education over years and impresses them with elegant manners in various social occasions as a public figure. Seldom do they know that Yu is a man of great artistic accomplishments.

As an old acquaintance of Yu, I know him as a devoted teacher. Since I seldom see his paintings, I often forget him of being an artist as well. There were several times when we went out sketching together with some students and Yu played the violin and guitar during lunch time. His great passion for music gave us a lot pleasures, which also reminded me of his versatility.

What his artistic idealism is remains a haunting mystery to me.

On another occasion when we went out sketching near his studio at Shidu scenic spot in the outskirt of Beijing, I saw one of his landscape paintings by chance. It was about the scenery outside the window viewing from inside the studio. The subject matter of the picture was plain, yet it was uniquely framed and brightly colored and following none of the prevailing fashion temporarily.

I was startled by his artistic talent and since then I always felt regretful for him of not having enough time for painting due to the trifling working issues.

My concerns for him was later proved unnecessary. Yu never stopped painting at his leisure and simply kept the works to himself.

One of the most frequent phrases Yu quoted was “keeping a low profile”, which was the motto for both his cause of art and life. Rather than the artist, I would call him “the hermit dwelling in the earthly world”. Yu had no interests in fame or material profits that were pursued by many other painters; instead, he preferred secluding himself in the studio to get a relaxation as well as concentrate on painting. He had a keen observation to the aesthetic values of contemporary art. Yu once said, “I envy those who can totally devote themselves in painting since I often get engaged in many other issues; I’m not allowed to paint at any time, therefore I have to plot it in my mind and then draw it out when I get time. I treasure those momentary inspirations, those I do enjoy being busy”.

Yu continually recorded his inspirations down on paper or canvas, that’s how he managed to compose considerable artworks despite busy works.

Yu was aware that an artist was supposed to form his own style. He was like a hermit, drawing lessons from others quietly while never judging openly. He made continual attempts in artistic innovation through repeated experiments, introspection and self-negations, and his styles ranged widely from wash painting to oil painting and sketches. However, he was not in haste to draw certain conclusion and he was still on the way establishing his own fashion in accordance with his free and easy personality.

His bold attempts remained controversial and brought about disputes: some thought his wash paintings too westernized while others considered his oil painting containing as too Chinese-featured. Rather than disturbed by these criticisms, Yu continued his experiments on combining elements from different cultures. As a master of both wash painting and oil painting, he created a mixed sense of limpidness and complexity in his works. Having the conscience of a learned man in the present age and concerned with the spiritual world of Chinese people, Yu considered the cultural independence of China as his artistic pursuit, which was the wisest perspective in the current Chinese context.

Yu’s every piece of artwork was the result of repeated reflections and revisions. When he looked at the canvas, he looked deep into his heart. Yu once commented on himself, ” I tend to act after prudent consideration. I won’t start painting when I’m not in the mood. When I feel the mood for painting, I was like amid a dreamlike fantasy which would be externalized by the illusive atmosphere of my painting. To compose an original scene with only black and white color requires more than the superb craftsmanship; I need to be fully devoted to present my spiritual world on the one-meter-long canvas with unique and original perspectives, thus acquiring the unity of my inner self and the outside world.

Yu understood the importance of choosing proper subject matter. The subjects of Yu’s paintings basically fell into two categories: real people and transcendental beings. On the one hand, Yu gave a realistic portrait to people in contemporary context in his works such as The Impression of Peach Blossom and On the Edge of Weightlessness. On the other hand, he expressed transcendentalist idealism in his works, such as oneness of heaven of human beings, represented by The Blurred Radiance. Above were Yu’s representative paintings with his unique characteristics. It seemed unbelievable that such contrasting artistic styles should be from the same person. These two styles accorded with ancient Chinese scholar’s two major attitudes towards life–either playing an active part in social life or retiring from the earthly world. When he felt the need of venting his cynicism, he expressed his criticism through realistic approach. As he wrote in the notebook, “despite the main trend of material worship and amusing ourselves to death, there should always be a certain conscious voice to remind people of the chaotic social states, the mental paralysis of the majority, and cultural predicament we are faced with, however weak the voice might be”. When his disappointment, helplessness and loneliness was beyond solution, he would seclude himself from the realistic world and express his transcendental idealism in the paintings. “The magic of shades and lines is the representation of artist’s spirits and poetic grace, conveying their transcendental ideals and emotional feelings for the unspeakable sense of life, for which they hold the sublime aspiration of becoming a free will to reach the eternal and the infinite.”

These two categories were by no means contradictory with each other. The former one was call of the time, while the latter was the call of his own heart. Yet the ultimate pursuit of him wais transcendentalist idealism. I personally preferred the latter style of his works. Within this style of paintings, there were a sense of unity between heaven and human beings, a state that was between the dynamic and the static, the present and the absent, the real and the illusive. Human body were commonly considered as a symbol of life, an overwhelming, fathomless, incessant and eternal torrent of emotions. Yet Yu hid this symbol of life amid the diffuse mist, which was a ingenious plotting of the relationship between the subject matter and the scene, using the most vivid and representational image to create a most illusive and dreamlike atmosphere. In his paintings, Yu has achieved the unity of nature, spirit and momentary feelings. It is the sparkle of mind when his soul encountered the profound nature, a state that could only be jumped into rather than craved for, as well as a humanistic spirit externalized on paper.

In his paintings, Yu managed to combine the abstract and the representational, the spirit and the image in harmony. He made endeavor to create a brand new imagery of orient in Chinese context. Within this imagery, elements such as yin and yang, pros and cons, the dynamic and the static, the present and the absent are interweaving together with blurred boundaries between each other, suggesting the possibility of reconstruction of eastern values. There was always an air of humanism and oriental idealism in his works. If we perceived the spirits of his painting as “Zen” and the oneness of heaven human beings, then his oriental imagery must be the externalization of such spirits. Such a state was the result of his continual efforts. As a pioneering artist on Chinese oil painting, Yu has enlightened us with his experiment on conveying the spirit of human being in his works.

他确实是一个才华横溢的艺术家。起码，他是那种不愿以平庸之作取悦于人的画家。可是我们认识他多年，大家看到的是他作为“教育家”兢兢业业地纠缠于事务的忙碌身影，看到他作为“活动家”应酬人际交往时彬彬有礼的优雅谈吐。

我们几乎忘了他还是一个实实在在的“艺术家”。

我也一样，常常忘记余润德的艺术家身份，乡年来润德教书敬业，为人作嫁，熟悉他的人知道他的多才多艺，但很少人能看到他的画作。我几次和他带着学生出外写生，他总会带上他的小提琴或吉他，在饭后，他会给大家奏上一曲，带来欢乐激奋的同时，也令人惊叹他的才华，而他自身散发的激情总会感染大家。

润德的精神世界栖居何处？像谜一样萦绕着我们。

一次在京郊的十渡带学生写生，我偶然看到他的屋里放着一幅风景画，一看便知是窗外的景色，但构图奇特，色彩稳健老辣，画面上看不到一点流行的模式化风景，我顿时被他的才气所震撼，从那以后，我便觉得润德有那么多无休止的琐事会毁掉他难得的绘画才气，有些担心进而深深惋惜。

后来我知道他其实一直在锲而不舍地做，只不过是默默地做、低调而不宣扬。我的担心都是多余的。平日润德最常用的一个词就是“低调”。确实，润德的艺术风格与他的做人处事如出一辙—低调、淡然。在茫茫如海的画坛中，润德与其说是一位画家，不如说更像是闹市中的隐士。他无意于现实画坛中眼花缭乱的浮华喧嚣，而常常躲在自己的秘密王国里与画笔和吉他结伴。虽然看似不经心，实则又默默用心。他有一双敏锐的眼睛和敏感的心，吸收着当代艺术中最有价值也最能打动他的地方。他说：“看到别人在画，心里也是羡慕，但身不由己不能动笔，我只能用心思考，而后用心地画。我珍惜这种忙碌的状态，更珍惜那些倏忽而过的灵感”。他挤时间把自己的灵感记录在纸上、布上。就这样，润德不断地积累了很多作品。

润德深深知道，既然是涉足绘画，首先就要有自己独特的语言表达。他像隐士般在喧闹的画坛中不露声色地窥探浏览，厚积薄发。他从来不拘泥于材料，时而水墨，时而油彩，时而又回到素描，不断地揣摩、不断地斟酌、不断地否定、不断地反复。然而，他并不急于出手，试图探索出独属于自我洒脱个性的艺术语言。他画的水墨，别人可能会觉得太西方，神探索和实验，展现出强烈的视觉张力和强度，延续和演绎自我内里与外在的合一。”

润德知道，画面中图像的选择至关重要，这是抒发情感和表达观念的重要环节。我们在润德的作品中发现他在图像的选择中有两大趋向：一是现实的，活生生的当代人的存在状态，典型作品如《印象桃花》和《失重的边缘》；二是超现实的、虚无缥缈的“天人之合”的大气象，代表性作品如《模糊的光芒》。这些是代表着他个人独特风格的作品。这两种类型的作品似乎不可能出于一个画家之手，然而在润德的身上就实现了。其实，这如同我们古代文人的“入世”和“出世”两种状态。他在有感于世态的污浊要表达自己情绪时，就要“入世”，发出他的批判的声音。他的创作手记中也写道“••可无论身处怎样一种娱乐至死的时代，总要有人对这个社会发声，哪怕是微弱的呼吸，也要试图廓清或许已经浑浊不堪的社会现状，回应当代人无法消解的精神性困惑和文化困境”。他有对现实的失望、无奈和自我无法排解的孤独之感，力图超越尘世利害时，就会以“出世”的态度，用超现实的意境来抒发他的隐逸情怀。“⋯光影墨彩之下是无限的精神召引和诗性的凝结。有冷峻的思考、超验的斩获和丰沛的情感，蕴育只可会意不可言传的生命意识，力争藏纳超越尘世利害的宏远旨趣，并升华向着永恒和无垠飞跃的灵魂。”

这两类作品并不矛盾，都是作者自己有感而发。前者是不得不发，后者是顺势而发。归根结底，他终极追求的是一种超越尘俗的隐逸情怀。我个人更喜欢他的后一系列作品。在这些作品中，向我们展示一种“天人合一”的大气象—动静结合、虚实相间、似真似幻的超现实景观。我们知道人体是代表生命的符号，是一道深广莫测、奔涌不息和绵延不的感性巨流。然而润德又用弥漫的云雾把这有生命的人体遮盖、隐遁，他把人和景巧妙地融合起来，把生命隐现在飘浮的云山雾罩之中。由最鲜明最具体的意象表现制造了一个最幽玄最缥缈的灵境。润德已经进入一种境界—自然与人的心性、感悟、情绪自然而然地融为一体。那是他内在活跃的激昂灵性在与激荡雄浑的大自然碰撞时“物我两忘”而产生的火花。这是润德多年思索并渴望进入的“可遇而不可求”的境界，一种富有人文情怀的精神性景观再现。

在抽象和具象之间，润德的艺术体现了“气”与“象”的融合，他力图在本士文化理念和精神层面建立出全新的东方意象。在这个意象中，阴与阳、正与反、动与静、实与虚等相互交织，互为背景，既对立又不分彼此地交融在一起，不仅构成魅人的韵味和意垸，也昭示了一种东方价值观重写的可能性。在他的作品中，我们一再阅读到具有文人情怀的境界和散逸着浓郁书卷气的东方文化格调。如果说润德的绘画艺术道出了中国哲学的“禅境”和“天人合一”的东方理念，那么他的东方意象图式恰是从内质到外化的契合。这是他孜孜不倦而求得的绘画语言和灵感表达的方式。作为一个置身于当下中国油画的发展和探索阶段的艺术家，润德在研究和探索东方样式的油画语言方面，用绘画艺术作为载体表现了人的生存状态及精神情感，给我们以新的启示。