写实画派是“85美术新潮”之后，唯一的非实验的联盟。在这一精英阵容之中，庄重地拒绝意识形态的整一性，尊重个人的艺术探索和风格。在观念艺术以一种游击性格轮替颠覆传统与时尚的竞赛中，写实画派逆向回游，创作方向既非对历史与现实的背离，亦非迎合，自信、自如地透过东方视角，纯粹地表述个人的生存与生态的知感，通过驾驭细节的表面吸引力，在强烈的情感之中获得“严肃的真实”，如果说。中国当代前卫艺术于国际艺坛与市场形成一个景观奇异的艺术特区，写实画派则以精微化的控制力所显现“思考的现实”，越来越凸现出“自立”的审美价值。
写实主义从未成为中国古代美术的主体，延及清末，写实绘画以俗入画地图绘于时事画报，详达文字所不能。辛亥革命后，留洋归来的画家尴尬地发现所学之西方古典或现代美术语言，无能给混沌的中国“一个巨大的波澜”，大多数人兼融中西地以山水画境为现实之外的人文寄托。即使写实主义的旗帜性人物的徐悲鸿，虽然为了民族救亡与美术教育，创作了不同于古典文人造型的非凡形象，而表述形式保持了传统文人画的“借古喻今”。
上世纪中叶，写实主义尊为正统，矫饰、划一地造神与造鬼，在政治压力下空前圆熟的写实技巧，沦为“真实作伪”的舆论工具。直延文革结束，“伤痕美术”与“乡土写实”，感人至深地恢复了客体真实与主观真诚的写实。与此同时，起端于一场关于抽象与具象、主题与形式的学术争论，演变成一股冲决“现实主义”堤坝的洪水，为“85美术新潮”和“89现代艺术大展”，留下一片自由耕种的荒地。中国美术进入一个没有“父亲”的时代。
当观念艺术民俗情绪混合波普色彩，互相演练地制造出一个讽世、玩世、喻世及混世的多极并存的美术生态，今天聚合为“写实画派”的成员，一如伊甸园的放逐者，在真实人间沉着地建立起疆域，静静讲述人文生态的个性与多元的形象。
“现实中并不存在艺术这种东西，只有艺术家。”贡布里希经典之论，了断流派与主义之争，艺术从不存在主流，曾经流行的写实画派的非主流，是一种故作高深之论。在艺术里，对于写实主义的追求并没有被现代科技呈现的景象所取代，人类感官对于艺术的再现的需求是多极、没有限量的。尽管，憎恶“粗制滥造”的时代已经过去，先锋意识成为艺术本身，然而，审美本身仍具有强烈的感情因素参与其中，在写实美术中，“高级趣味”和“低级趣味”的人都能够感受道德价值和省识力量。习惯掩饰企图的现代人，站在写实美术之前，会自然生出一种认知，如果艺术家的创作仅仅是一个“纯粹观念”，便无能激起的顶礼膜拜。没有需要控制技巧的限制，并不能给人一个不朽的价值感。杰出艺术品一方面是强烈冲突的为物，另一方面是更强烈地控制冲动的结果。这并非否定偶发观念的生成价值，流行的“形式水平”，无能通过一种训练有素的控制力，达到个性特征和情绪的表述，任何直率或隐喻的观念，都会为生一种与艺术本质相背的“不实”。
如醉如痴地专注细节，并不影响内心深沉而强烈的情感的奔流，世上任何一种力量和观念，都需要控制，才可能为生有效的感人力量，这是写实画派的艺术家讲述的真理。
The Value of Independence of the Realism Group
The Realism Group is the only non-experimental group after the 85 New Wave Movement. When conceptual art is busy overthrowing tradition and fashion in a guerrilla manner, the Realism Group goes back, purely expressing the cognition of human life and existence. Through the aesthetic attraction of details, they achieve ‘serious reality’ within strong emotion. If Chinese contemporary avant-garde art is said to be a unique artistic area in the international art world and market, then the Realism Group show their aesthetic value of independence through the ‘meditated reality’ that is shown by delicate control.
When the folk emotion of conceptual art fuses with pop art and creates a multiple artistic status of mockery, irony, metaphor and confusion, members of the Realism Group, like exiles from the Eden, establish their world in the real world, telling quietly about the personality and diversity of humanism.
In art, the pursuit of realism has not been replaced by the situation brought by modern technology. The sensitivity of the audience towards the representations of art is multiple and endless. Although the age of resenting “rough manufacture” has passed and avant-garde has become art itself, yet there are still strong emotional elements involving aesthetics itself. In realistic art, both people of ‘high’ and ‘low taste’ can feel the ethical value and power of knowledge.
Modern people who have already gotten used to concealing their intentions will naturally have a perception when standing in front of realistic arts. If the artist’s creation is only a ‘pure conception’, it can arouse great admiration and worship. There is no limit for the need of technique control, so it cannot give people an enduring value. Indulged in the details will not affect the sound and strong emotion in the hearts. Any power or concept needs to be controlled so as to produce effective power. This is the truth that realism artists are expressing.
(Fine Arts Critic, Wang Chunyuan)
