2016年金秋，全球目光聚焦中国杭州。出席二十国集团（G20）领导人杭州峰会欢迎晚宴的各国元首、国际组织领导人合影留念的背景是一幅描绘湖光胜景的大型设色水墨画，名为《西湖景色》。

这幅堪称西湖“十一景”的巨幅画作以晚宴举办地杭州汪庄为焦点，远眺雷峰塔，近观西子湖。画面上的淡淡烟云与深绿色的山势相映，浓淡渍染，群峰层叠，令人难忘。它不但让外国友人感悟到西子湖的独特韵味，还令他们读懂了独特的中国水墨语言。这幅画的作者就是我国著名“海派”画家陈家泠。

1937年出生于浙江杭州的陈家泠是新水墨的开拓者和代表人物，在美术界以“敢变、能变”著称，绘画艺术打破了传统意义上的人物、山水和花鸟画范畴。他擅长用独特的方式观察、感受自然，并在数十年的创作中形成了“清、静、和、美、真、气、灵、变”的美学品格，成为了当代“海派”艺术的中坚力量。

上世纪60年代，毕业于浙江美术学院（现为中国美术学院）的陈家泠师从潘天寿、陆俨少，并汲取了两位国画大师的绘画技巧与灵感。由于长期受到江南文化浸染以及大量吸收中国古代壁画和外国水彩技法，自上世纪80年代起，陈家泠以打破传统方法画荷花而闻名画坛，形成独特的“陈氏荷花风格”。

空灵飘逸的淡墨荷花风格雅致，拓展了中国花鸟画的审美语境，且向世界传递着东方的神韵与温情。他先以一幅《开放的荷花》轰动画坛，紧接着又创作了《清韵》《不染》等以荷花为主题的系列画作；其中，《不染》更荣获第七届全国美展银奖。

陈家泠的创作不拘泥于绘画作品的媒介和题材。几年前，这位耄耋画家受到江西景德镇陶瓷艺术家和匠人的启发，将创作视角延伸至瓷器领域。他多次赴景德镇创作釉下彩等不同形式的瓷瓶作品，并创建了“泠窑”，在瓷画创作烧制中不断探寻未知的“窑变”效果。

在陈家泠先生眼中，瓷器是中华民族与世界文化交流的一个重要标杆；那么，作为一名中国艺术家怎能不热爱瓷器、表达瓷器？凭借这腔热忱，80岁的陈家泠在“瓷都”待了一年，共烧造了40只由4人才能围合的象征着和平、丰庆的荷花缸、石榴缸。

陈家泠曾说过：“艺术家要表达这个时代，讴歌这个时代，他的心灵就越能融入时代的情感，他的创作就越有生命的力量。”他认为，艺术家不能止步于享受生活的美好，而是要肩负起发展、弘扬国家文化的使命。经过半个多世纪的探索与实践，一直奔忙在创作路上的陈家泠不断用创新的笔触勾画中国故事，致力于将中国国画艺术推向更高的世界舞台。

At the G20 Summit in 2016, a large-scale work called "Scenery of the West Lake" became the background painting for the group photo of the world leaders. Measuring five by two meters, it helped people around the world appreciate the beauty of modern Chinese ink painting. The creator of the artwork is renowned Chinese artist Chen Jialing.

The panorama conveys the intangible qualities of the West Lake. The imaginative richness and cultural significance accumulated over the centuries seem to come alive through Chen's composition techniques and his perfect use of colors.

For years, Chen Jialing has been known in art circles in China for his desire to "change." Upon the establishment of traditional Chinese ink painting, he worked to innovate and tried to break down boundaries in categories such as figures and landscapes, as well as flower and birds.

Chen Jialing studied the Chinese painting styles of Pan Tianshou and Lu Yanshao at the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts. Chen said he gained a deeper understanding of traditional theory and traditional techniques from the two painting masters in Chinese fine art history.

Absorbing the creative spirit from the two predecessors, Chen Jialing made a significant change in his painting. He abandoned the standard use of pen and ink and explored the magical effect of the interaction between paper, water, brush pen and color. This led to the birth of his new ink style -- light ink.

Since the 1980s, Chen has been famous for breaking traditional techniques to paint the lotus. He created a series of lotus-themed paintings, forming a unique "Chen-style lotus." Among them, his painting "Untainted" won silver prize at the 7th National Art Exhibition. With the lotus as his signature, the artist created a modern Chinese painting style, combining impressionism, abstraction and expressionism. 

In addition, he creatively extended the beauty of Chinese ink painting to other areas of daily life, such as painting the lotus patterns on containers. In Jingdezhen, China's "Porcelain Capital," Chen cooperated with ceramic artists and painted the "lotus" on 40 pieces of large vats, which makes him becoming the first person to paint lotus flowers on large porcelain wares.

As the Chinese painting is becoming more and more recognized, the traditional Chinese art is being shared by people all over the world. For decades, Chen Jialing has been busy sketching and painting Chinese stories with innovative brush strokes. The 85-year-old celebrated painter said he never stopped creating even in senior years, hoping to further showcase the oriental aesthetics to the international stage.