第一次看马云的画是1985年。他刚从中央民族大学毕业，以大学期间的作品在云南省博物馆开画展。那次画展的情景仍然历历在目：人头攒动，聚集了昆明的各路文艺青年。那个时代很有一些理想主义气息。而具有大抱负的年轻画家，在画风上都会“寻根”——以民间形象入画。马云君的画也是这种风格的。我对他的画留有深刻印象。

　　 再次见到马云的画是二十多年以后。在此时代商业化政治波普们的集体狂欢中，马云的画毫不沾染北京画坛弥漫的“后极权主义”，也没有外国买家所谓的“中国元素”。“开始就是结束”，马云的画仍然有“根”。但当年马云画中毕露的“寻根”意图已经被揉和进入画者对故乡的一扇门和一道窗的注视，进入对日常生活场景的体察。在对这些悠慢的人生场景的描绘中，更透露出马云特有的感性。我认为马云的画的无可替代之处来自它那感性的色彩和构成。这种感性自有其真情和天赋的根子，更成就于意匠思索和多年的惨淡经营。

　　马云的画是对抽象之物的思索和呈现。这是马云画给我的另一个印象。没有抽象性的画是立不住的，这话可能谁都知道。如何呈现对抽象之物的思考？什么抽象之物隐于具象之后？这些是更关键的问题，也是画作的品质得以区分的原因。中国传统的绘画大师们已经清楚地表达出他们对于具象世界的抽象把握。“外师造化，中得心源”和“气韵生动”便是这些教诲的浓缩。但是当今的画者如何去面对眼前之物，“学穷性表”（姚最，公元535-602年），而不落前人巢臼则很难。在哲学和社会科学中，有一条教人开山辟路的原则是：学会“一目了然”。这是一种对眼前之“表象”一览无余的眼界。马云画中的具体物象正是在这种“一目了然”的关注下。这些具象有对前辈大师的形象之“挪借”，例如对巴尔蒂斯和中国庙堂内菩萨像的挪借；也有来自同辈画家的影响。这些都是马云绘画的抽象性的具体起点。但是马云绘画的抽象之物独具一格，它在最佳状态下所指向的是世内的“情意”，是与那些门窗、树木、世俗男女、甚至大师的“猫”的温馨和挚爱相关的情意。马云的感性色彩增强了这种情意的温馨。这是紧贴具象的抽象性，不是超然的气韵，也非质料之外的永恒形式。这正是马云的特别之处。我衷心希望他能坚守住这种独具的禀赋。
 
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　朱晓阳
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　北京大学社会文化人类学教授

　　The first time I saw Ma Yun’s paintings was in 1985. He had just graduated from the China Central Nationalities University, and was holding an exhibition of paintings from his student days at the Yunnan Provincial Museum. I still remember the scene clearly: heads packed together, an assembly of Kunming’s artistic and literary youth from all walks of life. The air in those days was full of idealism. There was one young man with lofty aspirations, one who “sought out his roots” in his painting style, bringing folk imagery into the picture. That was the style of Ma Yun’s paintings. His paintings left a deep impression on me.
 
　　 The next time I saw Ma Yun was twenty years later. In an era of collective fervor for commercialized political pop, Ma Yun’s paintings were unmarked by the “post-authoritarianism” that permeated the air of the Beijing art scene, and they lacked the “Chinese elements” that the foreign collectors talked about. “The beginning is the end.” Ma Yun’s paintings still had “roots.” But the intent of this “search for his roots” that appeared in his paintings by this time had been rolled into the artist’s pinhole gaze upon his old hometown, entered into his observations of everyday life scenes. What these depictions of slow, drawn-out life scenes reveal is Ma Yun’s unique perceptivity. I think that Ma Yun’s perceptivity is what makes his paintings irreplaceable. This perceptivity has its roots in his sincerity and talent, but is more the result of his creative thinking and his years of painstaking effort.

　　Ma Yun’s paintings are ruminations and presentations of abstract things. This is another impression that his work gives me. Paintings without abstraction are untenable; this is something that probably everyone knows. How do you present your thoughts on abstract things? What abstract things lie behind the concrete appearance? These are the true key issues, and they are what mark paintings of quality. The masters of traditional Chinese painting clearly expressed their abstract grasp of the concrete world. Such artistic concepts as “treating nature as a teacher and a source of spiritual inspiration,” and “seeking out rhythmic vitality” are distillations of this idea. But how to “study both the inner essence and outer appearance” of things (Yao Zui, 5350602 AD) while not falling into the patterns of predecessors is a question that perplexes today’s painters. In philosophy and social science, there is a groundbreaking principle, which is learning to “take things in at a glance.” This is an all-encompassing vision of the “surface appearance” of objects. The concrete imagery in Ma Yun’s paintings is created under this approach. These concrete images borrow from the great masters who preceded him, as seen in his use of Balthus and bodhisattva images from Chinese temples, but they also contain the influence of painters who are his contemporaries. These are all concrete origin points for the abstraction found in Ma Yun’s paintings. The abstract imagery in Ma Yun’s art, however, is unique. Under the best conditions, they signify Ma’s “affection” for the world. It is warmth and tenderness for those doors, those trees, those common boys and girls, even the “cats” of the masters. Ma Yun’s perceptivity adds to the warmth of this affection. This is the abstraction that follows closely behind the concrete. It is not some lofty, immaterial perpetual form. This is really what makes Ma Yun special. I truly hope that he can persist with this unique talent.