展现在我们面前的是一位跨界艺术家、一位饱读沃游的记者、一位出生成长于太行山麓邯郸古城的写意画家笔下的太行写意山水作品。“雄强”、“震撼”是业内外人士对马乐太行山水的普遍评价。马乐（本名，马建国），中国美术家协会会员、新华社高级记者、新华书画院副院长。他曾先后以“靠山系列 -- 马乐写意太行山水画展”为题，在南京、上海、北京、邯郸举办个展，并多次参与中国美协在北京、上海、香港、新西兰等地组织的画展，其作品被包括联合国秘书长潘基文、副秘书长西迪贝、联合国教科文组织总干事博科娃、希腊总统帕夫洛普洛斯等国际政要和国内外著名媒体机构广为收藏。
此次展出的是画家近5年来作品，主题主要是太行山的深渊大壑、陡岩峭壁。焦墨搭就的骨架，使他笔下的山体传达出雄强刚毅，大笔的淡墨泼洒的远山、云气，又挥洒出画家的恣意豁达，而大山脚下的瀑布、飞流、小桥、流水、人家和柿树、飞鸟巧妙地营造了画家心目中对中国风水的理解。他展出的作品尺幅既有20米的长卷，又有四破三的小品；有气势逼人的八尺屏竖幅山水，也有让人进入长歌慢板式的诗意境界的横八尺屏……
除了自己擅长的太行写意山水画之外，画家还特地展出了几幅水墨写意花鸟和山水扇面，以展现他新的水墨尝试。
马乐自幼承继家学，跟随四处写生、作画的父亲玩耍，幼小的心灵就埋下了绘画的种子。他于四川大学攻读英美语言与文学并获得文学学士学位，于中国社会科学院研究生院攻读英文采访编辑学，获得文学硕士学位。马乐先后在《中国日报》和新华社担任记者、编辑，出版过多部中英文著作，足迹遍及世界数十个国家。
他说，与黄河文脉交汇重叠的太行山是华夏文明的摇篮，也是最能表现男子气概的阳刚之山，他试图用自己特有的笔墨抓住太行的刚毅和浪漫，抓住华夏文明的精神实质。
马乐说，“中国山水画讲究山水的可居、可游，但我要从笔法和构图上突出大山‘可靠’的感觉，透过对中国文化根底中‘靠山’、‘家山’的描述，传递我对家国河山的深情和对亲朋好友的祝愿。”
Capturing the soul of Nature with
freehand ink and wash paintings
Shocking, breathtaking and overwhelming are the words people instinvtively give to comment his paintings.
Ma Jianguo, or Jianguo Ma, who happens to bear the English name of JACK MA,the Alibaba Group CEO, is now a member of China Artists' Association, the most privileged art circle in China, and a senior reporter at Xinhua News Agency, one of the country's most influential media institutions.
Jack’s freehand ink and wash landscape paintings, can be seen as an expression of his love for the Taihang Mountains, alongside which is his hometown of Handan, an ancient city where China's first emperor, Qin Shihuang, was born over 2,000 years ago.
Mt. Taihang, which runs around 400 kms from Yellow River in the south to Mt. Yanshan near Beijing in the north, is regarded as cradle for the Chinese civilization.
“To depict Mt. Taihang, from which I find a ‘kaoshan’ or backup mountain according to Chinese fengshui theory, is a way to pay my homage to the ancient Chinese civilization, ” Jack said.
Using super dark ink (or dry ink) to draw the structure of mountains, Jack inputs more power and strength to the mountains, and by using light ink for the distant hills and clouds，he adds special Chinese factor to the whole picture.
A man with deep respect for cultures of China and that of other cultures, Jack, a well-traveled reporter around the world, believes that an artist is obliged to pinpoint the spirit or soul of nature, mountains and rivers. The soul of nature, if artistically depicted, might ignite in people different responses, he says.
