In 1953, Sal Sirugo (1920-2013) visited a collection of Chinese paintings in Boston. This contact with Chinese imagery and technique produced fundamental shifts in Sirugo’s methodology and conception of painting. He began working with ink and paper, noting the interplay of “the controlled and accidental fluidity of the medium” and how “the spontaneity of the ink flows ... evolve into imaginary landscapes.” Importantly, his palette was generally restricted to black and white, revealing their pictorial and emotional potential. Also, Sirugo ignored the tendency of Abstract Expressionist painters to produce extremely large works. He recognized the concentrated power of the small image that was also appreciated in Chinese art. He said, “There is a 17th century album of Chinese paintings titled Within Small See Large. This is how I view my work.”

He produced several distinctive visual categories: Abstractions, Landscapes, Heads, and Eyes: the latter group, containing striking variations on roughly circular themes, are emphasized in this exhibition. The Eyes created by Sirugo apply the wandering suffusions of Chinese water-based ink toward inventive variations suggesting the human visual organ. The popular phrase “The eye is the window to the soul” comes to mind when viewers confront these works “eye to eye”. The circular motif that is so prevalent in meditative symbolic formats, such as the mandala or yin-yang, appropriately evokes a sense of imprecise yet deep thought, as one contemplates the inner – or wider – meaning of each of Sirugo’s Eyes.

1953年，Sal Sirugo（1920-2013）在波士顿观看到了一批中国绘画。这次相遇，让他的创作方式与绘画观念发生了根本转变。他开始用纸本及水墨作为媒介，当留意到“笔墨在可控与偶然之间的流动”，以及“墨色自然生发……如何演化成想象中的山水”。 他的用色近乎限于黑白，从中挖掘出绘画表现与情感抒发的另一种可能。他也没有追随当时抽象表现主义画家追求巨幅作品的潮流，反倒亲近于中国艺术中所传递的对小尺幅作品的珍视。他曾说：“有一本十七世纪的中国画册，题为《小中见大》。这正是我看待自己作品的方式。”

他创作了几个鲜明的系列：《抽象》、《山水》、《头像》，以及《眼睛》。《眼睛》系列以圆形为母题，变化迭出，也是本次展览聚焦的部分。Sal Sirugo笔下的眼睛，以水墨的氤氲游走，演化出种种关于视觉器官的变体。当观者与这些作品“对视”，难免想起那句俗语：眼睛是灵魂的窗口。而圆形，这一在曼荼罗、阴阳等冥想符号中反复出现的形态，也恰如其分地唤起一种难以言说的而深沉的思绪，让人在面对Sal Sirugo的每一只眼睛时，不自觉地凝望其内里，或更广阔的意涵。