许多人看到我的画后经常会好奇地问为什么画猪？这时我想我的作品对他开始起作用了，他的关注有可能引发其再思考。当然，也许会逗他们一乐，也许……，我就不得而知了。
    “画什么和怎么画都重要”我很同意这种提法 。五年以前的很长时间我尝试了许多形式，每种形式的开始一段时间都令人激动，可过后自己总是不满意，这种孩子似的见异思迁一直持续到了2001年初的一天。每天早晨马桶上的几十分钟可以说是我白日梦的开始，眼前报纸一角很小的图片使我突然意识到将有大事发生—一只比人还要可爱的小猪正对着我微笑。在过去我们习惯了以人说人事的方式，这种乏味的老生常谈似乎很难再引起人们的兴趣，或者对事物本身的注意。猪，作为架上绘画的载体不仅仅好看好玩，借猪说人事，也给人提供了想象的契机。
一直以来猪作为一个生命个体在人类面前好象永远都“抬不起头”。它默默无闻无私的奉献和不好斗与世无争的天性，很少得到人们客观的评价，这很不公正，同时也突显了人们无止境的自恋﹑以强凌弱霸权的原始本能……。于是我画面里的猪自然让人觉得有些意外，享受着和人类同样的生活—游泳﹑化妆﹑娱乐﹑旅行等。
国内外诸多同行和收藏家的认同给予了我很大的支持，艺术家的工作需要批评同样也需要鼓励。

                                继生2006年8月于北京

Speaking to Myself

By Jisheng

Many asked me why to paint pigs when seeing my paintings. I thought maybe these paintings began affecting him/her. Attention may lead to re-thinking, and sometimes, of course, a laugh, or…yet to be known by me.
“What and how to paint are both important” is what I agree. During a long time, I had tried many forms, each of which seemed exciting at the beginning and dissatisfied me later. I had remained childishly fickle until a day in early 2001 when I began my daily daydream on a flush toilet. A very small picture in the newspaper suddenly made me feel something key was happening—a piggy cuter than human was smiling at me. Traditionally we talk about human things in human roles, boring, cut and dried, and no longer arousing interests in or attracting attention to the things themselves. Pig, as a painting language, is not only good-looking and funny, but also offers a talk about human things in pig roles, inspiring the imagination.
For a long time, though as a kind of life, pigs gain just contempt from the human. Its silent and unselfish contribution, peaceful temperament, and way of standing aloof from the worldly affairs, have seldom won objective judgment from people. That is unfair, representing our limitless narcissism and instinct of oppressing the weak, etc. So it is natural that my pigs, living in paintings and enjoying human life like swimming, making up, entertaining and traveling, etc., are unexpected to many people.
I’ve received recognition from peers and collectors home and abroad. That is important support an artist needs (while needing criticism) and I appreciate it very much.

In Beijing, August 2006