北京西城繁华的新街口大街上有条小巷，名曰“三不老胡同”。胡同深处，座北朝南一排红砖老楼，画家庞邦本久居这里。我每次去探望，心里总有一种愉悦，这里真是一块宝地—环境幽雅，闹中取静。庞邦本每天从这个小巷里进进出出，身子挺得笔直，步履矫健。几十年前是这样，如今还是这样，似乎连皱纹也没增添多少，这股青春永驻的活力，实在让人感到羡慕。邦本家中的陈设，超前的现代气息与古旧的家具收藏相互对应，透出一种东西方文化的融合。我非常喜欢在这里和主人聊天。那环境的氛围，那精神上的感染，使我有一种说不出的愉悦。很早，我就喜爱庞邦本的世界名著连环画作品—《伊里亚特》、《欧叶尼·葛朗台》、《复活》、《简·爱》、《耶稣传》等，曾给了我多方面的启示。画家把小说中的各色人物刻画得有声有色入木三分，随着一页页生动变化的画面，使情感和情绪叠连起伏，情不自禁地陶醉在画家营造的艺术世界里。
　　庞邦本是全国著名的连环画家是大家熟知的，我也是因为他的精湛连环画艺术对他心仪多年。当九十年代在他家中一旦看到他的许多油画作品，顿时让我感到惊奇，这是他积蓄多年的艺术才华的显露。
　　庞邦本的艺术道路，随着他的人生历程轨迹，似乎每迈一步都有着他心灵的震颤。可以想象当他被错划成右派二十年日日夜夜，那颗被捆绑的心是怎样的痛苦。对人生的深层理解，对生命价值的把握，对生存做人的企求，庞邦本在磨难中都得到深深地体味。也许正因为如此使他在获得了一种生命的新感觉时，他不顾一切地、热忱而拼命地工作。也许正因为如此使他的艺术生命能不断焕发出青春的强劲。我在观赏庞邦本的油画人物系列时，总有这样的联想：《走出大漠》里的藏族兄妹对外面世界所表现出的惊喜与迷惘……。《扎西德勒》—一个老藏民在经历了人生苦难，失去双眼但内心却闪烁着光明，这冥想亮点，是他心中的一盏灯；他渴望与神山同在，与日月同辉，那双睁大了的白眼与合十的双手，叙述着他对命运的祈求……或许，只是宿命的徒劳？《新头巾》是一个刚刚知道自己生命存在的藏族女孩，她象是草原上的一朵小花，也许是爸爸妈妈用羊皮换来的，也许是北京来的阿姨特意送她的新头巾所带来的喜悦……，是否新生活的方式将从这块化纤头巾开始。《玉镯》是庞邦本的一幅力作，它象一首诗，一首二胡曲，它是一个沧桑的时空的定格，把观赏者带进了一个悠远的故事。画面中的老妇，每一个部位都在说话，都在吟唱。老人留下的是她人生中最珍惜的记忆—定情的玉镯。留住这只玉镯，是留住她人生中美好的依恋。当人生走到黄昏的时候，唯有这只玉镯把所有的痛苦、所有的辛酸都逐走了。画家庞邦本给每个人物在心灵上都注入了同样的希望、同样的机会和权利—对人生美好的向往与追求。同时，也给每位观画者带来一层思索
。 　　在我与他十几年的接触中，给我最突出的感觉是他精神不老，思想不老，艺术不老，这“三不老”是庞邦本的人生准则和信条。他在退休之后跋山涉水登上了青藏高原，去触摸那神秘的佛光、白云、蓝天。这对于一个画家来讲，不单是为了寻找生活，更重要的是为了艺术上的纯洁和神圣去贴近太阳的地方接受灵魂的洗礼。画家走遍青藏高原、天山南北、海角天涯、江南水乡……，精心描绘使他动情的普通老百姓。他真诚的对待人生，对待生活，对待艺术。我很钦佩画家的艺术直觉和他扎实的功底，这绝不仅仅是绘画技巧本身，更明显地体现在画家把自己的人生体味能全部调动起来，去把握和刻画人物内心世界的精神含量，努力创造出一个庞邦本的艺术世界。
　　庞邦本的油画世界，是画家经过半个多世纪在艺术与人生的道路上苦苦求索的心语。画家自己说：“我的油画和我以往的连环画、插图作品保持着一定的延续性，这种延续性使我在油画创作中更深入的刻画人物成为可能。”这正是庞邦本的艺术观，是庞邦本在油画艺术上警示自己的箴言。一个艺术家，能把自己坎坷的经历和在艺术上多方面的探索，最后集合起来，它是深厚的，它是深沉的。庞邦本的油画人物系列，象一个艺术人生的长廊，象一个行走在人世间长长的队伍。这个队伍里丰富多彩，形象各异——从牙牙学语的儿童，到满面沧桑的老者，他油画中人物的眼睛都流露出希望、苦辣或辛酸。
　　庞邦本的艺术展示给人们的是希望与真实。他每幅作品刻画的人生情状，都是人生瞬间的心灵火花，这和他自己走过的曲折人生每一步是那样地吻合，既有苦涩的咏叹，也有着对阳光和生命的礼赞。
　　庞邦本住在那个名叫“三不老”的胡同，这绝不是一种巧合，也许这是一个艺术家的人生和艺术归依罢。 （摘自《庞邦本油画选》）
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The“Three-Never-Old”Spirit and Pang Bangben
Zhao Guide
　　In a bustling section of Xinjiekou Street located in the Xicheng District of Beijing, there is a small street called “Sanbulao Hutong” which in Chinese means “three-never-old lane”. There artist Pang Bangben lives in an old, redbrick building facing south, a sedate, cozy place hidden in a noisy, bustling neighborhood, and a place I am. always happy to visit because Pang’s home like his art contrasts the rich flavors of contemporary, modern life with old-fashioned furniture, combining the Oriental with the Western. And it’s a pleasure to chat with him there because the atmosphere blending perfectly with his appealing intelligence, gives one a happy feeling hard to put in words.
　　I now recollect that many years a go I first saw his illustrations – Long I had admired Pang from depths of my heart for his superb for picture-story painting technique.- of international literary classics like the “The I liad”,“Eugenie Grandet”, “Resurrection”,“Jane Eyre”and “The Story of Jesus”, admiring how his brush brought their characters to life,beckoned with their artistry, and stirred with their beauty. In fact, it was in this capacity – Pang Bangben is the most famous picture-story book painter in the country.-that I discovered him.
　　In the 1990’s,when I first saw his oil works I was immediately impressed by how clearly they displayed his talent and the artistic skill he had accumulated over many years. In his life’s voyage, every step taken seems to have quivered in his soul. It’s not hard then to imagine the agony he felt during the 20 years he was labeled wrongly as a Rightist. Luckily in the midst of Pang’s adversity, he began to acquire a profound understanding of life as journey, the value of living, and the quest for the human’s right to existence. Perhaps it is precisely this – discovering a new understanding of life – that caused him to work with all his might regardless of difficulties and hardships . Perhaps. it was precisely this that provided renewal for his artistic career.
　　After retiring. Pang made a long journey to the Qinghai- Tibet Plateau to appreciate its white clouds and blue sky and try to understand Tibetan Buddhism. The journey helped him look for the sources of his creation and purify his soul at the place closest to the sun. In his tours of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, south and north of the Tianshan Mountains, costal areas, and the rivers and lakes of jiangsu, he meticulously portrayed common people, about whom he was enthusiastic.
　　When I now enjoy Pang’s Tibetan oils, many thoughts throng in my mind: The Tibetan boy and his younger sister in “Walking Out of a Desert”depict complicated possibly contradictory expressions of elation, amazement and perplexity as they face the outside world. “Auspicious” highlights an old Tibetan glimmering with light in spite of all the apparent hardships epitomized by loss of sight in both eyes. One sees the light in his heart and his longing for nothing but coexistence with the God of the Mountains, to be able to shine forever like the sun and the moon. With sightless eyes wide open,he holds his hands prayerfully, appealing to his destiny to the thought that it might be nothing but a futile effort.
　　“New Scarf” depicts a Tibetan girl who has just awoken to new life. like a small flower on a huge prairie, she feels happy wearing the new scarf unconcerned whether her father or mother bartered for it with a sheepskin or it was presented by a Beijing aunt. The giver doesn’t matter only that the girl’s new style of life might now begin through this scarf made of man-made fibers.
　　“Jade Bracelet” is a Pang masterpiece. Like a poem or music on the erhu, the painting fixes one of life’s vicissitudes by depicting a story that happened long ago. Under Pang’s brush, the old woman seems to speak directly to you about her betrothal jade bracelet becoming the most valuable memory in her life.As long as she grasps that bracelet her best memory cannot die. Possibly only it in the old woman’s last years can expel her anguish and sad memories. The old woman like every figure in Pang’s paintings has been given the opportunity to wish for a happy life. But like all his paintings, “jade Bracelet” leaves us ample room for further thought.
　　Pang treats not only his art but life truly and wholeheartedly. I admire Pang’s artistic intuition and profound basic skills- not just technique – but, more importantly, his outlook on life. Pang is able to mobilize all his creative resources to depict the inner world of his figures in a artistic world that no one can duplicate because it expresses his innermost thoughts and feelings distilled from a half – century of painstakingly pursuing and probing art and life.
　　The painter says of himself: “I seek the implications of the profound and let humanity’s artistic appeal color my oils building on my earlier word in picture-story books and illustration to allow greater depth to the figures now depicted.”Combining lifetime experiences and frustrations with artistic probing, this artistic outlook yields his motto:Profound art is full of meaning.
　　Pang’s series of oil portraits is like a corridor of a life of art, like a long parade of many kinds of figures from babies who have just learned to speak to weather- beaten old people. Spectators like you and I, like all Pang’s viewers, see the figures depicted in his oils through the figurse’ eyes, their faces, revealing their true feelings, their aspirations and the hardships of a lifetime.The life of each figure is a flame sparked by the painter’s soul, blazing now higher now lower coincident with every step in his voyaege whether flavored with hardships or praise for sunshine and life. It is no coincidence that Pang Bangben lives in ‘Three-Never-Old’ Lane but visible proof of his voyage in life and art.
　　Over the 10-odd past years, what impresses me most is Pang’s own ‘three-never-old’ spirit: never old in mentality, never old in ideas and never old in art. This spirit has become not only the creed but the norm of his life.