新辉的作品似乎始终与当代艺术的集体意识保持某种距离。在圆明园画家村时期，当代艺术的主流形式是政治波普和玩世现实主义，这两种形式的强大影响力，直接或间接的改变了许多来北京寻梦的年轻艺术家的艺术态度。新辉是一个“老圆明园”，他甚至比我来到圆明园的时间还早，但是他似乎至今没有动摇过原初的梦想。

　　这种梦想是与内心世界相关的，但内心世界是什么，或许新辉并不知道，也不想知道。同时这种梦想也与逃离有关，即从现实世界逃离。

　　新辉近十年来的绘画即使这样一种表达：它通过描绘闪烁的星星，来追逐梦想。形式是现实。因为现实是不完美的。从这个角度看，我们可以上述到新辉的早期创作，即用垃圾之类的东西制作的作品。那些作品是我看着完成的。当时我和新辉是邻居，前后院住。那些作品体现了一些材料之美，但更重要的是表达了艺术家对现实世界的批评态度。新辉与我们大多是圆明园画家一样，来自“外省”，甚至是“小地方”的人来到大都市，是怀揣着梦想的。他们对大都市的期许就像人类对星星的期许一样。但事实是，大都市的糟糕情况其实不比“小地方”少。垃圾和星星都具有象征性。垃圾象征我们这个世界的糟糕情形，星星象征一个永远无法实现的梦。

　　但是批评不是新辉的性格。日常生活中的新辉也是这样：他喜欢结交朋友，讨人喜欢，总是把自己的生活打理得井井有条。所以在经历了短暂的批评态度之后，他转向了描绘梦想。这才是李新辉。他的绘画首先是画给自己的，因为他从来就是一个心存梦想的人，梦想生活就像星一样美好。其次是画给朋友们的，因为他更希望朋友们从他这里感受美好。

　　但是从批评的角度讲，我更愿意把新辉的绘画描绘成一种个人逃离现实的方式。在现实社会，只有艺术可以这样表达：即你可以通过逃离来介入现实。而新辉即是以这种方式介入现实的令人感动的艺术家之一。

　　祁志龙

　　2007.10.24 于呼和浩特

　　Xinhui's works have always maintained a distance from prevailing trends of ideas. During the period marked by the Yuanmingyuan artist community, mainstream contemporary art was dominated by political pop and pseudo realism; these two huge influences directly or indirectly affected the artistic disposition of young artists coming to Beijing in pursuit of dreams. Xinhui is an "original Yuanmingyuan", and even arrived before me, but he seems not to have wavered from his original dream.

　　This dream is related to his inner world, but perhaps Xinhui is unaware of the content of his inner world, or does not care to find out. At the same time his dream is related to escape -- escape from the material (real) world.

　　Perhaps his work over the past decade may be expressed as the seeking of dreams through description of shimmering stars. This is because reality is imperfect. This point of view can help explain his earlier works, namely those compositions made of rubbish and other materials. I feel those works are truly complete. At the time Xinhui and I were neighbours, living in adjacent yards. Those works evoked the beauty of the materials, but more importantly expressed the artist's critical attitude towards the material world. Xinhui, like most of the rest of us in Yuanmingyuan, were people from "other provinces"--or even people from "little places"--who came to the big city harbouring dreams. What we anticipated in the big city was the same thing that humanity anticipates in the stars. But the reality was, the number of appalling situations in the city were no fewer than those in the "little places." Rubbish and stars both have symbolic meanings. Rubbish symbolizes appalling circumstances in our world, while stars symbolize dreams that will never be realized.

　　Social criticism, however, is not in Xinhui's character. In daily life, Xinhui is like this: he likes to interact with friends, seek out what people like, and always manages his life in perfect order. Thus from a brief period with a critical attitude, he turned to depicting dreams. This is the real Xinhui. His paintings are first and foremost for himself, because he has always been a dreamer; the world of dreams is as beautiful as stars. His paintings are also for his friends, because he hopes that they may derive from his work a sense of delight.

　　But from the position of a critic, I would much rather depict Xinhui's work as a method of escape from reality. And Xinhui is precisely one of those artists who use this method as a means of moving others, and intervening on their reality.

　　Qi Zhilong

　　10/24/2007.

　　in Huhhot