He has special tension, not thin or frail, even rude, like the intolerable sound of a heavy hammer beat… It requires the proper temperature to enjoy. I believe that there are few persons enjoy him. The success of Deng Jianjin’s painting depends neither on shape nor on color, but it depends on the whole atmosphere of the pictures… If another one uses Deng’s color, shape and imitates his strokes, it must be very ugly.  In addition, Deng Jianjin makes us praise. It proves that the unchangeable age-old principle, “painting looks like its painter, painter looks like his painting.”

-------------From Li Xiaoshan’sCalling for theBattleat the Front—the Portrait of the Contemporary Artists 3, 2000