法國哲學家巴斯卡爾在《思考》當中指出「人在大自然當中不過是一根最柔弱的蘆葦而已。人正是思考的蘆葦(un roseau pensant)。」相較於廣大無邊的宇宙，人類幾近於無，誠如一根蘆葦，既柔弱且悲慘。然而如同這根柔弱與渺小蘆葦般的人類，透過思考能夠將宇宙包含起來。對於蕭如松而言，他的藝術成就，在思考當中體現出偉大，在思考當中擁有整個宇宙。在台灣美術史上，蕭如松就是一根思考的蘆葦，他所建構出來的畫面充滿深度哲思的內涵。他把水彩提升到彷彿油畫那種厚度感，使得景深豐富，洋溢著穩定、深沉、靜謐的精神層次。他的作品，不論是人物、靜物或者風景畫，都展現出高度哲思，追尋對象色彩、造型、情緒、感受的高度統一效果。他經歷二次大戰以及戰後的荒涼，還包括自由禁錮的不安，於是將早期肅然的教育精神提升成潔淨特質，並將其對於人生以及藝術的追求熱忱提煉成色彩象徵和造型隱喻，最終演變成繁複時空辨證上的心靈觀照的作品。

主辦單位：亞洲大學、亞洲大學現代美術館、新竹縣政府、新竹縣議會
合辦單位： 新竹縣政府文化局
法律顧問：益思科技法律事務所 劉承慶 律師
借展單位：國立臺灣美術館、阿波羅畫廊、名冠畫廊、東之畫廊、國立竹東高中
特別感謝：  林高椿、范正秋、洪翊翔、陳登壽、劉達治、簡秀枝）  先生/女士 （排名按姓氏筆畫序）

The French philosopher Blaise Pascal pointed out in Pensées that “Man is only a reed, the weakest in nature, but he is a thinking reed (un roseau pensant).” Compared with the infinite universe, humanity is close to insignificance, like a reed that is weak and pathetic. Nevertheless, like the weak, insignificant reed, humankind can encompass the universe through thinking. As far as Xiao was concerned, his art achievement manifested greatness in thinking, having the whole universe in thinking. In the art history of Taiwan, Xiao Ru-Song was a thinking reed. The pictures he constructed are filled with contents of philosophical thinking in depth.

Xiao was the first domestic painter that presented watercolor in such a diverse fashion. He elevated watercolor to the thickness as that of oil paint and enriched the depth of field, overflowing with stability, profundity, and serenity in the spiritual level. His works, either portrait, still life or landscape, demonstrate a high degree of philosophical thinking, seeking the highly unified effect of colors, forms, emotions, and experiences of objects. He witnessed the Second World War and the desolation afterward, including the disturbance of freedom in shackles. Hence, the artist elevated the solemn educational spirit in the early days into a quality of purity. Also, he refined the passion in the pursuit of life and art into color symbols and formal metaphors, which ultimately evolved into complex space-time dialectic works of mind reflection.