Part 09 Eastern Aesthetics of Phantom Painting

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The reason why illusionist painting cannot be explained solely through Eastern aesthetics is that Eastern aesthetics cannot be compared with Western aesthetics in a unified entity. The reason for this is that it has actually been in a diverse state where there is no unified regulation. The diverse and free state of Eastern aesthetics is mainly manifested in: 1 Although there may be aesthetic and artistic exchanges and infiltration among the numerous countries and ethnic groups within the vast geographical range of the East, there has not been a large-scale convergence trend, let alone a shared aesthetic concept. 2. In the process of historical development, Eastern countries also do not pay much attention to the stability and continuity of aesthetic categories, far surpassing Western aesthetics in terms of randomness. 3. Eastern aesthetics generally lack theoretical control and inductive power, resulting in a lack of strict logical correspondence between aesthetic theory and practice, which makes Eastern aesthetics much more flexible and dynamic than Western aesthetics. Eastern aesthetics can be contrasted with Western aesthetics in four aspects: 1. spirituality. Western aesthetics takes Aristotle's imitation theory as an important starting point, so Western art has reached a very high level of in-depth observation and accurate description of the objective world. The spiritual pursuit of Western aesthetics often needs to be achieved through breakthrough collisions time and time again, and this pursuit is always closely attached to the development process of social history, still a concrete derivative of the objective world. Eastern aesthetics is fundamentally spiritual, so it does not need to be achieved through collision, nor does it blend into too many objective worldly agreements and hubbub like Western spirit. 2. Holistic, Eastern art is different from Western art in that it excels in accurate local presentation and overall grasp. For example, the important principle of ancient Chinese aesthetics is "vivid charm", and "qi" refers to cosmic life, which is a wandering and inclusive holistic existence that cannot be separated or blocked. This "qi" dissolves the boundaries between the subject and object, blurs the gap between humans and nature, and is a derivative concept of the philosophy of "harmony between heaven and man". Western aesthetics cannot achieve such a complete fusion of heaven, earth, universe, and life induction. 3. Decorative. Eastern aesthetics no longer regards authenticity as the primary criterion due to the weakening of the function of imitation, but instead stimulates the strengthening of the scale of beauty; Objective objects have been spiritually refined to a certain degree of abstraction, providing the possibility for the construction of decorative beauty.

Decorative beauty can also be said to be a form of beauty with transcendent significance, which maintains a distance from the objective object being faced, makes it vague and generalized, and freezes it into a relatively abstract and perceptible form of expression. The need for decoration is also the need for aesthetic transcendence and aesthetic gaming, This is also linked to the attitude of Eastern people towards life. 4. Primitive. The originality of Eastern aesthetics is not based on the concept of time, but rather on artistic style. This artistic style has preserved a lot of the naive simplicity of early humans, which has not been swept away by the updated Western civilization from generation to generation, allowing Eastern art to maintain a lively and endless primitive nature. Eastern aesthetics cannot avoid modern questioning in many places.For example, the spirituality of Eastern aesthetics emphasizes introspection, self entertainment, and self-regulation. But spiritual activities must produce social effects, and Eastern aesthetics appears too weak in terms of artists and artworks, with limited measurement and social appeal. The negative aspect brought about by the overall nature of Eastern aesthetics is the lack of decomposition power towards local parts, and without decomposition power, it is difficult to have the strength of artistic limbs. 3.

Spirituality and wholeness place Eastern aesthetics in a state of multi-party convergence within its internal structure. Since everything in the vast world can be integrated into a spiritual existence, the topic of beauty is also easily swallowed and hybridized by political, ethical, psychological, physiological, scientific and other propositions such as goodness, morality, Taoism, and history. This makes it difficult for artistic works to stand out from society and lack pure artistic construction. After the formation of the stylization and decoration of Eastern aesthetics, it will largely become inert and lack change for a long time. The primitive nature precipitated by Eastern aesthetics can inspire humanity's return to nature, but in actual presentation, it loses the sincerity of the times. In the modern context, the imitation of the primitive state will be mixed with a sense of artificiality, and artificiality will be completely different from the original innocence and simplicity.

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Chinese painting is a unique flower that stands on its own in the world of art, and is a special form of expression in the world's art treasure trove. Along with Western painting, it forms the two poles of world painting art, each with its own characteristics and strengths.

Since the Tang Dynasty, there has been exchanges between Chinese and Western culture and art, especially in the past century. Chinese painting has struggled to advance in the collision of Eastern and Western cultures, and has now entered a period of good development opportunities in history. Chinese painters strive to explore the positioning, development, and direction of Chinese painting, an ancient art form, in the new world cultural landscape through their reflections on the similarities and differences between Chinese and Western painting, as well as their research on the characteristics of Chinese painting. This has always been a strong cultural sentiment among Chinese painters, and is also a persistent Eastern artistic feature in Liu Youju's illusory paintings.

So what are the characteristics and strengths of Chinese painting that can be provided to the world as an aesthetic concept and artistic creation form?

To study the characteristics of Chinese painting from the perspective of contemporary world culture, explore the national character of Chinese painting, explore the practical value of Chinese painting to human spiritual life, and analyze the global contribution of Eastern aesthetics from the history and causes of this painting genre.

For over a thousand years, Chinese painting has been continuously developing and enriching based on the philosophy and cultural spirit of traditional Chinese academic thought, forming its own systematic system of painting principles and techniques. And become an important cultural carrier. The strong collision between Chinese and Western painting in modern times has activated the deep "genes" in our traditional culture, giving it its own strong vitality and undergoing a lively cultural transformation. Chinese painters have successfully integrated excellent Western modeling techniques and form composition into Chinese painting, enhancing the ability to "reproduce" and the width of "expression" in Chinese painting creation, making the development path of Chinese painting broader.

However, the development of contemporary Western art is fragmented, despite its diverse genres. In terms of artistic concepts, it is a contemporary art that aims to be innovative, subvert tradition, and create novelty. If Chinese artists view contemporary Western art as modern and fail to see their strengths, it is very dangerous to completely imitate and learn from the West, questioning tradition in terms of aesthetic standards. We should have sufficient cultural self-awareness and introspection if we fail to recognize that Chinese painting is a long flowing Yangtze River with strong fusion, absorption, restoration, and renewal abilities.

The reason why Chinese painting has been enduring for thousands of years and keeping up with the times lies in its "freehand brushwork concept". Freehand brushwork is not only a technique of expression in Chinese painting, but also an artistic concept in Chinese painting. The so-called freehand brushwork refers to a painter's comprehensive understanding of society, the times, national culture, and nature. With the help of pen and ink, he creates an idea as an image, which is different from the simulation of concrete and abstract dissimilarity.

As early as over a thousand years ago, the concept of freehand brushwork in Chinese painting had basically taken shape and was constantly enriched and developed in theory. The essence of the freehand brushwork theory of Chinese painting is "learning from nature and learning from the heart", "moving to a better place", "meaning comes first in writing", "depending on things, blending things with me", "being touched by God", "between the seemingly and the non seemingly", "getting business without distortion", and so on.

Under the guidance of freehand brushwork theory, Chinese painting emphasizes both objectivity and subjectivity; There is both concrete content and abstract generalization; There are both factors of reproduction and factors of expression. These opposing factors are not mutually exclusive in Chinese painting, nor are they mechanically pieced together, but rather organically combined into an aesthetic requirement. This theory does not exclude the absorption of all artistic forms, and has a strong fusion, providing a reliable foundation for Chinese painting to move towards modernity. Chinese painting will not become history or break, but has a thriving vitality that continues to develop.

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Compared with Western painting, Chinese painting emphasizes more on philosophy, poetry, writing, and spirituality. The development of Western art relies more on the development of science, medicine, psychology, and philosophy, such as anatomy, perspective, and the influence of sculpture and architecture. Fully understanding the different development paths and cultural content of the two types of painting can help promote the characteristics of Chinese painting.

From a global perspective, the major problem faced by modern and contemporary painting art is not the lack of style, insufficient innovation, or poor technology, but the global problem of pale and declining spiritual quality. In this regard, adhering to the cultural connotation of Chinese painting and strengthening its spiritual connotation will play a guiding role in the development of world art.

The author conducted a comparative study between Liu Youju's illusion painting and Western art in Chinese and Western painting. The conclusion is that illusion painting not only has advantages in expressing a wide range of themes, but also has unique characteristics in expressing spiritual connotations. The broad expression of spiritual connotation is reflected in three aspects: firstly, illusion painting represents the spirit of life, not superficial resemblance, which is fundamentally different from Western animal painting, plant painting, and still life painting. The second is that illusion painting sets the expression of the author's spirit and emotions as the first element. The third is that illusion painting pursues deeper cultural connotations. Contemporary flower and bird painting is showing its unique role and vitality in expressing the times, praising life, caring for nature, calling for and equality with a new look, which is the strength of Chinese painting.

Undoubtedly, Chinese painting has a broad public base and numerous enthusiasts in China, and the active investment of the vast number of amateur enthusiasts is an important art phenomenon in China.

Can Chinese painting be popularized abroad? Liu Youju's illusion painting broke the formal barriers in Chinese and Western aesthetics, pointing out a highly feasible path for the popularization of Chinese painting abroad. With the enhancement of China's national strength and the Western understanding of Chinese culture, the advantages of Chinese painting will be recognized by foreigners. The highly summarized artistic language of illusion painting is also an important feature of Chinese culture and art.

Phantom painting also has many advantages and disadvantages, such as China's views on shape, sketching, color, creation, scattered perspective, and the deep level artistic concepts of the unity of heaven and man reflected in the painter's consciousness, which are worth further research. We will not elaborate on them here.

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Since the introduction of Western learning to the East, Western art has had a huge impact on Eastern painting. The advocates of the integration of Chinese and Western painting art are led by Cantonese people, which may be related to the traditions and people's thoughts in this region. There are two schools of thought, one led by Gao Jianfu and the Gao Qifeng brothers, and the other led by Lin Fengmian. Both schools promise that Chinese and Western painting have their own strengths and should absorb each other. However, the Gao brothers advocated for a combination of Chinese and Western techniques in the form of painting. Gao Qifeng further said, "Drawing on the strengths of Chinese and Western painting studies, creating a subtle combination of each other." However, Lin Fengmian advocates for the spiritual and emotional harmony of painters. In order to distinguish, I refer to the Gao brothers' theory as the "combination theory" and Lin Fengmian's theory as the "harmony theory". Of course, Gao Jianfu also mentioned the term "harmony", but his "harmony" also refers to the harmony of painting forms. Due to the different basic points of their blending or combination, their forms of expression are also different (different painting styles).

Gao Jianfu (1879-1951), originally known as Lun, was later renamed as Jianfu and was from Panyu, Guangdong. He studied Chinese painting at a young age and later studied in Japan, graduating from the Tokyo Academy of Fine Arts. After returning to China, he followed Sun Yat sen in the political revolution and established the Spring Sleeping Painting Academy in Guangzhou, with a large number of scholars.

Gao Qifeng (1889-1933) was born in Panyu, Guangdong, and was the younger brother of Gao Jianfu. Qifeng Shao studied painting from his brother and later studied in Japan. After returning, he engaged in the art movement and established an art academy in Guangzhou, where he served as a professor at Lingnan University. Together with Gao Jianfu and Chen Shuren, they are known as the "Three Heroes of Lingnan". The impact is quite significant.

Gao Qifeng once published an article titled 'Painting is not a Dead Object', which was included in the 'Gao Qifeng's Collection of Paintings' published in the 24th year of the Republic of China. Gao Qifeng's basic views on painting are reflected in this article. It can be seen that he opposes the traditional literati painting style of entertainment and advocates for serious painting, He said: I think that painting is not a dead thing, but a thing that can change with life. Each era has its own characteristics and experience of the spirit of an era, so I often advise students to say that learning painting is not just a matter of gaining fame or entertaining oneself. When we want our world to have hunger and indulgence, and to reach our own views, we should strive to preserve the new spirit of the era by dissecting and benefiting the masses In addition to studying the origins of science, pigmentation, optics, philosophy, naturalism, ancient methods, and painting, psychology and sociology should also be studied clearly, understanding all the needs of social phenomena, comforting the dull life and Tao Shuren's spirit, leading to a noble and peaceful concept. The despicable and cowardly have aspirations, the despicable turn into light, the violent return to love, and the elegant become more noble and pure, The machine of the times has moved in a new direction, and the latter can understand the spirit, virtues, and cultural history of this era by observing the works left over from now, which is the essence of our painting.

Gao Qifeng believed that "simply learning Chinese painting" would "tend to lead to the disease of metaphysics." Therefore, "not gathering the strengths of others can not enrich its development." He studied from the perspective of painting history: "During the reign of Emperor Ming of Han, the Western Regions' painting style was imported and foreign ideas were introduced in art, making painting very developed, He also said: I will further study the sketching techniques of Western painting, as well as geometry, time, distance, and comparison of various techniques. Based on my own experience, I have preserved the highest artistic techniques of ancient Chinese painting, such as brushwork, aura, ink painting, coloring, imagery, lyricism, philosophy, and poetry. Even in the world of painting, I humbly accept the various principles and methods, taking advantage of the strengths of Chinese and Western painting, and subtly combining them with each other, and incorporating the beauty of nature and the spirit of all things My own spirit has been restored to my current work

Gao Qifeng's "Theory of the Combination of East and West" is already very clear and does not require explanation. To summarize his theory of combination, it is to preserve the advantages of Chinese painting such as brushwork and charm, and add the sketching techniques of Western painting, as well as geometry, brightness, distance, and comparison to create new Chinese paintings. In fact, his traditional Chinese painting works are exactly like this.

During the Anti Japanese War, Gao Jianfu wrote an article titled "My View on Modern Painting (New Chinese Painting)". He believes that "modern painting is not personal, narrow, or feudal in nature, but should be universal and popular." Traditional painting pursues "antiquity," while Gao pursued modernity and popularization. He also made it clear that "those who advocate modern painting and artistic revolution the most, my artistic ideas and methods are not to defeat, overthrow, or eliminate the ancients, but to learn from the strengths of the ancients and ignore their weaknesses. It is to study the integration of historical inheritance and modern academic knowledge in the world, and to absorb the strengths of ancient and modern countries as my own nutrition, making it my own flesh and blood, and creating a new life for modern Chinese painting

The formation of Liu Youju's illusionist paintings is closely related to the unique regional cultural traditions of Lingnan.

There are similarities and differences in Eastern and Western art. Similarly, preserving appearance and writing form, implying emotional expression. Breaking through the loneliness and vexation, emanating from the chest, showcasing the vitality of an era. Different people have different tools, methods, and aesthetic contexts. Since ancient times, several major axis cultures have utilized the advantages of time and geography to forge a strong military force, presenting a vast influence among people. Greek and Roman cultures have spread along the Mediterranean, competing and integrating with Hebrew culture and various ethnic cultures across Europe, composing the main chapter of human civilization history, and forming a strong force in modern times. They are globally known as Western culture. Chinese culture, on the vast land of East Asia, relies on the natural barrier of the Himalayas to form its own world, adopt and thrive. Its cultural context has been continuous for thousands of years, but in modern times, it has suddenly faced the challenge of a strong westerly wind, and its self cultural model has shown a stage of decline and revival. Chinese culture is historically regarded as a representative of Eastern culture. Therefore, there are similarities, differences, controversies, and integrations between Eastern and Western art, which have become the most basic discourse background of global culture in the 20th century. It is also a cultural fact encountered in the modern development of almost all Eastern countries, as well as their mainstream thinking of survival and survival. Western culture has encountered various diseases after modernization and industrialization, deeply reflecting on the alienation of human nature, hoping to draw the nourishment of natural survival from different cultures, break through psychological arrogance and prejudice, and build a global imagination pattern. They understand and understand non Western cultures with a rational perspective, selecting those that are "different and similar". In modern history, Eastern countries were at a disadvantage due to their strength and technological disadvantages, and their local culture repeatedly faced the challenge of survival. In the century of the westward trend spreading eastward, the East even adopted an active Westernization transformation strategy, casting a culture of "similarities and differences", that is, those that maintain their own characteristics but have undergone modern baptism and strong transformation. So the West seeks two strategic paths of "similarities in differences" and the East seeks "differences in similarities", spanning the global cultural landscape today, weaving a dense and vivid web of contemporary art. On these giant networks, some networks intertwine the pursuit of "similarity" in the Western perspective with the pursuit of "difference" in the Eastern transformation, forming a highlight of contemporary art that is recognized by both the East and the West. The art of illusionist painting is at this point.

With the rise and revival of China, illusion painting will also push Eastern aesthetics to the world and promote the realization of the dream of Eastern art revival.