Art is not an illusory projection of consciousness and spirit, nor is it a complete copy of the objective world by the human brain through sensory organs, but a concentrated practice and sublimation of the truth, goodness and beauty of the objective world. This is not difficult to find in the process of investigating human prehistoric culture. This is what we call "abstract thinking" today.

First of all, the simple art of Paleolithic Age.

The study of Paleolithic art should be based on some physical objects left over from the Paleolithic. The ancestors of our Chinese nation have been working, living and multiplying in the land of the East since ancient times, and have created Chinese civilization in the process of millions of years of labor. In the process of human evolution, the emergence of language is closely related to the development of thinking ability, which is the germination condition of artistic creation.

Judging from the remains of Yuanmou man 6.5438+0.7 million years ago, the double-edged scraper, compound scraper and end-edged scraper, as well as the stone core and three-edged sharpener left by western post-capital culture 6.5438+0.8 million years ago, people at that time did not consider the beauty of modeling, but were only practical. However, in our view today, how beautiful these shapes are. This is the earliest known plastic arts in China.

With the development of human history to about 18865 years ago, there were decorations in the relics of cavemen. These decorations include stone pendants, stone beads, perforated animal teeth and so on. They strongly prove the history of human development and also the history of aesthetic development. From the beginning, people have not considered the problems of concrete beauty and abstract beauty. However, beauty is produced in the process of natural labor. It is a practical tool, but the modeling information of abstract thinking is available. Isn't this the highest artistic realm pursued by scholars for two thousand years?

Second, the artistic modeling thinking in the Neolithic Age

About/kloc-0.0 million years ago, the history of China entered the Neolithic Age. In the Neolithic cultural sites, there are rich handicrafts, such as painted pottery, jade carving, bone utensils, wood products and so on. As well as the constant excavation of statues, show the wisdom and artistic creativity of our ancestors and confirm the original footprint of China's early art history.

Abstract thinking of painted pottery art in Neolithic age: linear pattern, herringbone pattern, mesh pattern, geometric pattern, plant pattern, herringbone pattern, frog pattern, fish pattern, shuttle pattern and plaid pattern.

1. The arc rotation effect in Majiayao cultural type is a masterpiece of abstract thinking in early art.

Arc rotating effect patterns are widely used in Majiayao type of Yangshao culture. This mode takes the form of eddy current mode,

Multi-layer modes such as waves and chords. Rotate several symmetrical points and vortex centers on the appliance outward to form multiple triangles on the surface of the appliance, and then

The triangle is painted with vortex lines, which is full of space; Draw several parallel lines under the vessel and wavy lines on it. This pattern has a strong sense of movement. The pattern of small utensils has the image of all things in the universe, such as waves, weather, alternation of yin and yang, repetition of day and night, whistling of the wind and germination of objects. This simple abstract thinking has produced artistic effects that can not be expressed by the expression of utensils.

2. Abstract bird patterns in various postures.

In Neolithic painted pottery, there are many bird patterns, especially under the stone ridge of Majiayao culture. The geometric pattern is drawn by rotating the center of the bird's eyes around. It looks like a bird, but it is not a bird. It looks like a bird with several eyes, like a couple of conjoined birds, and like a group of birds flying up and down in a fight. Generally speaking, I don't know, I don't understand. Only these patterns can arouse people's infinite imagination and thinking space, which is abstract thinking.

3. Magic frog pattern changes

Frogs are common animals in the Neolithic Age. At that time, because of food shortage, frogs were also a kind of food that people often cooked. It is also one of the earliest objects of totem worship. It is painted on a vessel, indicating that many children are blessed. This habit has continued. Frog patterns on painted pottery in Neolithic age are abstract. The frog drew an irregular circle on his back, a net on the round surface, and then drew four feet and a head. This is the closest painting method to the figure, and later it developed into a triangular frog pattern with two "mountains" above and two broken lines below. The abstract thinking methods of these patterns are also amazing today. It laid the foundation of China's thinking method of artistic creation and the source of China's thinking method of art.

There are also well-known faces, fish patterns and primitive dance patterns. These highly abstract patterns are of great significance for us to explore abstract patterns and their origins and significance.

To sum up, the application of abstract thinking method in art is not a new invention, but an ancient or even primitive way of thinking in artistic creation. If you want to make your works more artistic and appealing, you must work hard on artistic abstract thinking to make your own works more artistic, especially in China's art, which should be paid more attention to.

-This article was published in the July 17 edition of Literary and Art Newspaper.

With the development of Chinese painting, talents emerge one after another, famous artists are like stars, and schools of painting contend, which is unprecedented in the history of Chinese painting development. Thousands of painters are striving for the peak of Chinese painting art, and it is difficult to climb to a certain height, let alone to the top. It is the goal of every painter to make works of art stand firm in history and be handed down to future generations. How to create your own style and move towards artistic glory?

First of all, pay attention to the cultivation of cultural personality and artistic personality.

Any artist should pay attention to the cultivation of artistic personality and cultural personality. Cultural personality is the basic premise to support the establishment of his artistic personality, which is the necessary condition for the establishment of his artistic thought and style. Artists who can stand firm in history and enjoy a long reputation are all thinkers and intellectuals, and all have good moral qualities. A good painter's landscapes, insects and birds all reflect the author's thoughts and feelings, his inner world, and his mind and cultural spiritual realm are expressed in pen and ink.

In thousands of years of painting practice, Chinese painting has formed a unique national style and artistic characteristics. Pay attention to "conception" and "nature comes from the outside, and the heart comes from the middle". Special emphasis is placed on the "both form and spirit" of the picture. This is a painting. The so-called "having both form and spirit" requires grasping the essence and charm of the painting object while writing the form; Second, it is required to integrate the painter's unique feelings and aesthetic taste into the painting image. Painters paint their own psychological feelings in order to attract the world to understand and sing.

Therefore, in fact, artistic personality and cultural personality complement each other and play a vital role in the positioning of an artist. The deeper the cultural personality and artistic personality are cultivated, the higher the artist's "painting", and vice versa.

Secondly, we should have a solid foundation of pen and ink. At this point, I don't need to go into details. If the problem of pen and ink is not solved, there will be no creation and artistic taste. This is a tree without roots.

What is the most important thing to solve the above two problems?

First of all, let your painting be rooted in the soil of China national culture.

The national culture of China for thousands of years is the foundation of various arts in China, and the roots of Chinese painting are deeply rooted in the soil of traditional culture in China. Every painting must be intentional, which is the basic principle formed by China painters for thousands of years. Otherwise, Chinese painting would not have developed to this day. In this respect, we should learn from the traditional folk art in China. Such as paper-cutting, embroidery, sculpture, etc. represent the creative achievements of China folk art and culture, and have a strong reference significance for artistic creation. If a painter has eaten the traditional culture of China, he will definitely stand firm on the nationality of Chinese painting.

Second, it combines the achievements of artistic creation at home and abroad.

The artistic achievements at all times and in all countries are just like a vast sea, which is complicated. There are endless rich nutrients in the sea, which is difficult for every painter to absorb all his life. So what should we do? A painter should focus on his familiar fields and find his most familiar position in a painting. For example, when we walk from Lanzhou to Beijing, we will draw Xi 'an when we are familiar with Xi 'an, and Baoding when we are familiar with Baoding. We will leave him alone if we don't know him. If you are familiar with a painting, you should know the third and fourth paintings ... once you choose your own painting, all the achievements related to this painting, ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign, must be dabbled in and studied. First of all, we should study the development achievements of this kind of painting in contemporary China, representing the author and genre; Second, we should learn the latest achievements and schools of foreign painting. Only by mastering these can we have an answer, gradually enter the door, and gradually get better.

Third, make full use of yourself and create your own unique style.

It is very difficult to create your own unique style and stand out from the crowd. Many people will never finish reading it. Unique style can't be learned. What you have learned, what you have learned from, belongs to others. This can only rely on their own "understanding" and their own efforts, which is the so-called "teacher who never forgets the past." People have different feelings about beauty, so the expression of beauty is also very different, which is why the students of the same teacher have different painting styles. Therefore, self-promotion is the key to building your own style. The first thing we should think of is:

First, draw for yourself, draw for yourself.

Artistic creation itself is to make new things, draw your own pictures and go your own way. As Zheng Banqiao said, only those who are diligent and open-minded can finally acquire their own "bodies".

Make public what you think is beautiful and weed out what you think is vulgar. Dig deep into your feelings about the beauty of things, so the deeper you dig, the better and more unique your unique aesthetic feeling will be. Don't follow the trend of the times with the taste of the public. Finally, my own psychology, in the form of color, line and pen and ink, flows on paper and is presented in today's painting world. This is my own painting. Only one's own paintings can stand firm in the long river of history.

Second, sublimate yourself and sublimate yourself.

It is not enough to express things on paper in artistic language and feel perfect. Need a sublimation process. The so-called self-sublimation is not individual heroism, but rooted in the soil of patriotism, especially Chinese painting should be rooted in the soil of nationalism. Painting is mostly done by one person. In the process of self-improvement, extreme personal heroism is achieved, which is rooted in the soil of national culture and endowed with the charm of national spirit. This is the sublimation of self. To sublimate oneself, we need to sublimate ourselves and strive for our own creation, which can reflect the essence and laws of social life, arouse people's specific emotional reflection, seek explanations from the social practice of historical development, and investigate from the objective practice of truth, goodness and beauty. It is necessary to show the spirit of striving for progress, to show new things in development and to show the highest realm of spiritual civilization. Self-sublimation, in layman's terms, is like making the finishing touch. Sublimation makes the artistic effect achieved by self-improvement integrate into the healthy spiritual and cultural life of society, thus revealing or reflecting objective things at a higher level and in a broader field, and finally achieving the sublimation of social spiritual civilization through self-sublimation, so that "characters" and "paintings" complement each other. This is the ideal that a painter wants to pursue, and it is also the basis for a firm foothold in history.

In short, painting style, as a form of expression, is like a person's demeanor. It is a representative feature from the whole works of art, and it is a unique face that is difficult to explain but not difficult to feel because of the unity of unique content and form, and the unity of subjective characteristics of the painter and objective characteristics of the subject matter. Chinese paintings with distinctive original style can produce great artistic appeal. It not only leaves a strong visual impression, but also enables people to discover and feel the irreplaceable beauty of other people's works from such works. This is the creation destination of modern Chinese painting.

-This article was published in Wen Yi Daily on July 5, 2008.