(A) aesthetic activities and non-aesthetic activities
The appreciation of works of art is mainly aesthetic. So we must pay attention to distinguish between aesthetic and non-aesthetic. Because beauty and aesthetic feeling are vague, even uncertain, and even vary from person to person, it is very important to distinguish aesthetic from non-aesthetic from the perspective of social activities.
So how to distinguish between aesthetic and non-aesthetic? In my opinion, we can still grasp the characteristics of conscious creativity to distinguish between beauty and non-beauty, aesthetics and non-aesthetics. For example, taking ecstasy to "dance", no matter how "exciting", is still not an aesthetic activity, but a physical vent, not a manifestation of "essential strength".
There is a great historical mystery in China, that is, why do Han women bind their feet for a long time? Foot binding was once considered as an aesthetic requirement. If we measure it by "creativity", we can immediately see that this view is wrong. Because foot binding only destroys, not creates; There is only falsehood, ugliness and ugliness, and there is no truth, goodness and beauty. In this case, why can we bind the majority of Han women for a long time? This is worth discussing. According to textual research, foot binding began in the Southern Tang Dynasty. Li Houzhu likes women with little feet, and all the women in the palace are born beautiful. But Li Houzhu's hobby is not aesthetics, but sexual psychopathy and metamorphosis; Women in the palace strive for favor, which is not aesthetic, but favor. Then why do people outside the palace take little feet as beauty and artificially destroy and transform them? Everyone said, maybe Li Houzhu commanded, women all over the country should bind their feet. Even so, the rule of the Southern Tang Dynasty was limited to a part of the south of the Yangtze River. Who will accept this order from Han women outside Jiangnan and carry it out correctly? Moreover, the rule of Southern Tang Dynasty was only 38 years, and the reign of Li Houzhu was only 16 years. In such a short time, only one or two generations can bind feet at most. Li Houzhu died tragically. Do emperors below Song Taizong like feet? No In the Spring and Autumn Period, "King Chu Ling had a thin waist, and many women in the palace starved to death." When King Chu Ling died, no one died. Why can foot-binding last until the late Qing Dynasty and spread to Han people all over the country? This cannot be explained. It can only be said that people who love little feet at first are out of abnormal psychology; Later, many women bound their feet out of "conformity psychology", that is, following the trend; In the future, women will have to bind their feet, which is a cultural restriction. The core of culture is composed of various social collective consciousness; When "women should bind their feet" becomes the collective consciousness of the whole society, it is binding on individuals. The development track of this whole thing is: sexual psychopathy (male) → seeking favor (female) → conformity psychology (male and female) → forming collective consciousness and forming cultural constraints (male and female). Therefore, the wind of foot-binding that has devastated women for a long time contains profound historical lessons; It has always been mistaken for aesthetic expression, but it is a non-aesthetic activity from beginning to end.
Some people may say that this kind of thing will never happen again. Why do you say it? Not exactly. Like now, women lose weight blindly, which has formed a quite strong trend of "conformity". The pursuit of "devil figure" and the emphasis on "bone feeling" are more destructive to women than foot binding. Will it spread all over the country again? Now many men don't approve of women losing weight because they care about the health of their female compatriots. They know that female compatriots' desire for beauty is too urgent, and they are easy to fall into ideological misunderstanding, resulting in irreversible consequences. All diseases are caused by anorexia. It also affects the health of the next generation.
Another popular non-aesthetic phenomenon is idolization, which should actually be called anti-aesthetic phenomenon, because the worship of "stars (idols)" has completely lost its consciousness and confidence in its "essential strength" (it can be said that it has automatically given up its essential strength); He only has "persistent vanity" and "alternative satisfaction", and he doesn't want to make progress or create anything. But most people's idolization is just following the fashion, thinking that no idol is "old-fashioned", which shows that some "herd mentality" is very harmful. Some girls rebel against their parents and say that "idolization is the pursuit of beauty", which is sheer nonsense.
It is very important to distinguish between aesthetic activities and non-aesthetic activities. If we emphasize the diversity of beauty indiscriminately, it may confuse aesthetics. For example, the issue of "sexy" is quite complicated, because it is independent as a feeling, but it often appears in aesthetic activities and is intertwined with beauty. If you don't distinguish between sexy and aesthetic feeling, then yellow and obscene works will be considered very effective and therefore valuable artistic creation.
Most of the non-aesthetic activities mentioned above are in the field of non-art. Some people may think that there can be no non-aesthetic activities in the art field, but they are not. "Performance art" has appeared in various artistic fields for a long time. Do you think it is aesthetic? In the field of calligraphy, there are also non-aesthetic phenomena (such as behaviorism, ugly books and various expressions that increase the sensory stimulation of calligraphy). Therefore, it is necessary to improve the ability to distinguish and maintain the purity of the artistic beauty of calligraphy.
Students coming to this course means that they are close to the seriousness of "academic school" in art, and it is an important starting point to distinguish between aesthetic and non-aesthetic.
(B) the aesthetic psychology of surprise combination
In the aesthetic activities of calligraphy art, there is a quite popular psychological advantage, that is, when people watch calligraphy works, there will be some potential psychological activities at first, that is, comparing the image of calligraphy art in front of them with the impression of "standardized Chinese characters" or "typical Chinese characters" stored in memory since childhood (the so-called "standardized Chinese characters", at present, are roughly regular script characters and song-style characters printed on literacy textbooks). Therefore, the memory of standardized Chinese characters can be said to be a very useful "frame of reference" in the appreciation of calligraphy art. This comparison is quite common in art appreciation. If you look at figure paintings, landscape paintings and flower-and-bird paintings, you must compare them with the real people, real scenery and real flowers and birds in your memory. In the appreciation of calligraphy, it is through the comparison between calligraphy art and "model Chinese characters (or standard Chinese characters)" that the viewer can feel how calligraphers treat Chinese characters in such a novel and colorful way, thus being deeply amazed at the author's creative power.
As we all know, aesthetics will get beauty. But it is generally believed that aesthetic feeling is aesthetic pleasure, that is, pleasing to the eye; In fact, it must be accompanied by other psychological contents. If aesthetic feeling is only a single aesthetic pleasure, it is only sensory stimulation. In fact, because all parts of the brain have their own functions, they are also interconnected and interrelated, and they can induce nerve reactions with each other, just like an "Internet". So the response to rich things is always not single. The beauty created by art is a compound spiritual product, and the aesthetic feeling of art is a compound feeling. The generation of aesthetic feeling may sometimes contain more complicated psychological content; But there are also two psychological factors that often accompany each other, that is, the combination of "surprise" and "joy" (one bright and one dark). "Happiness" is aesthetic pleasure, often on the surface of consciousness; "Surprise" is an admiration for the artist's creativity, often in the deep layer of consciousness, and may even be unconscious. However, "surprise" is a very important factor in aesthetic evaluation when watching works of art with great aesthetic value. Artistic creation can make viewers feel amazed and amazed, which is a high affirmation of the author's creative strength.
Recently, I read an article about the performing arts of Zhang Chunhua, a famous Peking Opera clown, which said that "both Wen Chou, who is exquisite in workmanship, and Wu Chou, who is skilled in martial arts, require actors to have solid and amazing acting skills ..." (See "China Peking Opera", No.4, 2005, p. 10). This so-called "amazing" is that the audience has a sense of surprise. This kind of situation is possible in all kinds of art appreciation.
You can also use the opposite example to illustrate this point. For example, if someone watches some low-quality TV series, the more boring they are, the idea may emerge: "If I make up a TV series, it may be better than him!" You can't take it seriously. In fact, you may make it worse than him. However, if this statement is taken as an aesthetic evaluation, it will be serious, which means a complete denial of the TV series in front of us aesthetically. Because this "I" has never created anything in TV series, but "I" thinks he is not as good as "I". Doesn't this mean that the TV writer has no artistic creativity at all? If you don't feel surprised, you won't feel beautiful.
Calligraphy art has formed a "frame of reference" (that is, the memory impression of "standardizing Chinese characters") since childhood, which is more likely to produce a sense of surprise and pleasure, which is very beneficial to calligraphy aesthetics. However, now there are often calligraphy audiences who feel that "his handwriting is not as good as mine" when facing some works. This kind of psychological activity may be because the viewer doesn't understand it, but it deserves the attention of the creator anyway. Because beauty needs to be determined by aesthetics and needs social discovery and evaluation.
Having said that, I would like to add an idea, that is, from the perspective of social effects, calligraphy creation is best to take the road of appealing to both refined and popular tastes, which is easier to take. Too "advanced" approach, the masses do not accept; You said he didn't understand, but he was "God". What can you do to his father? Mei Lanfang has made great achievements in the innovation of Peking Opera. After watching his plays, and then watching the previous roles, it seems rather old-fashioned and awkward. Mei's innovation is accepted by everyone, and experts say it is good, and laymen also say it is good. This is because of two reasons: first, his artistic foundation is good and he absorbed the essence of traditional performances; Second, because his innovation is gradual and accumulated bit by bit, in his words, it is called "moving without deformation." Therefore, even the most conservative critics think this is acceptable. When he accumulates to a certain extent, looking back, he will find that his innovation is great, which is very different from the traditional role. But because Mei's innovation has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, she feels that the traditional performance looks a bit awkward. His approach is very thought-provoking. The most fundamental thing is that he always has an audience in his heart, and everything is subject to the effect of "acceptance".
(C) thinking can not replace perception
In philosophy and logic, thinking is considered as a rational psychological activity, so it is higher than feeling and perception as a perceptual psychological activity. There is nothing wrong with this statement. Because to reflect the essence and internal relations of things, we really need to think through the carrier of language.
However, don't think that thinking can replace perception. With rational knowledge, we can avoid perceptual knowledge. Without perceptual knowledge, people will starve to death, because they don't know steamed bread and all the food, and they can't find anything to eat in the street. Especially in aesthetic activities, perception plays a more decisive role, because the beauty of artistic works is expressed in the most emotional artistic image, and to appreciate beauty, we must use perceptual ability to obtain aesthetic feeling. Therefore, if you can't actually perceive the beauty of music, you can only tell it from the truth, so it's best not to talk about music. So is calligraphy. However, ambiguity is often a problem.
For example, we think someone's handwriting is tacky, angry or a craftsman. If he insists that you say where the "three souls" are, it will be in trouble. Because the perception of three qi is a kind of feeling or perception, most of it has nothing to do with the language belonging to the second signal system. People often say that some things are "understandable, but inexpressible". In fact, the so-called "comprehensibility" is often a purely perceptual and conscious activity. There are many such situations. For example, crabs in Yangcheng Lake are very fresh, and crabs in other waters are also very fresh, but they have different flavors, which can be perceived by a qualified taster with a bite. However, if you force him to explain the difference, he will never understand it. If there is a language master whose description of a delicious food can make you empathize, then many famous chefs will lose their jobs. Because everyone just needs to listen to the language master, and there is no need to invite a famous chef to make a "abalone wing banquet". Cao Cao refers to plum to quench thirst, and it takes the sergeant's own imagination to produce saliva. Holding a wine tasting contest in Europe is a big event, and we should invite wine tasters to be judges. But in fact, sommeliers can't tell the difference between good and bad wine. Their comments are often metaphors. For example, a wine is "a bunch of lilacs in a lonely evening, and when a pair of butterflies fly, it feels the air shaking". Can you tell the taste of that wine from this comment? Obviously impossible. However, all the sommeliers present could perceive his meaning.
Someone once said, "What a woman looks like is not the most important thing, but what kind of taste she has." This is very strange. Women are people, not crabs. How can she smell? But everyone knows what this man means. He wants to express a feeling, but there is no corresponding word (concept) to express it accurately. He can only use the word "taste" as a metaphor (this is just a metaphor). The word "flavor" is often borrowed, for example, calligraphy has flavor, singing has flavor, speaking has flavor and so on. But you have to feel the same way to understand what this means. I studied Beijing opera when I was young, and I thought about what "charm" was for a long time, and then I suddenly felt it. If you can see that calligraphy has a taste, then this person will soon become a calligraphy lover. There are many such words in China's traditional aesthetics, such as verve, verve, verve, realm, personality, meteorology, interest and so on. This actually shows a kind of accumulation of perceptual knowledge (very rich), but they will never reach the height of rational knowledge. Wang Guowei's masterpiece "The Thorn on Earth" emphasizes that poetry should have a "realm", but it never explains what a "realm" is. Just list a lot of poems and say that this has a "realm" and that has a "realm". After reading more examples, readers will generally understand what is "realm". If anyone can scientifically study and summarize such rich perceptual knowledge, an aesthetic system with China characteristics can be formed.
China's appreciation of traditional art has accumulated such rich and profound perceptual knowledge, which fully shows that aesthetics must use sensibility, and we should strive to make our perceptual ability sharp and profound. As a calligrapher, if you want to read posts or absorb the strengths of others, you must also have a keen perception. You can't see good or bad by theory alone, and you can't learn the strengths of others. In addition, if someone says that your handwriting has any shortcomings, don't ask what the shortcomings are. Because what he said is just feeling, and this feeling is correct; He can't make it clear. If a lady asks an aesthete, "How can I have taste?" The aesthetician must call this lady "thirteen points" in his mind ("thirteen points" is a curse from Shanghai, but Shanghainese can't understand what kind of person "thirteen points" is).
The above emphasizes the importance of feeling and perception in calligraphy appreciation, and emphasizes that thinking cannot replace perception. On the other hand, perception cannot exclude thinking.
First of all, because the brain is an "internet", various psychological activities come and go, which are induced and intertwined with each other. It is impossible to consciously exclude certain psychological activities (although the head is long on your neck, psychological activities have their own rules and are not completely directed by people).
Secondly, thinking also plays a huge role in appreciation and should not be excluded. Thinking is the expression of rational psychological activities, which can supplement perceptual psychological activities.
For example, the judgment of aesthetic phenomena and non-aesthetic phenomena often depends on rational thinking activities. This is because the aesthetic feeling is sometimes vague, uncertain and even different from person to person, and it is difficult to confirm and evaluate it by perception alone. Identifying non-aesthetic phenomena is not as obvious as identifying foot binding, idolization, weight loss and "performance art" (in fact, not everyone agrees with these phenomena). Once, a certain unit was going to hold a very important calligraphy exhibition. When evaluating the works, a young judge only selected the works with the tendency of "ugly books" for only one reason. He "thought there was something fishy", and the other judges didn't want to argue with him (and couldn't argue), so they had to stop talking. After the results are selected, a unit should be re-evaluated. Made a lot of adjustments. This incident at least shows that it is difficult to reach an agreement only by perception. Later, one of the judges said, "It seems that the evaluation of calligraphy works is much more difficult than the beauty contest. Beauty pageants will never let ugly people be elected just by feeling; Calligraphy works are different. " In fact, beauty pageants are not just based on feelings. In some aspects (such as the examination of comprehensive quality), rational analysis and evaluation play a great role.
Calligraphy is a psychological activity that can arouse association and imagination. Imagination refers to the visualization activities in the mind, and association is not limited to visualization activities, but may also lead to rational thinking. For example, it may arouse some understanding of life, philosophy, Zen, artistic dialectics and so on. I think Zhao Mengfu's calligraphy has changed three times in my life: when I was young, I thought his calligraphy was beautiful, but I was thinking about the previous comments on his character, so I deliberately said something demeaning to him; Middle age is the "Cultural Revolution". I have seen too many black-and-white inversions and feel that life is just like this. So I don't think it's necessary to haggle over every ounce with Zhao Mengfu. When copying the poster, I will write the word Zhao (labor-saving and agreed); Now I really feel that Zhao's coquetry is exposed, a bit tacky, and I really don't like it in my heart; Then I often think about the relationship between books and character. It can be seen that calligraphy appreciation is always inseparable from inner rational psychological activities, which affect perception. In short, appreciation of calligraphy should not only pay attention to perception, but also be irrational.
(4) Play an active role in calligraphy appreciation.
There are two common sayings to appreciate art, that is, "an expert looks at the doorway and a layman looks at the excitement." And truly elegant art, mostly nothing wonderful to see, so it is often either not appreciated or an expert. I didn't understand symphonies when I was a child. I'm just bored, so I just don't listen to them. Calligraphy is the same, experts like it, laymen have nothing to see and are indifferent. To become an expert, a layman should not be completely passive, but must exert his subjective initiative.
Why is this? Because the appreciation of any art is based on a certain degree of sensory stimulation; If a work of art can't inspire the appreciator, the appreciator won't have any artistic feeling, let alone cognition and understanding.
All kinds of arts stimulate the appreciators to varying degrees. For example, disco, break dancing, rock music, computer games and all kinds of pornographic works are all intense stimuli, and "performance art" is even more exciting. These stimuli can "lead the viewer by the nose" and make you indulge in them without subjective efforts; But it is harmful to people (especially teenagers) psychologically and physically. Because strong stimulation dulls people's senses, they pursue stronger stimulation. For example, "disco dancing" is not enough, so take ecstasy before jumping; If you don't get enough of pornographic books and periodicals, watch videos and even go whoring. Now physiological science has come to the conclusion that the pathological changes in the brain caused by internet addiction are exactly the same as those caused by drug addiction, so quitting "internet addiction" can no longer stay in psychological induction, but with the help of drugs. I believe that gambling addiction can also cause brain physiological diseases and should be treated with drugs. It can be seen that it is very important to properly grasp the intensity of stimulation in art appreciation and all entertainment activities! One-sided pursuit of sensory stimulation is not real artistic appreciation, but spiritual emptiness and degeneration.
All elegant arts give people weak stimulation, and China's calligraphy art may give people the weakest sensory stimulation, because it is only a black-and-white image, and it is static.
Of course, there are all kinds of modern art, such as modern calligraphy, modern painting, modern sculpture, modern dance and so on. , are vigorously pursuing to strengthen the intensity of stimulation. But as far as calligraphy is concerned, no matter how deformed it is, it is still only black and white. It is still quiet and solemn, always with some elegance naturally brought from the traditional culture of China. All these decide that calligraphy can only give people a weak stimulus.
Weak stimulation is good. Its advantage lies not in a "weak" word, but in being lured by weakness. In other words, the audience should play a dynamic role, which will deepen their feelings and be more interesting. This is the so-called weak stimulus to deep stimulus.
A gourmet once said that the best cooking art is Tang Lai. When a good soup is served, you will feel delicious and soft after drinking a spoonful, and you will soon feel how delicious it is, but the soup has passed all the taste buds and has no taste; I can only take another spoonful and concentrate on tasting. This kind of subjective and dynamic training can gradually sharpen your taste and smell. If the quality of a soup itself is not high, but a lot of monosodium glutamate is added, you will get a strong stimulus when you drink a spoonful, but it will only paralyze your taste, and if you drink too much, it will cause vomiting.
This metaphor is very interesting. It shows that artistic creation must use strength to "keep people's appetite" instead of making people eat and drink in the sea. If eating and drinking in the sea causes acute pancreatitis, that would be bad.
Calligraphy art should learn from that good soup. Preface to Lanting is the most appetizing work since ancient times. Open it, the whole looks beautiful; Looking closely word by word, the brushwork is full of movement, but it is natural; Finally, let you deeply perceive the author's creative mentality and emotions. Without this kind of perception, we can't really appreciate the Preface to Lanting. So what are the characteristics of its creative mentality? That is frankness, naturalness, openness and openness, which makes you very infected. So, how does the author make this mentality so full? I don't know if you don't know, but you can only continue to feel and think that the Preface to Lanting has become the Endless Preface to Lanting. It is indeed the most appetizing work in calligraphy art.
The works that are "appetizing" make people try their best to appreciate and make great subjective efforts. Appreciators have paid so much, but they still have to applaud loudly, because the more they pay, the more they get, and it is by no means a loss-making business. So, people are like this. You have the ability to make others work at full capacity, but he enjoys it. The so-called mobilization of people's enthusiasm is actually to induce people to "sell their strength." It is precisely because of this feature that human beings have become the most active and active force between heaven and earth.
But in the art of calligraphy (and all elegant arts), subjective initiative is not something you can play if you want to. You have to have the capital to invest. This "capital" is a deeper cultural and artistic accomplishment. The higher the cultural and artistic accomplishment, the more effective the subjective initiative can be in appreciation, and the more emotional it will be. As I said before, calligraphy "goes into the palace without cooking", so if you really want to understand and appreciate calligraphy, you can't stay in the kitchen all the time, but spend some tuition to go to a graduate class or something. If you want to know and appreciate calligraphy, you must go to the temple yourself.