So, under what circumstances did ugly books develop?
Modern calligraphy art, to put it bluntly, is something that the ancients played with, and later generations can only pick up some scraps and develop new calligraphy art from it. The achievements of predecessors in calligraphy have reached the peak, that is to say, the structure of writing Chinese characters has reached the end of the historical cycle, so a new kind of calligraphy has emerged, that is, "ugly books." Ugly calligraphy is a kind of calligraphy with a certain social atmosphere developed along the specific direction of stele study. It has appeared since the Qing Dynasty and can also be regarded as another variant of cursive script.
From the orthodox form of calligraphy, people must be clear about their writing skills in order to survive in the social calligraphy circle; In ugly books, people must clarify the ugly elements themselves in order to be recognized by their peers. The former is facing this social calligraphy circle, while the latter is facing the ugly calligraphy circle, and its limitations are obvious at a glance. Ugly book culture is intended to express and shape the image of "helping the public" with words, that is, it does not pursue formal beauty, but only cares about whether it is free and easy, and expresses purity and truth with words. In a sense, ugly books themselves have the nature of cultural entertainment.
Ugly books in society are different from those in the past. Now you don't need to have the same skill as "helping the public" to write ugly books. Therefore, the sense of fragmentation and frankness shown by modern ugly books is a disguise, that is, using the ugliness of Chinese characters to express their uniqueness and originality. The practice of "taking ugliness as beauty" itself is a direct reflection of the variation of social personality, showing the impetuous social status quo.
Of course, this does not mean that ugly books are worthless. In the contemporary calligraphy world, there are still some people whose ugly books are very good, and their ugly books also have the style of clumsy beauty. Although the font structure is crooked and seemingly incongruous, it is actually a natural style and has certain calligraphy value. However, such as calling books, Facebook, naked books, tongue books, etc., they are not really ugly books, but a means for outsiders to gain fame and fortune. Nowadays, many ugly "calligraphers" on the Internet are not real calligraphers, but buffoons.
Of course, existence is reasonable, and ugly books also have "value" of existence. No matter which era, things beyond their aesthetic limits are ugly. In a sense, the art of appreciating ugliness not only shows ugliness, reveals ugliness and denies ugliness, but also meets the aesthetic needs of modern people.