Let's start with an aesthetic dream: the work of art was born, and the appreciation of it came from it. People's eyes on art works are aesthetic, and in the appreciation activities, under the guidance of the situation provided by the artist, there is a strong emotional resonance, which can be called the appreciation of the bosom friend, what a wonderful dream!
In the history of art throughout the ages, records of thirst for bosom friends and praise abound, and the most famous is the bosom friend story of the Tui Bo Yazi period. However, as contained in Liu Xian's "Wenxin Carving Dragon, Bosom Friend", "The sound is difficult to know, the truth is difficult to meet, and the bosom friend is one in a thousand years!" ”。This doesn't always happen in real-world art appreciation. On the contrary, we often find that the same work of art is perceived by each person's appreciative eyes and the result of a thousand different understandings, and as a result, they have very different emotions from each other.
In the study of art appreciation, many researchers have discussed the phenomenon of differences in appreciation, and the most common view is that the differences arise because of the "different solutions": in the face of appreciating and observing a certain work, people of different ages, different experiences, and different cultural backgrounds often form different understandings, and then produce different feelings and emotional effects according to their own understanding. This difference permeates all categories and styles of art works, from the most realistic works to the appreciation of modern conceptual art, pop art and other fields, although the degree of difference is different, but its existence is beyond doubt.
Taking art works as an object of appreciation, people's perception has changed several times with different perspectives. In traditional art appreciation, the work is primary: grasping the original intention of the creator is the first principle of appreciation, and the degree of restoring the author's intention has become the yardstick of appreciation, and the different effects of appreciation have a clear 'objective' standard. This seems to be logical in theory: as a product of social labor, art works have their own value, and in these works, the author subjectively tries to convey or objectively conveys a certain message, and art appreciation should also take this as a basic value orientation. However, the effect of this reduction in the actual appreciation activity is quite doubtful: while it is still unknown how far the viewer can go in a straight line between the two points of appreciation and the author's original intention, another concern immediately arises: as an appreciative individual, it is inevitable that the viewer's understanding will become a ray, and not only will it never reach the predetermined point, but it will go further and further.
In this regard, we can obtain more powerful evidence from the correspondence between the painter He Duoling and a critic. In his "Correspondence on "The Spring Breeze Has Awakened", he talked about the critic's understanding of his oil painting "The Spring Breeze Has Awakened":
He Duoling, "The Spring Breeze Has Awakened".
As for the "deep connotation", to be honest, I've been worried about the risks reviewers will take in this regard. ......A farmer once looked at my painting and commented, "A cow, a dog, a cowherd." "I know he's right. Therefore, I will thank you for your kindness for the literary and philosophical truths you have drawn from my paintings, but I cannot believe that I have said them; I listen to and comprehend your sincere feelings, but they are not from my paintings, but from the feelings of life. Perhaps, my paintings trigger these feelings in you, that's all. ”
This is true for the expert critic, and the average appreciator will be at a loss on this path, while the artist will not create a work without intention after all. For example, the first article of Tang Yuan's "Painting Guide" and "Miscellaneous Treatises" in the Yuan Dynasty contains: "The ancients painted with deep meanings. ”
Shang Yang, "The Yellow River Boatman".
In the article "On the Creation of the Yellow River Boatman", the painter Shang Yang talked about his graduation work "The Yellow River Boatman" can also be used as an example, he said: "What I have been pursuing for a long time is so clearly manifested here, I feel that my ideas have finally found a language, a shell. Liu Xian's "Wenxin Carving Dragon" exposition that "the husband embellishes the writer and resigns with emotion" can show that the author of the creation of a work of art has something to say.
Comparing two representative statements, the viewer finds himself in a dilemma, so much so that he trembles and walks on thin ice while appreciating it. Then simply put aside this intention and treat the work as an open visual structure, giving freedom to appreciation. The aesthetics of reception is another theory based on this appreciation (acceptance) of works. (To be continued).