Chinese Ink Painting: Artistic Views from Antiquity to Modernity

5.1.3.2 Traditional and Contemporary Artistic Views

The artistic views of Chinese ink painting can be summarized as 'unity of heaven and man', 'expression of life', 'the combination of Tao and Zen', 'the interactive view of yin and yang', and the fusion of ancient and modern art.

5.1.3.2.1 'Unity of Heaven and Man'

The philosophical understanding of the 'unity of heaven and man' in China expresses the harmonious coexistence of human beings and nature. The interaction between human beings and the spirit of heaven and earth has formed the aesthetic idea of the unity of subjectivity and objectivity in traditional ink painting, and has become the soul of Chinese painting, especially landscape painting. In Chinese philosophy, the combination of human beings and nature and the transcendent realm beyond nature is considered the highest state of human life, and is regarded as the true realm of psychological and spiritual freedom and aesthetic realm, thus determining the close connection between Chinese art and life growth. The pursuit of forgetting oneself in nature, the unity of oneself and others, and the pursuit of the intrinsic meaning of 'Tao' and the idea of the unity of heaven and man in ink painting are the inner pursuit of traditional literati ink painting, the connotation of 'Tao', and the expression of the unity of heaven and man in ink painting. Therefore, the spiritual purpose of traditional Chinese ink painting is to achieve the unity of heaven and man. Of course, the advocacy of 'forgetting oneself in nature and the unity of heaven and man' does not deny the subjective spirit of the artist. The active creativity of the subject is highly valued by artists. The relationship between subjectivity and objectivity is, on the one hand, the relationship between 'nature as teacher, and the heart as source', and on the other hand, it also emphasizes the imagination and spiritual freedom of 'imagining beautifully'.

5.1.3.2.2 'Expression of Life'

In Chinese philosophical understanding, the universe is not a cold space of matter, but a world with the existence of life. Therefore, in the eyes of Chinese people, calligraphy and painting are living and dynamic existences, and are living cultural forms. This pursuit of the lively spirit of life is reflected in the preference for 'dynamic feeling'. Chinese artists want to express the lively form of art, and the unity of the lively form and the profound and vast spiritual life. In the use of ink and brush techniques, they express the rhythm of life appropriately. The pursuit of this sense of life is expressed in the ancient painters' terminology of vitality, interest, and natural interest. In Chinese ink painting, life is both subtle and simple. To paint objects vividly, the ink and brush must be used to express the living objects. In landscape painting, it expresses the high mountains and flowing water, changing smoke and clouds; in flower-and-bird painting, it embodies the vibrant and agile natural life; in figure painting, it advocates the combination of form and spirit, and vivid portrayal.

5.1.3.2.3 'Tao' and 'Zen' Combined

The 'Tao Zen spirit' is a combination of Buddhist and Laozi's philosophical ideas. The 'Tao Zen spirit' is highlighted in the literati paintings of 'ink is the best', and has become the spiritual home of ancient Chinese literati who withdrew from the world and relieved their worries. The spirits of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism form an important part of the Chinese cultural view.

In Laozi's philosophy, the 'Tao' is the core, and it is interpreted from the perspective of cosmology and elemental theory. It is considered to be an absolute existence beyond the image and is empty and infinite. When artists are creating art, they need to respect nature and cannot use the concept of 'man conquers nature' to control it. They need to grasp the existence of 'Tao' through the unity of virtual and real art images. The Zen sect advocates 'directly pointing to the human mind, seeing the nature and becoming a Buddha', emphasizing the realization from the inside out, and then pursuing liberation, and finally reaching the state of transcending the world and returning to nature. The Zen sect believes that 'harmony' is the foundation on which all things exist and emphasizes the role of the 'heart', affirming the unique feelings of each individual's soul.

Like the Confucian philosophy of entering the world, the out-of-the-world philosophy of Taoism and Zen also seeks to establish harmony between humans and society and humans and nature, and to establish a harmonious spirit while complementing each other internally, forming the overall ideal structure of classical Chinese aesthetics. Chinese traditional ink painting is influenced by this traditional Eastern philosophical thought, forming a painting recognition with national characteristics. Ink painting emphasizes the combination of yin and yang, the interrelation of virtual and real, and the combination of movement and stillness. It uses methods such as looking up and down, and scattered-point perspective to grasp the constant renewal and cyclical spirit of the universe. It emphasizes the combination of the subjective experience of the painter and nature, ultimately reaching a state of unity between the self and nature. The combination of this natural aura and the creative spirit of human beings has inspired people's imagination, aroused people's infinite thoughts and aspirations, and from which people can understand the meaning of 'Tao' and feel the profound philosophy of 'Tao Zen'.

In short, the 'Tao Zen spirit' has a significant impact on art, philosophy, culture, and other aspects, and it has also injected spirituality and philosophical thinking into Chinese ink painting.

5.1.3.2.4 'Yin' and 'Yang' Interactive View

The dual-element relationship of the 'Tao', and the development and change of the form language of Chinese painting also follows the 'Tao' of the operation of the universe. All things exist in the opposition and connection of yin and yang, and they are one whole. The creation and generation of paintings are also naturally the existence of a combination of virtual and real. Objective existence is real, subjective imagination is virtual; what is visible is real, what is not visible is not seen; the image is real, the meaning is virtual, so China has the saying 'imaginative image' modeling. 'Imaginative image' is the combination of subjective and objective, and under the active thinking of human beings, it reaches a kind of internal characteristic expression, which is both the beauty of symbiosis creation of the combination of virtual and real, and the beauty of the unity of heart and object in the virtual and unreal.

From the analysis of the structural level of the form language of painting, we can see that any factor as a superficial factor must also contain deeper factors, such as the unity of the material attributes and cultural attributes of the material, the unity of the form language and spiritual imagery, and any spiritual imagery must be expressed through visible forms.

All techniques of Chinese ink painting are rooted in the unity of yin and yang, which is the interrelation of virtual and real, the mutual dependence of imagery. There is no absolute virtual, the virtual contains meaning, the virtual contains image; there is no absolute real, the real contains virtual, the real contains meaning. The driving force behind all changes in Chinese ink painting is the two forces of opposition and unity, differentiation and integration. The 'Tao' incorporates all the changing factors of the external world in a way of embracing everything with emptiness, so that all levels of form language, aesthetic character, and artistic spirit in Chinese ink painting present a multifaceted and open situation.

5.1.3.2.5 Fusion of Ancient and Modern, East and West: A Hybrid Artistic View

The artistic view of contemporary ink painting is a hybrid art that combines ancient and modern, East and West. It incorporates elements of modern art and international artistic languages on the basis of traditional ink painting techniques and spirit, creating ink works with unique personality and a sense of the times. Contemporary ink painting absorbs elements from Western modern painting, sculpture, and photography, and integrates them in terms of form. In contemporary ink painting, elements from ancient and modern times, East and West are fused together, such as traditional freehand brushwork, meticulous brushwork, and splashed ink, and contemporary abstract, geometric, and collage elements are all used in creation. In short, contemporary ink painting is a new way of using a combination of traditional and modern art to explore the vast world of ink art and form a new pictorial language and aesthetic concept. It uses colorful pictures and profound connotations to break the purity and monotony of traditional ink, showing a new aesthetics that combines ancient and modern times, East and West.

Ink language expression in the context of modern culture combines with the current cultural context, and many personalized works have a new visual impact. Their common spiritual direction is to reflect on the loss of human nature brought about by modern industrial and high-tech development. The ink language they use has been widely extended against the background of traditional ink culture and modern Western art. From the content and expression of contemporary ink painting, the performance characteristics are as follows:

First, they express the spiritual state of modern people under the influence of modern industrial civilization and the digital age, as well as artistic concepts related to Western modern and contemporary art, such as abstract art, expressionism, and so on. Strong personality awareness, modern humanistic qualities, critical awareness and anxiety awareness, etc., pay attention to the combination of inner feelings and external form expression.

Second, in terms of content, they pay more attention to the state of the city and people, focusing on inner feelings and emotional expression. The urban landscape brought about by urbanization, and the mass production of industrialization have fundamentally changed people's living conditions, forming new inner feelings.

Third, compared with traditional ink painting, contemporary ink painting has made great breakthroughs in terms of form composition, brushwork tools, material craftsmanship, and coloring production, and the technical techniques and media materials show the characteristics of integrated expression. From the perspective of artistic creation concept, subject matter, and methods, it is more free and more extensive.