Chinese folk art is vastly different from Western traditional art in
philosophy concept, art structure and form, and color composition.
Philosophy concept — Chinese folk art last minute China travel deals,
and the art of Chinese officialdom and professional artists share the
same philosophy base. They are rooted in the same comprehension that
heaven and human, objects and subjects are of one entity; and they are
based on the same cosmic ontology. However, folk art is 1 continuation
of the original Chinese philosophy, a straightforward display of this
philosophy; whereas the art of the literati and officialdom only draws
from its concept to express personal feelings of the artists.
Rural
female laborers are among the main creators of Chinese folk art,
especially in categories such as paper- cut. In my observation of their
entire process of creative art, they were indeed expressing their
understanding of the universe through art works, using a language from
the original mode of philosophical symbols. That is a common nature of
all communal art. The individuality of their art work lies in the
variance of the symbols and codes related with their national identity
and geographical region; their emotional temperament and the cultural
attainment of the creator, and the art form and language they choose.
Folk art is a kind of personalized art. The common nature of folk art is
displayed through individual art works.
Take fish for example,
according to ancient Greek philosophy, which is the base of Western
philosophy, "art is a mirror image of nature;" (Heracleitus) "artist's
skill depicting visual objects." (Aristotle) Under that theory best tours of China,
the goal of an artist is to copy the objective natural world, and the
best lifelike imitation would be the ultimate achievement in art.
Therefore, the art is about studying the structure and the color pattern
of natural objects; judging their physical existence in terms of
quality, quantity and space. To draw a fish for the best imitation, it
would have to pull the fish out of the water and place it in a basket in
order to convey that feel of quality, quantity and space, even the
smell. This is what they call a "motionless object." This theory of
creative art is determined by the philosophy that fish and human are two
separate entities, and the nature and the society are opposite worlds.
This actually has been the philosophical and aesthetical base of western
art for over 2000 years.
On the other hand, Chinese philosophy
and art structure is the unity of nature and human and integration of
objects and ego (subjects). To Chinese artists, I am the fish and the
fish is me. If I paint a fish swimming carefree in the water, it is a
way to express my own care-free state of mind. This was the same
philosophy invoked by the Chinese philosopher Zhuang Zi in "The Autumn
Water." Looking at fish by a pond with a friend, Zhuang Zi said to his
friend, "The fish swimming in the water are so happy." The friend
replied, "Not a fish yourself, how would you know?" "Not being me, how
do you know that I don't know?" claimed Zhuang Zi. The philosophy based
on Confucius and Taoist theory to speak one's mind and convey one's
emotion through an object, is the philosophical and aesthetical base of
Chinese traditional art, and a technique in freehand art work. Different
from the theory of Western art popular China tours,
Chinese paintings are generally focused on bringing out the theme of
the objects regardless of being a realistic painting or a freehand
brushwork.
In the eyes of folk art creators, fish is a cultural
symbol that produces life through mating of yin-yang fish. In art form,
it appears in pairs. Propagation is to continue life from generation to
generation till eternity, which happens in a revolving pattern.
Therefore, the art form is 'Two spinning fish." The "Eight diagram
fish," with two fish on a plate towards opposite directions, implies
that mother's body of the universe (the plate) contains yin-yang air.
The interaction of the two produces life, and, through propagation, life
goes on forever. The "Buckled bowl", a package with a dish and a lid,
is a philosophy symbol. The upper lid symbolizes the sky, and the lower
dish is earth, representing the blurry mother's body of the universe
before the separation of earth from heaven; yin from yang. One can be
separated into two, and two combined in one. In some art works, the lid
opens up with a fish coming out, an implication of life being produced
through unification of yin-yang.
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