Return to Nature: Human Figure Art

Author: Gao Shengkui
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-04-01
Features: Full-color printed (thirteen of which are in black and white), a human body photography collection involving multiple domestic models, extremely popular. It is a strand of hair, a set of nails, the blue of a vein, the confusion in a gaze—all originating from afar, from the distant land where religion and philosophy were born, not something we can dominate, command, or do as we please. As the renowned American Jewish philosopher and theologian Heschel once said, "To be human includes the capacity to appreciate and the capacity to express appreciation. For thousands of years, authentic existence has encompassed both the act of doing and the act of appreciating, both the use of and the praise of, both labor and worship." "People of our time are losing the capacity to praise." "Because of the loss of the capacity to praise, modern people are forced to seek pleasure." Learning to appreciate and praise means learning to resist and rebel at the same time, and also halting decline and crime. This is the role of art, the creation of nature, the eternal goodness that resonates throughout the universe and has remained unchanged since ancient times.