Zeng Mi's Art Notes

Author: Li Zhongfang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-05-01
Features: When people had not yet developed means of written communication, the ability to perceive through visual imagery and forms became the primary mode of perception. Visual judgment and appreciation of images surpass those through writing and speech. The phrase "to take an image is to compare, to take meaning is to inspire" is from Jiaoran's Poetic Forms, meaning what Liu Yanshou referred to as "comparison reveals what inspiration conceals." Thus, inspiration must rely on imagery. Good painters inspire people's aesthetic sense, while bad painters exploit people's ignorance. Perception differs from sensation. Perception is the prerequisite for sensation. Sensation involves association and imagination, engaging our memories and experiences to form a comprehensive psychological state. An enforcement sequence without clear scientific laws is the cohesion of all artistic creation, a cohesion that can only be achieved through sensation, perhaps superior to explicit scientific methods like perspective, single musical tonalities, and so on. Music allows rational operations to complete sensation—only when rationality becomes sensually perceived does true music exist. Any renewal of art or the emergence of masters begins with the renewal of sensation. The renewal of sensation is the decisive factor in elevating the realm of art. New sensations are built upon existing old ones, and sensation is composed of cognitive level and imaginative ability. For artistic creation, the most important abilities are imagination and judgment. Imagination is creating from nothing, while judgment is distinguishing and selecting. P5 Cultural literacy ultimately directly influences the ability to process sensation. When faced with the myriad visual factors rushing at us, the speed and level of sensation processing become decisive. Sensation processing is also the choice of consciousness and cultural taste. The current return of artistic forms does not prove the extraordinary visual ability or artistic generalization of the ancients, but can only be attributed to a vague artistic sensation and the skillful expression. Those with keen eyes to see more artistic value factors in ancient artworks naturally belong to modern artists. What we can learn from the creativity of the ancients is limited to their desire for expression and their techniques of performance, their simple and intrinsic intentions, and nothing more. Self-perception is the most direct and effective standard for measuring one's cultural literacy. The genius who skillfully utilizes free variations of imagery not only absorbs the vocabulary of the ancients or others but also creates their own language. They can express the experiences and feelings of their living environment, personal character, and history, even those that transcend the scope of their era, personal life, character, and knowledge, and express an aesthetic consciousness that transcends reality. The richest and most valuable aspect of humanity is emotion. Painting is the most intuitive and diverse form of expression in this regard. Therefore, sincerity and honesty naturally become the most precious content in artistic expression. Truth is the foundation of faith, and faith is the bridge of love. In thousands of years, the only fixed factors that painters can eternally remember are the beauty of nature. She is the matrix of all styles, the embodiment of myriad artistic expressions.