Abstract features in primitive art design

1, Aesthetics: From the perspective of primitive plastic arts, the aesthetic features of primitive arts are gradually developed and separated from practical functions. People first observe the phenomenon of things from a utilitarian perspective, and then look at things from an aesthetic perspective. On the one hand, with the diversification of tool making, it leads to the diversification of tool forms, from functional tool making to non-functional products (such as human ornaments); On the other hand, some decorative patterns are carved on some parts of tools and subsequent utensils, so in addition to functionality, non-functional aesthetic form factors-images are gradually added. Image is a special aesthetic symbol, an externalized symbol of artistic subject's aesthetic psychology and behavior, and a reflection of the real and long-term effect of objective reality.

2. Consciousness: The primitive society experienced the old and new times, and it was also the development process of aesthetic consciousness from unconsciousness to consciousness, and it was also the production and development process of primitive emotion and simple concept art. In the Paleolithic Age, although the ancestors did not leave a visible image, we can see the formation of primary aesthetic ability and the germination of aesthetic consciousness from their creative work spontaneously due to biological instinct. This period is a period of aesthetic unconsciousness. With the arrival of the new era, a new chapter has appeared in the history of China fine arts, and it has entered the stage of aesthetic consciousness. The art of this period is characterized by chaos. Pottery, stone tools, sculptures, rock paintings and ground paintings in this period were not created purely for "beauty", but a reflection of primitive social life, "born in the materialized form of consciousness and concept, and a combination of practicality and aesthetics". As the creative subject, when the "self-consciousness" of primitive people has matured, but the psychological activities belonging to the experience world have not developed and accumulated to a certain extent, it will not promote the emergence of art. In the constant struggle to conquer nature, primitive people have gradually accumulated a lot of experience. On the one hand, these experiences have increased their ability to adapt to survival; On the other hand, their psychological desire for knowledge, solution and verification is constantly growing under the stimulation of countless external things. Every impact of external things on their hearts inevitably makes them have a desire to explain and control reality. As a result, painting, sculpture, myth or dance have become the media and control means for them to vent their accumulated feelings for a long time. "Primitive art is neither produced by pure curiosity nor by the creative impulse itself. The purpose of primitive art is not to create a pleasant image, but to regard it as an important practical tool and extraordinary power in daily life, and sometimes even a real spouse during sexual intercourse. In various grand celebrations, it even completely replaced the roles of people, animals and things. It can not only record and transmit information, but also cast magic on things and elves that are not in sight. "

3. Abstraction: Because primitive humans have not fully developed in thinking and intelligence, when expressing certain emotions and thoughts, they unconsciously formed abstract art in primitive art, which is of decorative significance. This is an unconscious expression in conscious activities and is not subjective. In primitive art, there are many abstract graphics, such as geometric graphics or "simplified" graphics of real images. Their characteristic is that it is difficult to see at a glance what these figures have to do with objective existence. Such as fish, frogs and birds in painted pottery, and "simplified" images of animals and characters in rock paintings. Some researchers believe that abstraction should be a psychological processing process of prototypes related to people's specific psychological activities. In other words, primitive people's visual concept of things is divided into two parts: central attribute and edge attribute. The process of abstraction is the process of separating the central attribute, and the performance in artistic works is the process of "simplifying" the image. "In the original plastic arts, the separation of central attributes is achieved by reducing the number of details or appearance features of the prototype. This appearance feature is also an edge attribute, which is usually related to the physical attributes of the object. When the physical attributes are gradually externalized, the central attributes are gradually displayed. If this process is the precipitation of the central attribute in semantics, then it is manifested as a series of image simplification in the form of modeling. Semantic extraction is just assisted by formal simplification, or semantic extraction and formal simplification are two aspects of the same process. This process is also an abstract process of primitive art. "When primitive people reproduce an animal, they only show the number of limbs or some organs of the animal, or just use some contour lines (geometric figures) to show the shapes, types, functions and the relationship between them. When they do this, they realize the prominence of the basic structural form by reducing the number of object features, that is, edge attributes. For example, the image of a realistic sheep has many detailed features of its body, including its head, body, legs, horns, tail and erect genitals. In the "simplified" pattern, the head, body and tail are greatly simplified, leaving only one basic figure that can no longer be simplified. The patterns of people, animals and plants on primitive painted pottery are very abstract and symbolic. They are not only decorative patterns, but also symbolize the gods in their minds. With the germination and development of primitive aesthetic consciousness and the arrival of conscious aesthetic era, this abstract decorative art has been marked by people, and the basic formal factors of beauty such as symmetry and balance have appeared. From here, we can get a glimpse of the clear clues of the development of human aesthetic ability.

In a word, aesthetics, consciousness and abstraction run through the whole primitive art, even affecting later bronze art, sculpture, and even Chinese painting and modern painting. The ancestors of wisdom created such a splendid civilization. Primitive art is the art of human childhood, and it is the record of human's progress from barbarism to civilization.