Feng Yinqiang: Please tell me what kind of calligraphy works are excellent?

Now calligraphy creation has changed from a desk in the past to an activity with certain utilitarian factors and certain purposes, with exhibitions and competitions as the main means. The mentality and purpose of traditional calligraphy creation have changed, and the inherent ontological attributes and aesthetic principles of calligraphy have also been unprecedentedly impacted, so that some traditional calligraphy discourses cannot explain the practice of contemporary calligraphy creation, and some contemporary calligraphy discourses collide with traditional calligraphy discourses. At the same time, calligraphy creation with the main purpose of exhibition, evaluation, communication and competition has also bred impetuous psychology of quick success and instant benefit, which has become an unavoidable fact. In such a creative environment, many calligraphers, driven by the psychology of quick success and instant benefit, ignore the cultural and spiritual connotation behind the traditional calligraphy practice, so that they unilaterally emphasize the pen and ink skills and the visual impact of the external forms of their works to cater to the tastes of judges or appreciators, and thus obtain the results of material labor (creation).

On the positive side, this undoubtedly increased the creative enthusiasm of calligraphy writers and made their calligraphy learning and creation have a clear goal. For judges or appreciators, this practice of calligraphy creation, which overemphasizes pen and ink skills and visual impact, has indeed given them some aesthetic pleasure and gained some recognition. In this sense, the artistic labor between the creators and appreciators of calligraphy has reached a certain "* * * sound" with a certain purpose. However, the author thinks that this "* * * Song" is not only a * * * Song in the aesthetic category, but also seems to be somewhat contrary to the traditional aesthetic thought.

If we look at today's calligraphy creation practice from the perspective of calligraphy, their calligraphy attributes are questionable. In fact, at present, the calligraphy works in the exhibition hall are mostly utilitarian and purposeful labor creations, which means that this kind of calligraphy creation is actually a kind of material production labor, and the calligraphy works created should also belong to labor products. This is so weird! Isn't our traditional calligraphy art an art that embodies the temperament, knowledge, cultivation and creative mentality of the creative subject, and at the same time can carry forward the spirit of the subject? How to transform it into material productive labor today? Since it is utilitarian and purposeful material labor, calligraphy works should be physical objects. When this kind of object accepts aesthetic judgment and appreciation, it is transformed into the material carrier of calligraphy artistic expression. One is the material object of material production and labor creation, and the other is the material carrier of calligraphy artistic expression. If we understand them conceptually, the material object and the material carrier should be completely irrelevant, which is obviously an irreconcilable contradiction. Moreover, the ultimate goal of these material labor products is to accept the appreciation of the aesthetic value judgment, but an important feature of aesthetics is unprofitable and super-utilitarian. One is productive labor with utility, purpose and health, and the other is aesthetic judgment of non-utility and super-utility, which is obviously an irreconcilable contradiction. However, these two irreconcilable contradictions have been strangely unified in today's realistic environment with calligraphy exhibition as the main form. Besides, when non-utilitarian or super-utilitarian appreciators make aesthetic judgments on these labor achievements, is it possible to reach a * * * sound with the creator's mentality? Since it can't, the evaluation criteria can only be placed on the level of external forms or techniques such as lines, composition, layout and style of the work. In this way, the traditional concepts such as "books are like people" and "books draw for the heart" should be questioned here. How to embody the aesthetic connotation of calligraphy? If the aesthetic connotation is embodied through the external form of calligraphy works, does it mean that the cultural spiritual connotation behind innovative works that emphasize the external form and pen and ink skills of calligraphy works unilaterally, pursue sensory stimulation and make breakthroughs in form or skills is deeper than traditional calligraphy? The answer is no, of course. Therefore, when we face such calligraphy works, how to make an objective and correct value judgment by using traditional aesthetic principles is the first problem we have to face.

As we all know, tradition is the only basis of aesthetic judgment before there is a new standard of aesthetic judgment. Because of this, the beneficial and purposeful calligraphy creation of calligraphy creators is still based on tradition, trying to embody the spiritual essence of tradition. However, in fact, the "tradition" mentioned here is already a superficial or external tradition, and its core content is different from the traditional creative mentality and purpose, and the connotation loaded by traditional works is not paid enough attention to, which leads to the inability to approach the tradition itself. In this way, inheritance and innovation in the true sense are out of the question. For calligraphers, in order to change this situation, we must face and solve two problems: one is the creative mentality, and the other is the understanding of tradition.

First of all, as far as creative mentality is concerned. The creative subject should abandon those utilitarian factors, treat exhibition appraisal with a participatory attitude, and devote all his energy to the study and research of calligraphy art. Only in this way can the aesthetic connotation and spiritual realm of calligraphy be perfectly unified in the practice of calligraphy creation, and the utilitarian and purposeful material labor of calligraphy creation can be transformed into pure artistic creation. Only in this case, as an appreciator, can we see the spiritual realm of the creator through the external form of the work, and then produce emotional voices, and then make value judgments on the work.

Some people say that tradition is not necessarily excellent. Excellent calligraphy tradition should be a part that has played or is playing a role in the history of calligraphy in China, the development of cultural history in China and the construction of modern culture, and belongs to the part of truth, goodness and beauty. Therefore, excellent calligraphy tradition can also be understood as the embodiment of aesthetic thought in the whole history of calligraphy. It makes sense, but if we make a speculative understanding of traditional aesthetic thought and calligraphy theory from the height of the times, we will find that it also has many extremes, deficiencies and even fallacies. Then the practice of calligraphy creation and excellent calligraphy tradition under its guidance will go against our contemporary aesthetic thoughts and calligraphy theory.

Whether tradition is excellent or not, or whether the excellent ingredients in tradition are pleasant, seems to be a question of the times. Therefore, we can also say that an excellent calligraphy tradition should be an excellent component in the tradition, and this worrying component can reach a certain agreement with our contemporary aesthetic consciousness and aesthetic thought, so it can be considered as our excellent tradition. This requires us to deeply understand and inherit the tradition, first of all, from the aesthetic standpoint of the times, to rationally analyze and think about the traditional aesthetic thought, calligraphy theory, creative practice and its historical and cultural background, and to dialectically and critically judge their Chou He inferiority values from the viewpoints of dialectical materialism and historical materialism. After understanding the internal factors why excellent calligraphy tradition is excellent and the profound cultural and spiritual connotation it contains, we should make a wise choice and combine the aesthetic thought and artistic concept of the times to create excellent calligraphy art worthy of history and the times.

Take Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Jin Wen as examples. First of all, we should affirm the significance of Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Jinwen as traditional calligraphy. However, it is undoubtedly dangerous and difficult to discuss the artistic factors contained in Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Jin Wen and the aesthetic consciousness of the writers at that time. The reason is that up to now, we have not been able to dig out the writing ink before the Western Zhou Dynasty. What if I write without ink? What about calligraphy without writing! It seems very difficult to infer the aesthetic consciousness of the writers at that time and the cultural and spiritual connotation behind the writers only from the inscriptions on Oracle Bone Inscriptions and the Western Zhou Dynasty. However, we must never give up the possibility of this exploration, otherwise we will give up the pursuit of the cultural connotation of Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Jinwen, and thus unilaterally pursue the external form or pen and ink skills of the works. As calligraphy art, Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Jinwen cannot be discussed.

From the perspective of inheritance and innovation, at present, most of our calligraphers of Oracle Bone Inscriptions and inscriptions on bronze inscriptions only rely on speculation and imagination, and only stand on the level of form or skill to "boldly" recreate those nailed Oracle Bone Inscriptions and rusty inscriptions on bronze, so the so-called inheritance here is only superficial inheritance, that is to say, only after a long time, they left a deep impression on Oracle Bone Inscriptions's modern parts and inscriptions on bronze, or left Oracle Bone Inscriptions and inscriptions on bronze.

Judging from the calligraphy creation of Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Jinwen in the current national large-scale book fair, the external form of this kind of writing re-creation really shows the external style characteristics of Oracle Bone Inscriptions's simplicity, lightness, broadness, solemnity and preciseness of Jinwen, and on the whole, the practical writing in Luo Zhenyu era has been basically completed (although the practical writing of Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Jinwen is not practical now, it only refers to the contrast between writing and calligraphy creation, which is pure. This change not only makes the ancient Chinese characters present a new and rich artistic expression language, but also gives people a refreshing feeling from the external form because of its peculiar shape. This has brought more freedom and broader creative space for calligraphy creation, so that it has become the creative object of many unconventional calligraphers, and this creative achievement has been widely recognized by the calligraphy community.

The above is just a formality. As far as connotation is concerned, the external form of this innovation can hardly be regarded as melancholy. First of all, this external form of inheritance and innovation lacks the consideration of the writer's aesthetic feeling at that time and the cultural and spiritual connotation behind it, and fails to achieve the calligraphy significance that calligraphy works should bear; Secondly, this external form of inheritance and innovation fails to deeply explain and interpret the historical and cultural background of the traditional era, so that the appreciator can't ponder and daydream the traditional culture through the calligraphy works while obtaining the external form of sensory stimulation, and can't reflect the cultural significance that the calligraphy works should carry, which seems to lack some conditions to constitute a strict concept of calligraphy.

Therefore, as far as Oracle bones and inscriptions on bronze are concerned, the truly profound tradition should be to explore the writer's aesthetic consciousness and the deeper cultural and spiritual connotation behind it through the existing materials of Oracle bones and inscriptions on bronze, and reach a certain agreement with the writer's aesthetic consciousness at that time. The innovation of Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Jinwen refers to crossing time and space, linking contemporary aesthetic thoughts with contemporary aesthetic consciousness, and then creating Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Jinwen calligraphy works with both classical and modern features. These calligraphy works can edify and infect the appreciators from China's ancient civilization, and then inspire them, purify their souls, and increase the fun of life, so as to devote themselves to social construction with greater enthusiasm. Only such calligraphy works can be considered excellent. For calligraphers, especially Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Jin Wen, this requirement seems a little harsh and difficult.