About art
In his new, collaborative work, What is Art?, Count Leo Tolstoy, before offering his own answer, lists a long string of definitions of art from various eras. From Baumgarten to Helmholtz, from Shaftesbury to Knight, from Cousin to Sal Perardan, the views are extreme and contradictory. However, these perspectives on art collected by Tolstoy share a common thread: they all fail to focus on the essence of art, instead attempting to explain it through its function. This is akin to someone saying:...
About art
In his new, collaborative work, What is Art?, Count Leo Tolstoy, before offering his own answer, lists a long string of definitions of art from various eras. From Baumgarten to Helmholtz, from Shaftesbury to Knight, from Cousin to Sal Perardan, the views are extreme and contradictory. However, these perspectives on art collected by Tolstoy share a common thread: they all fail to focus on the essence of art, instead attempting to explain it through its function. This is akin to someone saying:...
Artistic creation should be as emotionally charged as writing a love letter!
Artistic creation should be as emotionally charged as writing a love letter. A mother who curses her child for life if the child is murdered is driven by emotion. Painters must also be emotionally rich in their work. How can a work move others if it cannot move the artist themselves? A painting must have its most essential element—the so-called "eye of the painting." This eye must be grasped tightly and not treated equally with everything else. Peking Opera performers have a three-word mantra...
Artistic creation should be as emotionally charged as writing a love letter!
Artistic creation should be as emotionally charged as writing a love letter. A mother who curses her child for life if the child is murdered is driven by emotion. Painters must also be emotionally rich in their work. How can a work move others if it cannot move the artist themselves? A painting must have its most essential element—the so-called "eye of the painting." This eye must be grasped tightly and not treated equally with everything else. Peking Opera performers have a three-word mantra...
Only through suffering can one appreciate the beauty of art.
In Zhuangzi's Free and Easy Wandering, the enormous chu tree, despised by humans because of its perceived uselessness, is thus able to live a long life. Mr. Chen Yuping named his residence "Chuzhai," a name derived from this. Uselessness is the key to great use; this is the true meaning of free and easy wandering. This insightful and optimistic view, however, stems from a profound understanding gained after experiencing great ups and downs, even despair. Mr. Chen Yuping was born in a rural ar...
Only through suffering can one appreciate the beauty of art.
In Zhuangzi's Free and Easy Wandering, the enormous chu tree, despised by humans because of its perceived uselessness, is thus able to live a long life. Mr. Chen Yuping named his residence "Chuzhai," a name derived from this. Uselessness is the key to great use; this is the true meaning of free and easy wandering. This insightful and optimistic view, however, stems from a profound understanding gained after experiencing great ups and downs, even despair. Mr. Chen Yuping was born in a rural ar...
The Art of Pause
In the bustling subway station, people's pace is always much faster than usual, keeping pace with the hurried drumbeats of modern life. As we move forward mechanically out of habit, it's as if we're being urged on by an invisible force, swept along, unable to identify ourselves, until we finally reach the platform. Dramatic theory considers "pause" as an action. Seemingly still waiting, the inner activity is rich. On the stage of real life, pause is also an art worth savoring. In that moment ...
The Art of Pause
In the bustling subway station, people's pace is always much faster than usual, keeping pace with the hurried drumbeats of modern life. As we move forward mechanically out of habit, it's as if we're being urged on by an invisible force, swept along, unable to identify ourselves, until we finally reach the platform. Dramatic theory considers "pause" as an action. Seemingly still waiting, the inner activity is rich. On the stage of real life, pause is also an art worth savoring. In that moment ...
The autumn of the old capital
Autumn, no matter when it occurs, is always a good thing, but autumn in the north is especially clear, quiet, and melancholic. I have travelled thousands of miles to reach Qingdao from Hangzhou, and even further from Qingdao to Peiping, yet I just want to savour the autumnal flavour of 'autumn', the old capital. In Jiangnan, autumn is repetitive, autumn never quite ends, and there is no one in the world, because there is none. The autumn scenery is not defined by famous flowers or fine wine, ...
The autumn of the old capital
Autumn, no matter when it occurs, is always a good thing, but autumn in the north is especially clear, quiet, and melancholic. I have travelled thousands of miles to reach Qingdao from Hangzhou, and even further from Qingdao to Peiping, yet I just want to savour the autumnal flavour of 'autumn', the old capital. In Jiangnan, autumn is repetitive, autumn never quite ends, and there is no one in the world, because there is none. The autumn scenery is not defined by famous flowers or fine wine, ...
