Comments丨The Tiger Year Zodiac stamps are grooved "not prestigious", why not give more space for artistic expression

The most important thing in art is expression, not a simple reproduction of objective existence. We have seen so many ordinary, common, "tiger-like" tigers, and it is not good to have so many melancholy, anthropomorphic, emotionally delicate tigers?

Recently, the China Post Tiger Year Zodiac stamps began to be issued to the outside world, but many netizens complained that the tigers on the stamps were "slightly sad", their brows were locked, they looked sick, and they did not have the might of the mountain tiger at all. "The tiger in the first picture looks a little sad and full of sadness; in the second picture, the tiger mother with two cubs is not happy. The big tiger has no tiger power, and the little tiger is not agile. Some netizens even doubted the painter's level.

Chinese Zodiac Stamps for the Year of the Tiger issued by China Post

To be honest, the tigers on these two stamps really don't look so fierce. The tiger with a "sad face" not only has a somewhat tangled expression, but also has some short limbs, but also has some cuteness and cuteness; the tiger family in the second picture, the hair details are more obvious, but there is some sloppy vicissitudes, and it looks less "spirit".

But if we question the level of the painter based on this, there is no reason. The author Feng Dazhong is quite famous in the industry and is a national first-class painter. A search on the Internet can find a lot of "mainstream" tigers he painted - the kind of tiger that looks at the tiger, the tiger head and the tiger brain, and the tiger who is on the dragon disk.

Feng Dazhong himself also responded: "Animals also have joys and sorrows, so the tiger should crack this code, break through its animal attributes to paint, anthropomorphize it, and strive to convey a spiritual emotion." "This explanation should be valid. Painting is different from photography, even if it is painting animals, it is actually a projection of human emotions. Starting from the inner charm to break through the traditional framework of expression is a very common innovative method in art.

Cute, pitiful, ridiculous tigers are actually very common in ancient paintings. Hua Yao, one of the eight monsters of Yangzhou in the Qing Dynasty, painted a "Tiger Peak Map". The tiger in the painting is like a sick cat, emaciated and even a little obscene, and can't do anything about a horse bee in the picture. Gao Qipei, the founder of finger painting (painting with fingers) in the Qing Dynasty, also painted a "Fat Tiger Figure". The tiger in the picture does not show its face, only shows a solid body and a round ass, much like the well-bred tigers in the zoo today, and it is also very interesting.

These innovations have been successful, and no one is surprised in the art world. Art originally accommodates multiple expressions, after all, there are both fierce tigers out of the mountains and tigers falling in Pingyang, and artistic creation is normal no matter from which angle it is cut.

However, the reason why Feng Dazhong's tiger has triggered many discussions is also to consider the special nature of the carrier. The unweakered tiger does not appear in professional art exhibitions, but in stamps for the general public. It is not surprising that the public, out of the traditional and mainstream aesthetic paradigm of tigers, does not fully identify with such tigers.

The discussion sparked by the tiger may also be seen as an art appreciation lesson for the public. Su Shi famously said: "On painting in the form of a resemblance, see the neighbor with the child; the poem must be this poem, and it must be known that it is not a poet." "The most important thing in art is expression, not a simple reproduction of objective existence. We have seen so many ordinary, common, "tiger-like" tigers, and it is not good to have so many melancholy, anthropomorphic, emotionally delicate tigers?

Moreover, the tiger imagery in modern society is originally very diverse, such as in cartoons, all kinds of cute, naughty, funny, nonsensical tigers do not know how many. For the paintings on the stamps, of course, they can also be different. How the public should look at art is actually a problem left to us by the "sad tiger".

Art will certainly encounter the intuitive judgment that the public likes or dislikes, and there will be people who do not like such a tiger. Even so, it is better to leave more space for artistic creation, after all, only the richer and more diverse the forms of creation, the more likely it is for each person to encounter his own heartwarming things.

Red Star News Special Commentator Yi Zhi

Edited by Wang Yaotao

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