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Source | Author of Shuyi Commune (ID: shufaorg) | Song Shikuan
It is difficult for calligraphy to serve the public, at least for the time being, it can only serve the authors who appreciate it~~
As early as more than 70 years ago, Comrade Mao Zedong elevated literature and art to the level of serving politics at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art. Prior to this, because literary and artistic creation was rarely combined with the historical background of the time, Mao Zedong was deeply worried about this: our literature and art did not pay attention to the bloodshed of the soldiers in front of us, did not publicize the agrarian revolution and the life of the masses in our liberated areas, but "watched the war" from the sidelines, and created some works that were free from disease and groaned, and were inconsequential (this was a conversation between Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai before the symposium). After the Yan'an Symposium on Literature and Art, literature and art emerged with new vitality, and a large number of influential works were produced throughout the country.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, because the party's political power was not yet completely stable, the political struggle and class struggle were continuous, and literature and art became the means and weapons of certain (people) groups to achieve a certain goal.
After the reform and opening up, the party and the government put forward a new literary and artistic policy, that is, the "two for" principle, one of which is to serve the people. Since then, literature and art that have been dormant for many years have begun to recover, ushered in a new dawn, all kinds of literature and art have flourished, and there has been unprecedented tension, and many works are deeply loved by the masses and become indispensable spiritual food for people, such as music in "On the Field of Hope", "Young Friends Come to Meet", "Where the Peach Blossoms Bloom", "Little Poplar", and the songs in the TV series "Journey to the West" and "Dream of Red Mansions" are well-known, and have become classics that have been widely sung so far, throughout the eighties, It can be said to be the revival of modern Chinese literature and art.
However, 30 years have passed, and literature and art have become a new issue, especially since the new century. Due to the diversity of modern aesthetics, the variety of entertainment patterns, the rise of online literature and art, etc., people's appreciation of "orthodox" literature and art has become tired of the senses, and the demand for spirit is no longer the single one in the eighties. Under the pressure of modern fast-paced life, a large part of people completely seek spiritual release, and the other part pursues the stimulation of new, strange, strange, ugly (ugliness is beauty), etc. In this environment, some literary and artistic workers create according to the "market demand" in order to cater to the public. As a result, there are all kinds of works that are generally not of high quality, and vulgar, vulgar, and vulgar works have risen, while some elegant works that can truly enhance the humanistic spiritual character are not read, and people's aesthetics of literature and art have been generally vulgarized, so that the entire literary and artistic creation orientation has fallen into confusion and confusion. For this reason, conscientious writers and artists began to think deeply, who does literature and art serve? Is it to put "God" (the public) first or to follow the laws of literature and art?
Taking calligraphy as an example, there is no doubt that calligraphy serves the public, and only in this way can calligraphy have a "market", and the masses can appreciate the beauty of its art, which is what every calligrapher wants to see, and it is also the responsibility of calligraphers. But the reality is: the works of the vast majority of our calligraphers, the public (including intellectuals) like calligraphy is precisely those who have a little bit of pen and ink work or slightly better than the pure layman's "vulgar book", which is the embarrassing phenomenon faced by the current calligraphy, obviously, the public likes not necessarily good, the public with high quality may not like (understand), some people say that "elegant and vulgar appreciation" is the best, but this stumped the calligrapher, this kind of work is quite difficult, and this kind of work is also controversial, even the world's first line of book "Orchid Pavilion Preface" It has also been criticized by insiders and laymen, which shows the complexity of calligraphy aesthetics.
Objectively speaking, the aesthetic of calligraphy is slightly more difficult (high) than other art disciplines, because it is not like literature, painting, opera, drama, dance, music, etc., which are based on everything in the objective world or reflect real life, but only rely on a few seemingly simple but extremely profound and abstract lines to compose the art of writing. To be able to appreciate calligraphy, you must have a certain artistic accomplishment, no wonder some scholars once said: "I don't know Peking Opera, don't talk about calligraphy." Of course, this is somewhat arbitrary, but it reflects the difficulty (height) of calligraphy aesthetics. In this environment, it is doubtful to say that calligraphy serves the public, and if it really serves the public, it will degrade the quality of calligraphy. Mr. Shen Peng, the former chairman of the Chinese Calligraphy Association, once said: "Don't blindly cater to the public, try to make them understand calligraphy, otherwise, calligraphy will not develop." ”
As far as the aesthetics of calligraphy is concerned, some people later proposed to change "popularization" to "popularization of calligraphy", with the intention of improving people's aesthetic vision to make them recognize calligraphy. This is an insightful suggestion, but it is difficult to implement in a short period of time, and it will take a long time.
It can be seen that it is difficult for calligraphy to serve the public, at least for the time being, it can only serve the authors who appreciate it (vassal elegance is another matter), then, in addition to popular literature, popular music, film and television literature and art, quyi, general painting, dance, etc. However, "pure literature" (refers to "flowery cavities" such as hazy and ungrounded), "pure music" (refers to world folk music, Chinese classical folk music, bel canto singing), freehand painting, drama, etc., are only appreciated by a small number of people and are difficult to serve the public.
The development of literature and art to this day, the service objects of literature and art have changed from emphasizing "politics" to emphasizing "the public", which is the progress of the times and society, and different historical periods have different service objects and requirements, but the development of literature and art must eventually return to art itself, which is the inevitable development of literature and art.
Looking back on the past 30 years, although our literary and artistic creation has diluted politics, our subconscious has been more or less disturbed, and some leaders who preside over literary and artistic work have narrowly understood that literature and art are tools to sing praises for the rulers, and that works that expose the deep-seated contradictions of society (the so-called dark side) cannot be published (performed) publicly, so that our literary and artistic creations have never been able to jump out of the "political circle" (Note: politics in a broad sense should include reflecting the living conditions of the people, various contradictions in society, fairness and justice, As well as various construction of the government, etc., these are problems that the government has the responsibility to solve, and of course they also belong to the political category), which restricts the thinking of literary and artistic creation, which is also an indisputable fact. However, encountering the interference of the "public", our literature and art are in a state of stagnation or even sliding down the trough, which is enough to prove the scarcity of modern literary and artistic masters.
Nowadays, we should return the ontology of literature and art and create according to its laws, instead of sacrificing the development of literature and art to serve it in order to achieve a certain goal. It is necessary to adhere to the position of literature and art, adhere to the bottom line of the law of literary and artistic creation, put aside all interference, let the works speak, and create high-quality literature and art, even if a few people appreciate it, it is a success, only in this way can we put an end to the "three vulgar" works, and literature and art can be truly prosperous.
Song Shikuan, a member of the Democratic Progressive Association, is a calligrapher, writer, and literary critic. His calligraphy works have won many awards across the country and have been collected by many museums, and he has participated in the Sino-Korean International Calligraphy Exchange Exhibition. Essays, reviews, etc. have been published in various publications for hundreds of thousands of words, and the media have been interviewed and reported many times.
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