Academic Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences

ISSN 2616-5783 Vol.3, Issue 5: 32-36, DOI: 10.25236/AJHSS.2020.030505

On the Meaning of "Painting" in Painting

Works
Zhiqiang Chen1,*, Yongding Tan2
1.Lingnan Normal University ,School of Fine Arts and Design,Guangdongzhanjiang,
524048, China
2.Lingnan Normal University ,School of Fine Arts and Design,Guangdongzhanjiang,
524048, China

ABSTRACT. Under the background of the increasing prosperity of graphic painting

in the "reading picture era ", and the impact of modern artistic trends such as
conceptual art, pop art, photographic hyperrealism, abstract art and conceptual art,
the" painting "as a traditional painting style has gradually faded away. This paper
discusses the essence of "painting ", defines the concept and definition of" painting ",
analyzes the relationship between "freehand brushwork "," expressive" and "artistic
", and interprets the basic concept and meaning of painting. This paper analyzes the
handwork, brushstroke, trace and two aspects of painting, and discusses how the
"painting" of painting works is conveyed and presented.

KEYWORDS: freehand brushwork, manual, image, strokes

1. The understanding of the concept of "painting"

The concept of "painting" is very similar to that of "expression ". The former
refers to the expression of emotional spirit and style, while the latter refers to the
processing of formal language and the breath of painting. In general ," painting "is
the emphasis on the form of painting itself, but also can be said to be the external
characteristics of painting. There is also a modern popular term "artistry ", which is
more broad and general than" painting ", it contains all the characteristics of art
categories, it is the basic commonness of art, but also the only characteristic of art
works.
In a sense ," painting "is difficult to generalize a solid and specific definition,
paragraph chain in" the last avantgarde ", once defined painting. "The so-called
painting, not only refers to concrete modeling, mainly refers to the production of
works to people's comprehensive feelings and thinking ability inspiration, refers to
the art object constraints and appreciation of the subject of the feeling of two
points.” [1] The author thinks that this kind of statement is not complete and
comprehensive. In my opinion, Duan Lian's definition of painting is too broad and
the designation is not clear enough. The famous critic, Mr. Shang Hui, explained the
painting in his essay "Why Painting is an Important Problem in the Present Painting

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 Academic Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences
ISSN 2616-5783 Vol.3, Issue 5: 32-36, DOI: 10.25236/AJHSS.2020.030505

Creation "," What is painting? When a painter uses his hand-held brush to capture
and record images mapped to his retina, it is necessary to relate to the artistic
subject's understanding, cognition and screening of such images. That is to say, the
artist's capture and presentation of the image has never been, nor can it be as
objective as the camera lens, because the artist's touch point for the object not only
has a strong sense of autonomy, but the hand through the pen to the artist's
subjective capture of the image presentation also has a hand-to-hand coordination
problem. [2] Mr. Shang Hui's interpretation of painting is more in-depth and
concrete, focusing on the understanding of the painter's Noumenon and the
expression of the painting process of the heart and hand coordination relationship.
As far as the painter is concerned ," painting nature "is the embodiment of the
individual's mind and life experience in painting. Compared with the graphic
painting in the digital age, it embodies the visual experience that is not
corresponding to the eyes and the mind. These visual feelings are not replicable, and
it is the charm of painting. Painting also means that the creative subject reveals a
clear track of thinking visualization in the process of creation, and when the
audience appreciates the work, the viewer feels the author's emotion and thought
according to the author's painting trace.
"Painting" should be accompanied by the process of painting behavior, it is the
fundamental attribute of painting, it is a kind of original painting breath reflected by
the painter, and this breath is unique to the painter, but also can not be copied, it
involves people's painting behavior level, each body in the painting behavior
activities reflected in the painting characteristics are different, as the sky in the water
in the "progress of painting" wrote ," the individual's wisdom, feelings and
individual limitations in the painting marks, And this kind of trace is irreplaceable -
the process of painting left by reason and absurdity, excitement and tranquility, wit
and clumsy, delicate and extensive, perfect and imperfect... These are irreplaceable.
[3] This is the artist's personality of the "painting" language, but also the
embodiment of artistic character. From this point of view, the breath of "painting" is
closely related to the characteristics of people. "Painting" in plastic arts performance
is not classified, can not absolutely deny and affirm that the category of painting
form has painting, can only judge whether it has the artistic originality of painting
and painting creation breath. In order to deepen the understanding of the concept of
"painting ", the above mentioned" painting "and the Chinese said" freehand
brushwork ""painting meaning "basically the same thing ," freehand brushwork
"""painting meaning" in short is based on the artist's artistic feelings and artistic
ideas in the painting process of the pen and image, in fact, mainly in the process of
using pen to reflect the process, the painter pen derived the meaning of painting and
the image of the heart, so that the work has the meaning of "painting. Chinese
traditional ink painting pays special attention to painting meaning. The works of
famous Chinese scholars such as Su Shi, Mi Fu, Baishan, Shi Tao, Qi Baishi, Fu
Baoshi and Lin Fengmian are the best exposition of "freehand brushwork" and
"painting meaning ". In fact, the "painting" we are discussing today refers more
generally to painting. Freehand brushwork, painting or expression is also good,
basically to the painting of different angles of interpretation.

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 Academic Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences
ISSN 2616-5783 Vol.3, Issue 5: 32-36, DOI: 10.25236/AJHSS.2020.030505

2. Performance Characteristics of "Painting" in Painting Works

Now painting works to a large extent show the style of graphic painting, painting
in the reality of recording, narrative and other aspects of the lack of obvious
superiority, photography and digital means easily and quickly to replace it, therefore,
the painting will gradually be dispelled. So where is the value and significance of
painting? Obviously ," painting "as the basic characteristics of painting. The famous
critic Shuitian once said ," painting by virtue of human own life function (mind
through eyes and hands) to retain the visual touch from the outside world, is the
basic reason for the existence of painting. The form of painting and its expression
reflect the characteristics of human life, as long as human life continues, this kind of
heart moved and function will inevitably exist. [4] After all, painting works are
created by people's mind, hand and brain, including human talent, aesthetic taste,
thinking, judgment, intuition, emotion, imagination and other internal factors, which
is the most valuable characteristics of life in painting. From the external factors of
painting works ," painting nature "is the emphasis on the language itself of painting
form, which involves various factors in painting, including composition, brushstroke,
texture, color, light and shade, space, modeling interest and other comprehensive
factors. It is the external visual form of painting works, is the direct expression of"
painting nature ", is the artist in the painting behavior to understand and grasp the
form of painting, and by the heart to express their attitude and spiritual level of
things, including the main body of painting thoughts and subjective judgment. With
the accumulation of modern painting practice and the development of painting
concept, people pay more and more attention to the appeal of painting form itself,
and affirm the independent existence value and charm of "painting nature" itself. So
what are the characteristics of "painting" in paintings? The author discusses the
characteristics of "painting" from the aspects of handwork, strokes and traces.

2.1Handcraft

From the history of human painting and the practice of painting ," handmade
"is the most important feature of painting works. It is because of the rapid
development of technology and digital means, as well as the impact of modern art
concept art, painting manual characteristics are also slowly weakened. Painting
works are the corresponding products of the artist's heart and brain hand, showing
the artist's viewing way and painting track, condensing the artist's full emotion and
speculation, and even including the artist's character temperament. Compared with
photography and mechanical reproduction of graphic painting works ," painting "is
particularly important ," painting" has the characteristics of manual, and mechanical
reproduction of graphic painting works are predetermined, standardized,
standardized, personalized, is a whole uniform, and "manual" painting works
through the hand and mind to complete, the use of strokes and traces of the gradual
development, in the process of making a lot of variables and accidents, there are
many unexpected accidental and random changes, the picture revealed a hand-made
original painting breath, which reflects a lot of painting and spiritual perception,
This may be the charm of the "painting" expression of the painting. "Painting" works
contained in the "manual ", there are a lot of paintings in today's lack of manual
characteristics, such as modern pop art collage style, the United States super-realistic

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 Academic Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences
ISSN 2616-5783 Vol.3, Issue 5: 32-36, DOI: 10.25236/AJHSS.2020.030505

photo painting style, American minimalist computer-made graphic painting style,

Fang Lijun skin painting style, and so on, these do not have the flavor of manual
painting. But not all hand-operated and painted paintings have "painting"
characteristics, such as computer-made flat-cut decorative painting, photo
super-realistic painting, this type of work almost no painting flavor and individual
experience to speak of, mostly filled and mechanized rigid description.

2.2 Strokes and traces

The so-called strokes, refers to the artist's painting strokes, brush contact with the
picture formed lines, color blocks and graphics. And leaving these visible shadows
or marks in the picture is the mark. Brushwork is a kind of trace, the difference
between brushstroke and trace is that the brushstroke is mainly inclined to the action,
and the trace is inclined to the result of the behavior showing, and the two are
interdependent and mutually reinforcing in the painting works. The expression of
"painting" in painting works can not be separated from the expression of strokes and
the appearance of traces. Brushwork and trace are the most distinctive features of
painting, in fact, the process of painting is the process of using pen, the image of a
work is deduced by pen, thus also forming the corresponding brushstroke
combination and intertwined traces. Brushwork and trace are very important in
painting behavior, and brushstroke is the most direct embodiment of the
correspondence, coordination and initiative of heart, hand and eye. Each artist in the
painting brush expression is not different, the expression of strokes in many forms,
size, round, continuous, broken, separated, slow, rapid, neat, messy and so on. Trace
is also very rich, the different traces produced by different tool materials, such as
Chinese painting brush and Xuan paper, oil painting wolf brush and bristle brush, oil
painting knife and scraper use, the combination of different comprehensive materials
to produce touch texture, and inadvertently produced natural traces, intentional
artificial traces, and so on, these traces are the artist's spontaneous and conscious
presentation. Different strokes and traces also express the corresponding painting
style, strokes in the form of the picture is a relatively small element, through such
elements freely constructed a ever-changing painting form. Brushwork can directly
reflect the painting, the grasp and expression of painting is good or bad, the use of
strokes and traces is the key, can also be said to be the artist's exquisite handicraft
skills and deep painting attainments reflect. An excellent painting works, all with the
heart hair and appropriate strokes, a vivid image of painting, all are vivid and
interesting strokes, an intriguing painting part, all are rich and changeable and
human strokes. The composition and superposition of strokes become the trace of
painting, which shows the track of the artist's painting process, and records the
artist's painting state and emotional expression. Many of the works of Western
masters have a very personal style of writing and modeling, which is difficult for
others to simulate, such as Rembrandt, Monk, Van Gogh, Decuning and other
masters of painting works. The difference between the master and the ordinary
painter is not only manifested in the skill of using strokes and the cultivation of
modeling, but also highlighted in the irreplaceable unique painting breath of strokes.

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 Academic Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences
ISSN 2616-5783 Vol.3, Issue 5: 32-36, DOI: 10.25236/AJHSS.2020.030505

3. Conclusion

Social and cultural history in the development, technical means and material
media in the renewal, people's thoughts and feelings in the change, these will affect
the performance of painting, but the expression of "painting" is constant. We should
adhere to the painting expression, combined with the current spirit of the times to
express the artist's thoughts, feelings and ideas. In Chinese and Western excellent
traditional painting works, whether it is realistic, image, performance of the painting,
its works contain the artist's true feelings of expression ," painting "is the motive
force from this. In the era of rational science and technology development, people's
perceptual factors are particularly precious, we need to call for the return of warm
"painting" works. In the expression of contemporary painting works ," painting "is
what we must stick to, but also what many artists have been exploring.

References

[1]Exercise Last Vanguard, World Art, No .4,1997, p.16

[2] Shang Hui ," How Painting Character Has become an Important Problem in
Present Painting Creation ", Art, No .2,2012, p.79
[3]" The Progress of Painting ", Art Watch, No .7,2009, p.97
[4]" The Progress of Painting ", Art Watch, No .7,2009, p.100

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