站在东方想象—在全球化浪潮下掀起“东方想象”风

站在东方想象

—在全球化浪潮下掀起“东方想象”风



一、上帝是位艺术家

艺术家创造艺术，就像上帝创造世界一般。

艺术家有一种“创造宇宙的想象力”；当内心充满艺术的狂喜时，他可以跨越梦境与现实的藩篱。

英国浪漫主义诗人柯立芝（Coleridge)诗云：

“万一你睡著了呢？万一你在睡眠时作梦了呢？万一你在梦中到了天堂，在那儿采下了一朵奇异而美丽的花？万一你醒来时，花儿正在手中？啊！那时你要如何呢？”

庄周梦蝶，蝶是我，我是蝶？一梦至今，蝶我难分。

想象，让人生美得如真似梦。



二、深夜在聊天室遇到柏拉图

为了加深对艺术与想象的了解，我进入网络的聊天室。

这是一个以探讨美学为主题的网络族群，会员个个大有来头，取名苏格拉底、柏拉图、康德、......都在这个聊天室内。

今晚我发起一帖谈艺术与想象。

游戏规则是这样子的，与会人员必须以角色扮演的方式，仿照所扮演者角色立论主张来发言，于是柏拉图说、子曰......纷纷登场。

这场虚拟论坛盛况空前，不止来了柏拉图、亚里斯多德、康德、……，连韩非子、顾恺之、刘勰......也闻风而至；一时间中外古圣先贤齐聚一堂好不热闹。由于议题明确，发言十分踊跃，留下网友发言记录，整理如下：


柏拉图（Plato 公元前427-347 年）：

艺术就是模仿。艺术只能模仿幻相，见不到真理（Idea理式）。举例来说，床有三种：第一是床之所以为床的那个床的理式（Idea）；第二是木匠依床的理式所制造出来的个别的床，第三是画家模仿个别的床所画的床。由于实际的床是理式的床的“摹本”，画家的床是实际的床的“摹本”，所以从认识论的领域来说，经过一次又一次的“摹仿”，艺术的知识含量最少，离开真理最远。


亚里士多德（Aristotle 公元前384年-公元前322年）：

“吾爱吾师，但吾更爱真理。”

对“摹仿”的解读与柏拉图有不同的见解；艺术所模仿的决不如柏拉图所说的只是现实世界的外形（现象），而是现实世界所具有的必然性和普遍性即它的内在本质和规律。画家理应画得比实在的更好，因为艺术家应该对原物范本有所改进，肯定艺术比现象世界更为真实。 他曾在《心灵论》中说：

“想象和判断是不同的思想方式。”算是西方最早提出对想象的关注。


韩非（约前281年-前233年）

在中国思想史上，第一个给想象一词作本质说明的是韩非。他在《解老篇》中说：“人希见生象也，而得死象之骨，案其图以想其生也，故诸人之所以意想者皆谓之象也。今道虽不可得闻见，圣人执其见功以处见其形，故曰：‘无状之状，无物(象)之象。’”“道”是抽象的,人的感官不能直接感觉出它的存在,但是“道”如果体现为事功，则人们根据具体的事物就可以把它推论出来。在这里,感觉无济于事,必须应用思维（“想”或“意想”）。韩非把此种情形比之为案图想象。


王弼（226年－249年）

夫象者，出意者也。言者，明象者也。尽意莫若象，尽象莫若言。言出于象，故可寻言以观象；象生于意，故可寻象以观意。意以象尽，象以言著。故言者所以明象，得象而忘言；象者所以存意，得意而忘象。是故，存言者，非得象者也；存象者，非得意者也。象生于意而存象焉，则所存乃非真象也；言生于象而存言焉，则所存乃非真民。然则，忘象者，乃得意者也，忘言者，乃得象者也。得意在忘象，得象在忘言。故立象以尽意，而象可忘也；重画以尽情，而画可忘也。 简单的说，所谓的形象（象）来自意念的想象性（意）发挥。


顾恺之（约344年－405年）

凡画，人最难，次山水，次狗马；台榭一定器耳，难成而易好，不待迁想妙得也。 所谓“千想妙得”就得充份想象。


达·芬奇（Leonardo da Vinci 1452－1519）

画家是所有人和万物的主人：加入他想看骇人的怪物，滑稽可笑的东西，或者动人恻隐之心的事物，他是他们的主宰与创造主。事实上，由于本质、由于实在、由于想象力而存在于宇宙间的一切，画家都可先存之于心中，然后表之于手。他并且把他们表现得如此卓越，可以让人在一瞥间同时见到一幅和谐匀称的景象，如同自然本身一般。


宗炳（375-443）

圣人含道映物，贤者澄怀味象。至于山水质有而趣灵，是以轩辕、尧、孔、广成、大隗、许曲、孤竹之流，必有崆峒具茨、藐姑、箕首、大蒙之游焉，又称仁智之乐焉。夫圣人以神法道，而贤者通；山水以形媚道，而仁者乐，不亦几乎？ 一句澄怀味象，道出心灵想象与现实具象间的主客地位。


刘勰（约公元465-520）

古人云：形在江海之上，心存魏阙之下。神思之谓也。文之思也，其神远矣。故寂然凝虑，思接千载；悄焉动容，视通万里；吟咏之间，吐纳珠玉之声；眉睫之前，卷舒风云之色；其思理之致乎！故思理为妙，神与物游。神居胸臆，而志气统其关键；物沿耳目，而辞令管其枢机。枢机方通，则物无隐貌；关键将塞，则神有遁心。 思者想象也，可以穿越时间与空间，于天地间自由神游。


丢勒（Albrecht Dürer 1471－1528）

许多世纪以前，贤明的君主们对伟大的绘画艺术给予了很高的荣誉，使杰出的艺术家们获得了荣华富贵，认为艺术家的创作近乎神的创造力。一个优秀的画家，内心充满各种形象，假如他能长生不死，则胸中的“意象”也会取之不竭。


哥雅（Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes 1746-1828）

只要理性一旦睡着了，梦幻中的想象就会产生妖魔鬼怪。但是想象应当与理性结合在一起而成为艺术的泉源，以及一切艺术杰作的泉源。


德拉克洛瓦（Eugène Delacroix 1798－1863）

想象，对于一个艺术家来说，这是他所应具备的最崇高的品质；对于一个艺术爱好者来说，这一点同样不可缺少。


康德(Immanuel Kan 1724-1804)

企图调和古典主义所强调的理性与浪漫主义所强调的想象，把想象力与理解力的自由和谐看成是审美活动的基本特点之一。认为艺术具有“自由的游戏”的含义。正当地说来，人们只能把通过自由而产生的成品，这就是通过一意图，把他的诸行为筑基于理性之上，做艺术。


黑格尔(Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel 1770-1831)

“ 最杰出的艺术本领就是想象。”艺术品作为创作实践的产物就不仅是自然的、感性的、现象的，而且也是人化的、理性的，总之，是感性与理性的统一。


保罗·克利（Paul Klee 1879－1940）

艺术不是仿造可见的事物，而是制造可见的事物。线条的表达中原本存在着一种抽象的倾向：限制在外轮廓线以内的想象图形，具有神话般的特性，同时又能达到很大的精确性。图形越纯洁—在线条表现中强调了更多的形式因素—它就越不适宜表现可见物的真实性。


本贴总结：

想象，既有理性的成分，也有感性的思维；既能表现为可见的形体，又是不可说、非常道的创作心法。


三、寻求全球化下的独特基因

当今面对“全球化”的同质化文化威胁，西方文明夹着优势的媒体、网络传播力量，正积极地把世界整合成一个地球村。不论你身处何地，想到一顿温饱就找“肯德基”“麦当劳”；与朋友小聚会约到“星巴克”喝杯咖啡；好莱坞明星的穿着是时尚的指标；CNN可以24小时将世界各地新闻在电视台为你即时播报，而你对这个世界的认识就在于播报员的取材与评论了。

与此同时再回头来看我们目前谈论的“东方想象”就更有意思了；东方是一种概念，它的意义不在地理上，而在文化上。什么是文化？钱穆先生说的简明扼要：一国家一民族各方面各种样的生活，加进绵延不断的时间演进，历史演进，便成所谓文化。钱宾四先生曾形容中国文化的传承好像是一族的人接力在跑马拉松（中国是一个人在作长时间长距离的跑。）

中国传统文化是一个民族的根基，是再次与外来文化混合的“基因”，有效保持这个“基因”，我们虽穿西服、说英语，仍能彰显是具有千年文化底蕴的中国人。我们的文化上溯自先秦诸子，两汉经学，隋唐佛学、魏晋玄学、宋明理学到清代朴学，乃至于近代的西学，其实是一脉相传的，这条民族思想发展的轴线，融合“儒、道、释”为一体，其间在不断地“通变”的精神下与时俱进地延续开来。而“通变”是中国文化资源再利用的主导精神，它既不“泥古”，也不是一味求新。如何“通变”？便有赖于对固有文化内涵发挥现代的想象力，



四、对未来需要充满想象

诗人余光中在其《鼎湖的神话》使用了大量的古老传说：

“锈的是盘古公公的钢斧 / 劈出昆仑山的那一柄 / 蛀的是老酋长轩辕的乌号 / 射穿蚩尤的那一张 / 涿鹿，涿鹿在甲骨文里…”

中华文化五千年历史里,充满太多迷人的神话,动人的传说,无法细数的千古风流人物,无穷无尽不及亲访的大块山河；只要你能发挥足够的想象，便可穿越时空任情神往！

好的故事往往跨越国界，花木兰到了好莱坞，依旧是中国形象的花木兰；中国神奇的武侠世界，可以让李安的《卧虎藏龙》风靡国际影坛；而中国三大发明中的火药运用,同样地可以使蔡国强的当代艺术扬名世界。

《东方想象》是对固有文化的敬礼，是期许现代人重新拥抱传统，让过往浴火重生再造当代传奇。

东方想象力的发挥，将有助于中国在地球村树立独特的标记，是民族传承不朽的基因，进而融合成为世界性的文化资产。


站在东方想象,创作世界级的艺术—

“只要我们能梦想到的，我们就能够实现。”

Y.F.CHEN






Imagining beyond the East

The Trend of Eastern Imagination Under

Globalization





Ⅰ.The God is an artist


An artist has a special kind of imagination to create the universe. So, when his heart is filled by the happiness of art, he can cross the border between dream and the real world.


The British romanticism poet, Coleridge said:


What if you slept?

And what if, in your sleep, you dreamed?

And what if, in your dream, you went to heaven and there plucked a strange and beautiful flower?

And what if, when you awoke, you had the flower in your hand?

Ah, what then?


Thousands of years ago, Zhuangzhou became a butterfly in his dream. Or, a butterfly became Zhuangzhou in its dream. Which one is true? There is no answer till today.


Imagination makes life as beautiful as a dream.


Ⅱ.Meeting Plato in chatting-room in the midnight


To understand more about art and imagination, I went into a chatting-room on-line.


This was an on-line club discussing esthetics. All of its members had big names, such as Socrates, Plato, Kant, and so on.


Tonight I started a discussion of Art and Imagination.


The rule of the game is defined as every player must act speak under the role from whom his name comes. Thus, I heard the words from Plato, Confucius…


Not only them, but also Aristotle, Kant, Han Feizi, Gu Kaizhi, Liu Xie came. Most of wisdoms in the history of human being were all together. I wrote down their opinion below:


Plato (427 B.C. – 347 B.C.)

Art is just to imitate. Art only can imitate the appearance but can not catch the Idea. For instance, there are three layers of Bed. The first one is the Idea of Bed defined. The second one is an individual bed made by carpenter as the Idea of Bed. The last one is the bed painted by artist as the model of an individual bed. Accordingly, the real bed is a facsimile of the Idea of Bed and the bed painted is a facsimile of the real bed. Therefore, from the aspect of epistemology, after times of imitations, there is the least knowledge in art as it is the farthest from Truth.



Aristotle (384 B.C. – 322 B.C.)

Plato is dear to me, but dearer is still Truth.


He had a different understanding of Imitation from Plato’s. Art does not only copy the appearance of the reality but the response of inevitability and catholicity in the real world as its nature and rules. What artists painted should be much better than the real ones because they should modify the models. Art must be truer than the actual world. In his On the Soul says, Imagination and judgment are different ways of thinking. This is the earliest opinion about imagination from Western world.


Han Fei (About 281 B.C. – B.C. 233)

In Chinese history of thinking, Han Fei is the first one who gave a natural explanation of the word, imagination. In his Jielao Pian says, Human seldom sees the real things so that he images them with their copies. The thinking is called imagination. Now, Truth can not be touched but wisdoms can find its profile by observing the affects of Truth. It is the profile without profile and construction without construction. Truth is abstract so that human being can not feel it. But if there is any objective things show the Truth, human may arrive at it using the methods of ratiocination. Here, not feeling but thinking does it.


Wang Bi (A.D. 226 – A.D. 249)

Appearance comes from Idea. Description comes from Appearance. Thus, Appearance represents Idea and Description represents Appearance. Appearance may be known by observing Description since the former one comes from the latter one. Accordingly, Idea may be known by touching Appearance. Idea is shown as Appearance when Appearance is shown by Description. If Appearance is found, Description can be forgotten. Appearance can be forgotten too when Idea is caught…Consequently, if Description can not be forgotten, Appearance must not be found. If Appearance can not be forgotten, Idea must not be caught either. The unforgettable Appearance is not the real Appearance of Idea where as the unforgettable Description is not the real Description of Appearance. The process of forgetting Appearance is the process of to catch Idea as the way of forgetting Description is the way of to find Appearance. Catching Idea is the result of forgotten Appearance like finding Appearance is the result of forgotten Description. As a conclusion, Appearance to show Idea must be forgotten. When a works of art is to show the feeling, the works itself must be forgotten too. Simply, Appearance generates from the imagination of Idea in human’s mind.


Gu Kaizhi (About A.D. 344 – A.D. 405)

When paining, the hardest to be drew is people. The second one is landscape. The third one is animals. The objective buildings or things are the easiest because they do not rely on various imaginations to show them vividly.


Leonardo da Vinci (A.D. 1452 – A.D. 1519)

Artist is the master of people and all of things. And he can add the fearful monsters, ridiculous things, or touching objects into his works. He is the lord and god of them. In fact, everything in the universe exists beyond nature, reality, or even imagination can be saved in the mind of artist to be shown by his hands. He can descript them wonderfully to make people see a picture in perfect harmony like the nature itself.


Zong Bing (A.D. 375 – A.D. 443)

Wisdoms know Idea from things. They can catch the souls in mountains and rivers. Therefore, the famous wisdoms in history, namely Xuanyuan, Yao, Confucius, Guangcheng, Wei the Great, Xuqu, and Guzhu, visited the great mountains like Kongdong, Miaogu, Jishou, and Dameng, which is called as the interest of intelligence. Wisdoms’ thinking followed Idea, when the landscapes show Idea. There is a prefect union between the two. His words announced Idea was initiative in this relation.


Liu Xie (About A.D. 465 – A.D. 520)

Thinking is under Appearance. In an article, its soul goes far in both time and space. When reading, it sounds like gold and jade. When watching, it shows wind and cloud. This is caused by the imagination in it. If the imagination is prefect, the readers’ thinking can go with the author. Thinking is in people’s mind impacted by words. If the words are prefect, Idea can be caught by readers. If not, readers may get nothing. According to his opinion, Imagination can fly in universe across the borders in time and space.


Albrecht Dürer (A.D. 1471 – A.D. 1528)

Centuries ago, the great kings praised painting art very high. It made the outstanding artists rich and famous. They thought the creativities of the artists were almost very close to the god’s. There are various images in an excellent artist. If he can live for ever, the imagination in his mind will not over either.


Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (A.D. 1746 – A.D. 1828)

When rational falls into sleep, the imagination in dream will generate demons and ghosts. But imagination and rational should united together to be the source of art and masterpieces in all kinds of art.


Eugène Delacroix (A.D. 1798 – A.D.1863)

Imagination is the best quality of an artist. Even for an art-lover, it is also necessary.


Immanuel Kant (A.D. 1724 – A.D. 1804)

He tried to unite the rational emphasized in classicalism and the imagination emphasized in romanticism as one of the basic features in aesthetics. He also thought art included the meaning of Game of freedom. Normally, it is art that people put their thinking into a product freely though the actions based on rational.


Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (A.D. 1770 – A.D. 1831)

The most excellent capability in art is Imagination. As the product of creativity, art does not only belong to the nature, perceptual, and appearance, but also belong to the human being and rational. It is the union of perceptual and rational.


Paul Klee (A.D. 1879 – A.D.1940)

Art does not model the visible things but create the visible things. There exists a kind of abstract trend in the express of drawing. It is the image from imagination limited in the profile has the features like mythology with high accuracy. When the images are purer, more style factors are stressed in the express of drawing, they are not suitable to show the realities of visible things.


Conclusion of this post:

Imagination includes rational parts and perceptual thinking. It can be expressed as visible things but is still an invisible way of creation.


Ⅲ.Looking for the Special Gene under Globalization


Facing the cultural threaten of assimilation from globalization, by the advanced power in media and internet, Western Civilization is trying to integrate the world into an global-village. Wherever you are, you can find KFC or McDonald when you are hungry; drink a cup of coffee in Starbucks with your friends; follow the fashion of the wearing of stars in Hollywood; hear the worldwide news sent by CNN on time, which decides your knowledge of the world is based on the selection and comments of the anchorperson.


At the same time, it is much more interesting to discuss Eastern Imagination. East is a concept, which is not in geography but culture. What is culture? Mr. Qian Mu said briefly: It is the life of a country or a nation in all aspects with gradual progress in time and history. Mr. Qian Binsi described the continuing Chinese culture was like a group of people were running a relay marathon race.


The Chinese traditional culture is the root of this nation and the gene to mix with foreign cultures. Keeping this gene, even though Chinese wear suits and speak English, the thousands of years culture still is able to be shown. Chinese culture started from the wisdoms before Qin Dynasty, and grew in the studies of Confucian classics in Han Dynasty, Buddhism in Sui and Tang Dynasties, Metaphysics in Wei and Jin Dynasties, Idealist philosophy in Song and Ming Dynasties, Down-to-earth learning in Qing Dynasty, and Western learning in modern times. It is imbued with the same spirit. The axial trace of the growth of Chinese thought mixed Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism together. And it continues and changes with the passing of time with the soul of Change. Change is the main spirit of Chinese cultural resources. It is not fixed in the old style but not to catch the fashion either. How should it change? This relies on the modern imagination beyond the traditional culture.


Ⅳ . Demanding Imagination for the Future


The poet Yu Guangzhong used many old legends in his poem Dinghu’s Myth:The steel axe chopping off Kunlun Mountains by Grandpa Pangu is rusty. The Wuhao Bow shooting through Chiyou by aged Chief Xuanyuan is corrupted. Zhuolu? Zhuolu has been engraved into Oracle.


There are too many charming myths, touching legends, uncountable truly great man, and inexhaustible mountains and rivers. You may cross the time and space to get them provided you give the rein to your imagination.


Good stories often go across the border between nations. When Mulan is in Hollywood, she is still the Mulan in Chinese style. Chinese magic Kungfu world made Li An’s Crouching tiger, hidden dragon sweep the international filmdom. And powder, as one of the three great inventions from China, also made Cai Guoqiang’s modern art famous in the world.


East Imagination gives a salute to the traditional culture to encourage modern people embrace the tradition again, hoping the long live culture can make the new legend nowadays.


Giving full play to East imagination will help China establish her special mark in global-village as the immortal gene of the nation, furthermore, to become global cultural assets.


Imagining beyond East with creating world-class art…

If being dreamed, it can be realized by us.


By Y.F.CHEN

来源：网络