In-depth analysis! Is there really a "national first-class artist"?

In the world of calligraphy and painting, we can see the title of "national first-class artist" everywhere.

However, in the title of the art major, there is only "first-level artist" and no "national first-level artist".

So, where does the title of "national first-class artist" come from?

The difference between the two words reflects what kind of mentality and survival form in the calligraphy and painting industry?

Heng Zheng'an, director of the China Literary and Art Critics Association, has a unique vision,

An in-depth analysis of the "big problem" behind this "small problem" is carried out, and we will see what he said.

Readers are welcome to leave a message in the comment area on this topic and share your views.

Thought of by a "national first-class artist"

Text | Heng Zheng'an

Originally published in Calligraphy Magazine, No. 1, 2022

In the title of the art major, there is only "first-class artist", no "national first-level artist",

So where did this self-proclaimed self-esteemed title "National First-Class Artist" that can be seen everywhere come from?

What's going on?

What kind of social phenomenon does it reflect?

Today, let me talk about this issue.

The current professional title system in the mainland has played a huge role in promoting the identification, selection and growth of professional talents.

At present, there are 27 major categories and 39 series (majors) of professional and technical titles in the mainland (taking Jiangsu as an example), of which the art series ranks as the 21st category, there are 11 majors, and the fine arts major includes calligraphy and photography in addition to painting.

The title names are first-level artist, second-level artist, third-level artist and fourth-level artist, corresponding to senior, deputy senior, intermediate and junior (assistant) respectively.

Therefore, in the fine arts major, the first-level artist is the highest title. At present, when introducing calligraphers and painters, you can see the title of "national first-class artist" everywhere.

However, this title is not available at all in the relevant title documents and certificates, and the introduction of calligraphers and painters who open relevant media such as websites, books, albums, event publicity, exhibitions, etc. can be seen everywhere.

Moreover, not only in the art profession, but also in other professions such as first-level screenwriters, first-level directors, first-level conductors, first-class composers, first-class actors, etc., there is no word "national", only the senior name in the coaching series is "national coach".

But in reality, many of the above titles plus the word "country" abound.

Among them, there are others and self-additives, which can be seen to have become a universal social phenomenon, and even a collective unconscious.

Surprisingly, in the relevant network search system, the entry of "national level artist" has been added.

What I did not expect is that this "collective unconscious" has in turn affected the cognition of society, which is very rare and should arouse our great attention.

Why is this happening? This reflects the mentality and form of existence of calligraphers and painters, calligraphers and painters, and even literary and art circles. What is the harm to the development of art? How to solve it? This may seem like a small problem, and the problem reflected behind it is worth pondering.

I think it reflects at least four aspects.

First, utilitarian thinking is serious. Obviously, there is no difference between the word "country" and no word "country", and the addition of the word "country" appears "tall". In the past forty years, with the influence of commodity ideas, it is normal and deserved for art to go to the market, and art is of course also a commodity. However, the artist's energy must not only be placed on the commodity attributes of art, let alone selling himself out of nothing, and should put how to improve his artistic level in the first place. We cannot deliberately pursue the commodity value of art, because this deviates from the purpose and original intention of being an artist, and also deviates from the true value of art. The British scholar Gombrich once said: "If something becomes an end in itself, then we have the right to say that it is art." "This kind of non-utilitarian art is the real art, which can play a role in leading and purifying people's hearts."

The second is impetuous mentality. This impetuous mentality shows both personal impetuosity and the impetuousness of the social environment. The artist's impetuousness is manifested as touting himself, the so-called "self-bragging and blowing" combined, always thinking that this can show his own value and status, so as to better sell himself. His mind is not to improve his artistic level and cultural accomplishment, but to use it on his own packaging. Artists are a special profession, an important force leading the fashion, and a bellwether for social progress. For a long time, the evaluation of artists by society has often ignored the true level of artists, so the more gorgeous and scary the packaging of calligraphers and painters, the more they can get attention and attention in society.

The third is the problem of social aesthetic level. One of the important reasons why individuals and society pay special attention to factors other than artists' works is the lack and decline of traditional cultural inheritance and artistic aesthetic level to a certain extent or aspect, which makes it difficult to evaluate art by the standard of art, and only to measure the value of artists by external conditions such as job title, title, award and packaging outside art. What is more serious is that after the impact of our traditional culture in modern times for a hundred years, Western literary and artistic trends have swarmed to disturb our inherent aesthetic standards, and the new aesthetic system has not been fully established, so there will be excessive attention by some artists and society to titles and positions, and even the phenomenon of inadvertently or intentionally adding the word "state" to titles.

Fourth, it is contrary to the core spirit of traditional culture. The art of Chinese calligraphy and painting was conceived and developed in traditional Chinese culture, and the profundity of calligraphy and painting art is the profundity of Chinese culture. The breadth of calligraphy and painting art reflects its various faces, forms and types, and the so-called depth refers to its core value part, representing the height and ideal of this culture. This height and ideal is an artistic ideal and realm with Confucianism and Taoism as the spiritual core, an ideal realm that pursues inwards, that is, enriches the spirit of the subject and fades away material fetters, and fame and fortune and material image are processes that require artists to dilute and constantly sublimate in the pursuit of artistic practice. The excessive pursuit of fame and fortune and objects is contrary to the core spirit of this art, and it is also harmful, let alone the creation of high-level works of art.

Some people may say that this is a small matter, there is no need to be so calculated, it is raising the bar, I think this must not be a small thing, the phenomenon reflected behind it and the consequences brought about are very profound, if not paid attention to and reminded, let it develop, it is very serious. The so-called "Shao" is difficult to chase, Zheng Sheng is easy to start. Guan Le, Yu Yan Zhi Li" (Southern Dynasty Liang Liu Xun", "Wenxin Carved Dragon Lefu"). Fifteen hundred years ago, the ancients knew that the superiority of music was related to "etiquette", that is, the moral customs of society, let alone today, let alone the entire literary and artistic circles.

The creation of the art world has a "plateau" and no "peak", which cannot but be said to be related to the many problems that have arisen above. There are fewer works with depth, more works floating on paper; fewer works with far-reaching artistic conceptions and more works with heavy technology; fewer works with bookish atmosphere and more works with manic breath; fewer elegant and loose people, more people full of paper and rivers and lakes; fewer works with subtle depths, more swords and tensions, and more fiery people; fewer people with deep pen and ink, introverted and thick, and less people who see the big in the small, and more people who pursue form, visual impact, and oversized size. Some calligraphers and painters spend more energy on the pursuit of outwards, fame and fortune are too heavy, and they do not really understand the essence and breadth of Chinese art is the richness of the spirit, only in this way can they obtain the lofty realm of art.

If it is said that the enthusiasm of calligraphers and painters for the pursuit of fame and fortune, the difficulty of producing fine art, and the inability to reach the peak are related to the calligraphers themselves, then this pursuit of material fame and fortune outside of art, if it spreads to society to become a kind of "nature", become a collective unconscious, and form a kind of atmosphere, what kind of consequences it is, what kind of creative environment it is, it is self-evident. Artists are a special group, he can not only create works of art, bring everyone the enjoyment of beauty and artistic influence, but more importantly, he has the role of humanizing, leading the fashion, and purifying the soul.

The depth of the work of art must be the spirit of art, the depth of the realm of the work, and the depth of the artist's spiritual world, so the personality as an artist determines the height of the work of art, and what kind of person creates what kind of work. Judging from the comparison of the cultures and spirits of the East and the West, Chinese culture is based on Confucianism as the core, supplemented by the cultural systems of Buddhism and Taoism. The biggest personality of this culture is the clan culture based on blood relations, its spiritual personality is a layered accumulation, and the overall atmosphere is to be introverted, with a typical introverted type. This characteristic has created the thickness, depth and breadth of this culture, which is precisely the greatest characteristic and value of art bred by this culture. On the other hand, since traditional Chinese culture is an agrarian culture, the greatest characteristic of this culture is "technical culture", which is an empirical system, and its art is based on the repeated practice of technical refinement. This quality is the greatest feature of art in the modern sense. Therefore, China has only had thousands of years of uninterrupted and continuous development, rich and profound history of artistic development, and has such brilliant artistic achievements. Under this system of experience, two skills will be produced, one is the craftsmanship and the other is the literati skill. The former only emphasizes that technology became a craftsman (not pejorative, which is limited by categories), and the latter became an artist in the modern sense with the active participation of the literati. This kind of literati art is the core art bred by Chinese culture, and this kind of literati art is an image realm achieved on the basis of long-term technical tempering, coupled with the improvement of humanistic cultivation, and then endowed with pen and ink.

The German writer Kafka said: "Our greatest depravity is the loss of patience. "How can this patience be found, only by reading, thinking, and improving yourself." Artists must be able to endure loneliness, and they must devote greater thoughts and energy to professional tempering and the improvement of humanistic cultivation, only in this way can they improve themselves, and only in this way can they create masterpieces that belong to ourselves and belong to this era.

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