The Arts of China - Essay Example

Arts of China Artistic talent revolves around creativity. A creative mind skillfully expresses imaginations through arts. Forms of art are many. They include paintings, drawings, artistic compositions, and even sculpturing. Art is, therefore, is perceived as being mostly an inherent trait. However, there are assertions that arts can be like any other skill acquired through sheer hard work and training. Whichever the case, the utmost objective is to express oneself through creative representations. Over the years, technology has revolutionized every aspect of human life. This has not spared even arts too. The advent of the computing technology saw the introduction of new platforms to aid artists in their work. The following discourse specifically focuses on how arts has been influenced through technology. In specific, it gives inferences to china as the focus of the topic. Computers introduced desktop publishing as well as computer aided designs, examples of the influence they have on arts. There are various software in the market that are used for producing artistic images and creations. It has influenced virtually every aspect of arts including music, paintings, as well as in designing. The use of computers in arts has its drawbacks and benefits. One of the arguments fronted by those who are against technology is that it suppresses the very artistic talents that it is supposed to promote. The platforms provide easier ways of producing the various forms of ort that the innate creativity in a person is not nurtured at all. However, this argument is not admissible since technology only makes work easier for mankind. Consequently, the use of computing in arts is to aid and develop the art in ways in which it can be embraced by all. Computers use software and applications make drawing and creation of arts easier. Besides, the applications have tutorials that guide users on how to come up with high quality pieces of art. However, despite all these, it is also still evident that there are other aspects that the artists must have; computers may help with drawings but will not communicate the intended idea unless the artist employs creativity. The artist must thus have a sense of color balance and know the effective use of colors to communicate. Colors have their meanings and using one instead of the other can take the whole picture out of context (Sullivan 87). Just as stated, art is a channel of communication. Paintings and drawings have been used in the past to overcome cultural or even language barriers. One aspect communicated through arts is identity. This determines one’s likes and preferences. These are easily manifest in arts and come out flawlessly through creative expression. For instance, an artist would easily employ a favorite color, which is the most common manner of expressing identity. Additionally, identity exposes the cultural practices of a community within which one lives. The images an artist chooses to draw and the manner in which tit is done portray the cultural practices alluded in a an artist’s imaginations. Daoism and Confucianism Daoism and Confucianism are two philosophical provisions largely manifest in Chinese arts. Confucianism rejects unwarranted emotions and beliefs in superstitions. It espouses that logic and reason can solve most, if not all, human problems. Daoism, on the other hand, provides for a natural life; this is a life lived in ascribing to the provisions of nature. The two may appear conflicting but strike a common ground in the need for people to live on the naturally occurring and visible aspects of life. Trying to explain the unknown by use of myths and spirits begets delusion. This dictate is manifest in the Chinese arts through creation of artifacts that give more credence to nature and ignoring the beliefs in illogical superstitions and beliefs in spirits (Sullivan 132). Foreign invasion is a feature that affects the entire culture and organization of the society. In arts and craft, artists begin developing interest in the creation of artifacts that are not from within their society. This is normally because of intense interaction with other societies. From time immemorial, the Chinese women carried special bags made from papyrus reeds; however, as they intensified their interaction with the east African community, the Chinese baskets took a different twist and became multi colored as those adorned through history by Bantu women across the African region. This is not an entirely bad feature; it is a product of the understanding that culture and cultural practices are never static. As people interact, they learn of better cultures and are normally tempted to abandon their own primitive cultures to adorn the new culture. The guiding principle in arts is that it is a reflection of the society and will always expose only what the society wants and these include the norms and practices appreciated by the society. Despite the widespread appreciation of foreign arts all over the world, the Chinese have maintained a relatively little influence from foreigners. This is because in as much as Chinese interacted with foreigners, they had their own specific cultural practices most of which they could not abandon. The Chinese culture was easily fused with religion. The widespread Buddhism is one aspect of life that cannot be easily dissuaded from the mentalities of the Chinese. This thus proves a very firm grip on the culture, and cultural practices key among which are represented through the creations of arts (Sullivan 63). The Chinese art is beautiful in its own way. There are specific aspects of the Chinese culture that are unique to the Chinese. These make their culture stand out and be beautiful in their own way. The color balance is one such aspects of artistry in China. The Chinese love colors and most of their artifacts will therefore be multi colored. The choice of colors loved by this group of people is bright. It is not therefore strange to find an artifact with red, yellow, white or such like colors. The uniqueness of the Chinese belongs in the balance struck between these colors. Excessive brightness of colors water down an image by making it look overcrowded. However, the Chinese culture strikes a balance between the bright colors resulting in a fairly conspicuous artifact but one which does not irritate the eye as is common with most multi colored objects of arts. The art of death refers to the intense interest expressed by special group of artists in creating artifacts related to death. For a long time, death remained a mystery to people. Humans wanted to understand the rationale of death; this included the examination of what actually transpired in and after death. Artists, on the other hand, fostered the beliefs held about death by creating visual aids to the claims employed around death. Some of the most basic features expressed in the art of death included the fact that at death people became inactive and of less importance to the society and dead bodies were either burnt or buried. The fact that artists and their artistic features could not explain whatever transpired after death attributed more importance and corroborated the claims fostered by the faiths widely held within a society; to the Chinese this was Buddhism. In retrospect, art will always portray that which is manifest in the society. Art does not dictate the development in the society; the society dictates the developments in arts. The Chinese society has exercised restrain in her interaction with foreigners and kept the interaction out of their cultural practices. This way they have succeeded in preserving their culture thus their arts (Sullivan 22). Work cited Sullivan, Michael. The Arts of China. Berkeley, Calif: University of California Press, 1999. Print. Read More