shaoyinzhang

[shaoyinzhang]

The 9 most popular visual arts languages in twenty-first Century

1. Optical Illusion The art of visual illusion is one of the most popular creative languages in recent years. It is widely used in mural and street art works, such as the 3D paintings we often see. In fact, we use visual perspective to draw some unexpected things in the real space to surprise people. For example, there is a sudden one on the road. A big pit, the car will be "dropped", or a good wall has a big hole, a dinosaur from the inside "probe" in the head, these can be seen as a visual illusion. In fact, the concept of visual illusion is derived from the surrealism painting from thirty to 40s twentieth Century. The representative artists are Margaret, Daly and the artist Escher.

2. Transition Material conversion, as the name suggests, changes the material properties of the original articles. So there are also artists who use other materials to convert everyday objects, such as a cardboard box, a large bag of garbage. When you touch it, you find it originally made of metal, and you will be surprised at how the artist does it. Of course, this "making surprise" is not a new thing, the artist is now seeking more. Deep level expression. Jeff Koons, a Jewish American artist, magnified balloons into large metal sculptures, which is a satire to consumerism civilization.

3. Variety The variant is an updated version of the deformation, which is usually interpreted as turning a normal body into a very fat or thin model (such as Fernando Botero and Jia Kemeidi), or a partial magnification. The variation is the impossible folding, bending, deformation of objects, and even beyond the deformation of conventional physical phenomena.

4. Creativity We always say that art is inseparable from creation. In fact, "creativity" is only a region in the category of art. But in the art exhibition such as Basel, the artistic language of creativity is still much more, and the series of "hats" and traditional sculptures from the portrait series of Charles Avery, an artist from England, look a bit like a nonsense hard connection that makes me laugh, but reminds me of the streets in Paris. Some "good people" like to "buckle" all sorts of weird "hats" on the square, such as ice cream cone, life ring, football, and so on, and the artist seems to express something about the material value of "thought" or "thought".

5. Immersive Immersion art is a way of expression in 1980s with the emergence of new media art, such as sound, light and electricity. Artists from the volume of attention to the volume of the body to the attention of the inner space, the most famous art of immersion atmosphere is Jame Turell of the United States and the Danish artist Olafur Eliasson. Their works are permeated by artists' Thoughts on the theme of "man and nature".

6. Graffiti Graffiti art is actually an old topic. It is a kind of artistic effect that appeared in New York in the 50-60's of the twentieth Century and spread all over the world. The legalization of the graffiti in twenty-first Century is no longer important. More importantly, it is necessary to repeat and continue to "contagion" American Graffiti to every corner of the world, so we see that many artists are actually looking for new languages and graffiti, such as the creation of Akash Nihalani. "Visual illusion" "small creative" and the latter will be reduced to "ridicule" combined, Julien De Casabianca launched the escape Museum program "Outings Project" is a combination of fine art and street art together to "ridicule" a delicate art, strengthen the spirit of "great art".

7. Ridicule Ridicule seems to be the "vulgar" means of the street, but it is not. But of course, this can not be separated from the visual language skills evolved from the humor of satirical cartoon. Erwin Wrum, a German artist, is not only a genius sculptor of variant art, but his "one minute sculpture" created his "sense of humor" in his art and life more and more vividly in recent years.

8. Textuality Text is a branch that extends from language and literature. Robert Indiana, rather than his works of text, is better than the "artistic word", but he used the pop art to popularized and symbolized the text, and I think this is a better place than the "artistic word". Tracy Emin, I think her expression is more direct, but is this art? A lot of people are skeptical. This reminds me of Margaret and Duchamp, the first artist to use "text" in the works of art, and Margaret wrote a word "Ceci n 'EST PAS une pipe" (this is not a pipe) on his pipe work, and the audience is told what aircraft is on earth, which is clearly a pipe. Ah! And Duchamp wrote "L, H, O, O, Q" in the poster of "ridicule" Monalisa. It means "Elle a chaud Au cul" (her butt is hot). It seems to laugh at Da Vinci's temperament, and it also makes the audience feel confused. The most direct way is the most confused.

9. Body Language The last one is body language, which is the most difficult expression accepted by people in recent thirty years. Bill Viola is an artist I admire very much. Although he transformed his behavior into image art, he was very direct and shocking to the feelings of body language to the audience.

[shaoyinzhang]

Make myself a piece of art

My worldview was totally destroyed and rebuilt in only three months.After I went through the world view of "cool", I felt that all the meaning of life, all the events, all the characters, had a slight change in my view. I seem to have got a unique filter for "cool" to see the world. This filter help me seeing the real, suffering, and changing world, and taught me that I need to be an artist to create, rebel, and change myself to become a beautiful art as I want. We are all we need.

However, I have to admit that when I first came into contact with the unique world view of "cool", I definitely refused. When I see words like "rebel", "different", and "resist" ,every "sheep" concept rooted in my brain for seventeen years is firmly refusing to accept anything about "cool", which is totally different and even contradict with my own worldview. Nevertheless, after reading more things about the “cool”, I gradually noticed that the “cool” is actually an really different but interesting worldview. It is an worldview, but not the one. Also, my own worldview is also an worldview, but not the one only choice for me for a whole life. Can I live with my own original worldview build by my parents, friends, and the city that I grew up in? “Cool” will say absolutely yes! However, is my own worldview must be the most suitable worldview for me? The “cool” says absolutely no! We could only judge something after we really know what that is. How could we make sure our own worldview is the best in the world without trying or knowing other thousands of different worldviews outside the box that you lived in? We need to extend our box to seeking new different worldviews to view the fast changing world, and to creating a more beautiful ourselves at that time, to catch up with the aesthetic view of our own. Just like Pablo Picasso, always keep seeking new styles and ways to painting, in order to better express his changing feelings and thoughts in that moment.

I bet whether Nietzsche, Thompson, or even Picasso must be very jealous that I have the opportunity to cross half the earth and study from China to the United States to experience a completely different culture and worldview. I surprisingly find that not only the American students and foreign students from other countries are quite different from me, even the Chinese from different cities have a different view of the world. Sure enough, the formation and growth of our worldview is closely related to the hometown, parents, friends, and everything around them. What we choose to eat, to wear, to read, to watch are actually based on the worldview formed by others. Thus, cool people know that if we do not try rebel and come out of your box, we will never know what our real own decisions are. The most typical and the most easily differentiated worldview is the different religions. The most common among these are Christianity believed by some Americans and the Buddhism believed by some of the Chinese.All of these world views will answer two questions to people: first, how are we to live? Second, how should a person be? But different world views give different answers. Like "cool", it will answer that people should be an artist who creates themselves, constantly try new things in their lives, constantly rebel, and continue to be different.

There are so many worldviews in the world, but how could we choose among these? Even though I am not a absolutely cool people with the absolutely cool worldview, I really appreciate the thought that people need keep trying new things in order to find a more suitable one for themselves and for the changing age. Thus, as a artist for myself, I do not blindly follow any view of the world, and I would like to firstly try using the unique worldview of “cool”, which is totally different with my own, to create a different beauty on myself.

“Rebel”, is the central term of being cool. Rebel against parents, rebel against friends, rebel against university, and even rebel against ourselves. In order to try the worldview of “cool”, I have to experience the feeling of rebellion. I directly tried the highest level of "rebel", which is "rebel against myself".I think the best way to “rebel against myself” is rebelling my own fear in trying things I never dare to try. If we are the paintings of our own, all the colors and lines are in our control. The "fear" might be some of the disorderly lines. If we think this picture will be better without these lines, we need rebel against these fears to create a more beautiful self. Now, I would like to make a change in my painting. What I fear most is so strange that most ordinary people cannot even understand. I am most afraid of fish. In my mind, fish is even more terrible than any snake, rat, cockroach, tiger.Even though fish live in water, and even there is a thick glass between the fish and me, I cannot accept seeing them.But this spring break, I plucked up the courage to go to Miami Seaquarium with my friends. Although my friends who came with me did not understand it, they even laughed at me. I explained, "I just want to try a change. If I don't run away from the fish, then I will be a brand new me." I not only watched the whole Flipper dolphin show, and also went through the Shark Channel, which is the most horrible things for me. I was surprised to find that the dolphins and small fish in small fish tanks had a very lovely feeling, even though I had been frightened all over the journey. This is my first time to use "cute" as an adjective for fish.I think I am still afraid of fish, but at least after this trip, I am willing to take the initiative to approach them, and for the first time I think they are also very cute. This is a change, too. Although the lines of chaos in my painting were not completely erased, they seemed to be less chaotic in some mild colors.Maybe next time, I will try fishing and diving. When I get close to the fish one by one, and overcome the fear in my heart bit by bit, a whole new me is created. At that time, my painting should have another style.

Another key word for cool is “self-control”. Cool believes in order to control ourselves, we have to observe ourselves, and think for ourselves, which means do not let others think for you. However, this is already too late to do, because our thoughts come from others have already rooted in our brain. The decisions that we made for our own in daily life is actually made by others. In order to truly control ourselves, we have to rebel against someone who gave you thoughts. We have to create a distance between us and our families, our friends, our teachers, and our schools. However, this does not means we need to stay away from our family to live alone like Nietzsche. It means we need to try something that our parents, our friends, and our teachers never tried, never will try, and even never allow us to try. There is one thing that my parents never allow me to do: dancing. Even though I actually really like dancing since I was a kids. My music teacher in my primary school always praise me having a talent in dancing. However, my parents always insist that dancing will influence my grades in school, so I have to drop out the dance class after the first course. Now, I am here for university, I joined a dance club in UM in order to try something that my parents do not want me to do, but I really want. Even though my dance-dream may also formed by that music teacher, I still at least try something new for me, which could not be a part of my life if I choose to continue using my old worldview, to be a good daughter. Making own decision and controlling ourselves do not means stay away people to decide what we want, is actually choose from as many options as we could get after trying those options. In the final analysis, why we persist in others' minds and make decisions based on that is because. When we have no more options, we can only choose the answers that others give. So in fact, cool people believes that the premise of making decisions is to broaden our horizons and understand more possibilities. Just like how we decide to use lines and pigments in our paintings, the only way is to master more line skills and have more pigments. No painter can express himself fully when he only grasps the drawing method. Only by creating more options can we create the beautiful paintings that express our hearts.

I am not a real cool people. I only know there is kind of interesting worldview which contains rebellion, self-control, and changing. I am glad to try some part of cool in my life, and add some “cool color” in my painting of myself. But I still want experiencing more different worldviews in reading different books, communicating with different people, traveling to different places, and so on. I might not choose the worldview of cool in my painting, but now I would like to use the thoughts in cool to keep trying and changing to find a beautiful and valuable way to live in this changing world. I will make myself a piece of art, to keep changing the lines, colors, and styles to seeking the beauty for each different time. That is the meaning of life, nothing but only beauty.

[shaoyinzhang]

Make yourself a piece of art

Nietzsche said: “God is dead.” Should we become the god or the master of ourselves? No, we should only become the artist of ourselves to change us, to control us, to create us, and to try as many different things as we can. How should we make ourselves? The way Pablo Picasso makes his painting, awe make ourselves. We should make ourselves a  piece of art.

Then, what is the meaning of the art? Or what is the meaning of our life? For cool people, the answer is nothing. Art do not need a reason, so, we should do whatever we want, and there is no purpose for life. We are born to die in this world, and for nothing. That sounds really cruel, but that is the truth.

We need to be a beautiful piece of art with as much effort as we could take. We do not need to be liked by others. Only be interesting, be beautiful, be valuable, and that is enough. Just like no one will care whether you like or dislike Pablo Picasso or Shakespeare, because they are valuable, and everyone knows that. It does not matter that you do not like him, because his value will not reduce due to your opinion. We should be the person like that. Even we are hated by others, we could also never be ignored.

Also, we should be a beautiful art, and in this way, we could change ourselves, express ourselves, and choose how to make ourselves. And the only goal is become beautiful, whether happy or sad, whether good or bad. We need to only appreciate the beauty.

[shaoyinzhang]

Why Efficient?

We waked by alarm in the morning, and take a shower in a hurry. Then finish the breakfast in 3 minutes, or even directly go the first class at 8:00am without breakfast. We carry the heavy book and a cup of coffee, running through the several buildings for classes. Everyone around us told us to walk fast, eat fast, read fast, work fast, and even sleep fast. For what? For save time, to be efficient.

Parents, teachers, governments always tell us we have a short life, so we have to do everything in a hurry, in order to prevent wasting time. What is wasting time? Do they mean walk, eat, sleep is wasting time? Then, what is not time-wasting? Work for them without getting rest?

Who invented the word “efficient”? I bet he must be a boss. He want to tell every workers in his company to spend all time in his works, rather then have their own time. Only a boss think that his workers spending time with their families is a time-wasting. Of course, because it means there is no profits for that boss during that time. Then, this genius boss invented the word “efficient” to make a brainwashing to his workers. Finally, the poor workers deeply believe that spending time on anything except work for their boss is wasting time.

Efficient is just a word for workers not for the boss. Boss could enjoy his own life in spending time on meal, on family, and on reading. Because only he knows, spending time on what he actually want to do is not wasting time, and on the contrary, working for others is actually wasting time.

However, this is only the common secret among the bosses.

[shaoyinzhang]

Be Creative, and be Changeable

 “If we want to achieve something, we must continue to kill ourselves.” My idol, a weird but talent artist, said. He is the idol of mine in art since I stared learning to draw, and also the spiritual mentor of mine in life since I gradually read him from his portraits and paintings. He not only attached great importance to the ideas of the times, but also understood the Enlightenment of the ancient historical civilization. He was brave to expose the cruelty of reality and always kept his great charm and enthusiasm. By the way, his name is Pablo Picasso, and he told me a person should always be creative and be changeable like an artist.

I stared learning to draw when I was 3 years old in the kindergarten, and I met Pablo Picasso when I was 4-year-old in a picture album of my art teacher totally by accident. It was a classic of Picasso, and it made the me, a four years old kid, become more confident in painting. I am so confident that my painting is absolutely at the same level with the painting on the picture album. “I must be the good artist!” I believed that in 4 years old. The picture on that picture album is a classic painting of Picasso: “bull”. At that age, many memories were not clear, but my mother told me that I often painted strange shapes and distorted animals to ask for the praise of the teachers and parents that time. I was pretty shamed to know that story when I was 15 years old, and at that time, I am a good student in my art training school was praised by many art teachers of mine. I could already copy the portrait and many other grate paintings of Pablo Picasso and other grate painters at that time. At that time I was so proud that many people praised me for my painting. Until one day, as usual, I showed my copy to an uncle who was a graphic design. But the answer is not the compliment I expected. My uncle asked me, "these are all other's paintings. What about your own? " I froze. Yes, I was wrong. I was just a good student, not a great artist. I painted the same work as thousands of fine arts students. What was I proud of?

I was an artist actually when I was four, but I was just a good student like a sheep when I was fifteen. I should not be shamed when I heard I have painted the distorted paintings, but I should shamed when I am proud of the copy of grate paintings. Pablo Picasso said that “Every child is an artist, and the key to the problem lies in how he is still an artist when he grows up. I can draw as well as Rafael at 14, then I use my life to learn to draw like a child.” An artist should be creative, but most art students these days are only the sheep who always conform the order by true grate artist or even only their teachers who are the sheep without their own paintings as well. They are workers and good students who could perfectly use the ways or styles created by great artist paint some still life, plaster sculptures, or models. But they do not have their own feelings, thoughts, or expressions. Unfortunately, they could be creative when they are children, but as they trained and brainwashed by society and school, they gradually lose this precious ability. After noticing that, I told myself that I need to find that creativity back like Pablo Picasso, and make a change from the portrait of 15 years old Picasso to the portrait of 25 years old Picasso which has a distinct personality and creative characteristic.

Since then, I occasionally copy the basis of the one or two painting practice, and put more time to consolidate my own style of painting and create my own short comics. Even though it is really hard at the beginning, because I have been trained as a sheep who could only follow the order and copy others, gradually, my creative paintings are also recognized by more and more friends and teachers. I began to master my own painting style and experience skills. Day after day, I began to be complacent again. I am used to the expression of the sketch, because I cannot conquer the color skillfully yet. For a long time, my paintings were all black and white. More and more friends ask me why, but I just ignored them and insist my own way stubbornly. Until I read one of Picasso's words, I felt into thought again: “I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.” Suddenly, I was shamed that I reject color because I am not good at it. I thought if Pablo Picasso could not do something well, he must try him best to try and learn until he could finally master it. I told myself that I have to change, I have to try new things, and I have to rebel the old me, in order to create a new one. Be changeable is important to artist, and “change” is a key word of being a great artist like Pablo Picasso. Someone asks for the representative work of Pablo Picasso, and the other guy replied with a smile: Which Pablo Picasso? Isn’t it sounds like crazy? But we do have the Pablo Picasso in Blue Period, in Rose Period, in African-influenced Period, in Analytic Cubism, in Synthetic Cubism, and in Crystal Period. We have multiple different Picasso, and each Picasso is a total better new one compared to the last one. This change is a combination of life experiences, and every change is like the nirvana of the Phoenix. The old style burnt and died in the fire, and the better new painting born in the ashes. Only keeping changing could help artist have endless imagination, and since that, he could be the first painter in the history to see his own works and be collected into Le Louvre Museum by himself. Now, even though I could not use brush as well as I use my pencil, I am still trying to use color to create the different painting style of mine. However, this is only the first change I have made in my painting, I will definitely keep changing and be always creative to create my own paintings.

I said that Pablo Picasso is not only the idol of mine in art, but also the spiritual mentor of mine in life. Although Picasso's own life is a mess, neither family nor marriage seems to be happy and harmonious, but inspired and changeable lifestyle influence me in many ways. My mentor believes that people have three levels: mediocre, inspired, and changeable. I reorganized them to make them more suitable for the 21 century, and the three levels are: conformity, identity, and changeable identity.

According to the definition from social psychology, conformity, which means going along with social norms, customs or norms. Conformity is a normal social influence, and it will usually and easily happen when a group of people getting together. To certain degree, conformity helps people getting well involve in the society with other people, but it also forces people to gradually lose their identity, which means: being a sheep. These days, many friends of mine went to the Ultra. This is a big party without identity, which is composed of several foolish DJs and endless thousands of crazy sheep. Sometimes I think what would Picasso think if he saw those crazy and silly people on the Ultra? Perhaps in his eyes, these people may not be different from the bull, which symbolizes fascism in the "Guernica". The soldiers in the war have no identity, no difference, no thought, and people in ultra are exactly the same. The human beings in this level are even not humans. They are sheep, but the lovely controllable sheep trained by our society, including family, university, workplace, and so on. Everyone has to hold an ID to live in their own countries, and their countries use a long number to named them. It seems they have their own identity, but the truth is totally opposite: they become the silly sheep owned by the society which give them the “fake identity”. But what is ridiculous is that sheep always feeling good about themselves, like the 15 years old me, who was proud of my sheep-like copy work without creativities. Another example is very ironic: the fashion, which is the coolest thing in most people’s mind, and actually the most uncool. I've been fascinated by fashion, because I thought the fashion styles make me very cool and different. Like thousands of fashion seekers, I mimicked the elements or costumes of fashion shows. Every sheep wanted to be the pioneer in the front, but they forget that the pursuit of fashion is an imitation of the so-called new style created by others. We want to be different, but this same mentality, “be different”, is the same. In fact, chasing fashion itself is also a kind of special conformity, not from our own identity.

We need to be creative not only in the painting, but also in the life. Nietzsche told us that God is dead, and if we do not want to be the silly sheep, we have to create ourselves and be our own God. As long as by creating ourselves, people could gradually find the identity, controlled and belonged to themselves. Actually, creating is hard, but many great people have their own identity started a really simple step to begin. Identity means breaking from the group to become an individual, which is super difficult for people nowadays. Only the cool people always rebel the group, rebel the order of others, rebel becoming similar with others, and due to these ways, cool people could finally have chance to find their own identity. As my idol, the first step to fining identity is to choose a name for his painting career. When young Picasso successfully admitted to the Royal Academy in Saint, he could not stand the atmosphere there, and then, he returned to Barcelona's parents. During that time, he felt disappointed about painting , but the mother encouraged and supported him, which made him rekindled the confidence. In order to express gratitude to his mother, he changed his signature to his mother's surname, Picasso. Another example is an famous psychologist, Eric Erickson. When he grew up, he knew that his father is not his real father, and he was raised by foster parents. From then on, he began to look for the whereabouts of his own father. After unremitting efforts, he finally heard his real father named Erick. Thus, he changed his name to the name of his father, and his surname to Ericson because he does not know his real family name. Erickson’s famous development stage points out that people will face a change between “identity confusion” and “identity” when they are adolescents. He believes people have to go through this period to grow up, change from the adolescents to the real adults. After given a name for ourselves, people should continue creating. After Pablo Picasso use his mother’s name to name all himself as a painter, he continued creating his painting to express his emotion and thoughts. Some paintings reflect his love story, and others may reflect how he viewed the suffering world. This Picasso, who lives forever in those paintings, and all his paintings are created by Pablo Picasso. All of these is his most precious identity. For me, I think I am still seeking for my own identity. Even though I may not change my real name, but I give myself an English name and a pseudonym. I try to gradually know what kind of person I want to be and create what I really want step by step. I hope one day, I could create my own identity, just like Pablo Picasso.

There is a higher state above the identity: the changeable identity, which means not only being creative, but also being changeable. When people gradually create their own identity, they still need to keep changing and improving to become better. Pablo Picasso told me there is two reasons why people need to be changeable. First of all, people need to continue changing to try new things to know what is most suitable for them. Pablo Picasso tried many kinds of different painting ways: oil painting, stench, engraving, flat plate painting, and sculpture. Changing help him know which one is the most suitable way for him in that situation and age. Not only on painting, he made lots of changes in his love story. As we all know, Picasso had three wife in his life, and many other lovers. Due to too many changings, maybe he is not a good husband or a good father, but I believe that having so many emotional experiences, at least to show that he had always believed in love and wanted to find the most suitable woman for him. His love story influenced his painting style and made his artistic successful achievements. Thus, always keeping changing, because you never know whether the next when is better than now. I love trying new foods in different place, and lots of new things make me feel like they are better than any of foods that I could taste in my daily life. I believe Pablo Picasso must envy me that I can study abroad and experience life in different countries. Facing a totally different environment could help me find my changeable identity. At least, there is two of me now. One is Shaoyin in China, and the other one is Shaoyin in Miami. “We” speak different language, use different way to study, eat different food, and so on. Which one is better? I have no idea, but when facing a certain situation, I must have a more suitable identity to face. Secondly, always keeping change for cool people means they are always keeping dealing with uncomfortable things. Cool people like Picasso know that life is full of uncomfortable and suffering. All people are the comfort-seekers, but most people only seek for comfort which makes them never be comfortable in the life. Only cool people know that the key to really find comfort is trying best to deal with as much uncomfortable things in the life. Picasso said that “I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.” Thus, after master the things that he originally cannot do, he will make a change to face another new thing, or called an uncomfortable thing, which he cannot do. Now, I am not a changeable people, but I will try to challenge myself to find my different identities. The first step for me is finding something I am uncomfortable with, not good at, or even afraid of it. Personally, I am a little bit afraid of water, and I am terrible at swimming. Then, I need to face it, to change myself become stronger to deal with those uncomfortable feeling. Nowadays, I plan to swim every week to deal with that uncomfortable feeling, and I believe one day, I will enjoy the water comfortably. “If we want to achieve something, we must continue to kill ourselves.” Picasso said. I would like to kill the weak me, in order to create a stronger me.

Most people nowadays are sheep without thoughts and identity. Do not have to be depressed. As long as you want to change, do something from now. Create yourself to find your own identity, and then keep change to improve your multiple identities. Pablo Picasso, my idol and mentor, told me that people should be creative and changeable.

[shaoyinzhang]

He is My Idol

I stared learning drawing when I was 3 years old in the kindergarten, and I met Pablo Picasso when I was 4 years old in a picture album of my art teacher totally by accident. It was a classic of Picasso, and it made the me, a four years old kid, become more confident in painting. I am so confident that my painting is absolutely at the same level with the painting on the picture album. “I must be the good artist!” I believed that in 4 years old. The picture on that picture album is a classic painting of Picasso: “bull”. At that age, many things were not clear, but my mother told me that I often painted strange shapes and distorted animals to ask praise of the teachers and parents that time. I was pretty shamed to know that story when I was 15 years old, and at that time, I am a good student in my art training school be praised by many art teachers of mine. I could already copy the portrait and many other grate paintings of Pablo Picasso at that time. At that time I was so proud that many people praised me for my painting. Until one day, as usual, I showed my copy to an uncle who was a graphic design. But the answer is not the compliment I expected. My uncle asked me, "these are all other's paintings. What about your own? " I froze. Yes, I was wrong. I was just a good student, not a great artist. I painted the same work as thousands of fine arts students. What were I proud of?

I was an artist actually when I was four, but I was just a good student like a sheep when I was fifteen. I should not be shamed when I heard I have painted the distorted paintings, but I should shamed when I am proud of the copy of grate paintings. Pablo Picasso said that “Every child is an artist, and the key to the problem lies in how he is still an artist when he grows up. I can draw as well as Rafael at 14, then I use my life to learn to draw like a child.” An artist should be creative and be inspired, but most art students these days are only the sheep who always conform the order by true grate artist or even only their teachers who are the sheep without their own paintings as well. They are workers and good students who could perfectly use the ways or styles created by great artist paint some still life, plaster sculptures, or models. But they do not have their own feelings, thoughts, or expressions. Unfortunately, they could be inspired and creative when they are children, but as they trained and brainwashed by society and school, they gradually lose this precious ability. After noticing that, I told myself that I need to find that creativity back like Pablo Picasso, and make a change from the portrait of 15 years old Picasso to the portrait of 25 years old Picasso which has a distinct personality and inspired characteristic.

Since then, I occasionally copy the basis of the one or two painting practice, and put more time to consolidate my own style of painting and create my own short comics. Even though it is really hard at the beginning, because I have been trained as a sheep who could only follow the order and copy others, gradually, my creative paintings are also recognized by more and more friends and teachers. I began to master my own painting style and experience skills. Day after day, I began to be complacent again. I am used to the expression of the sketch, because I can't conquer the color skillfully yet. For a long time, my paintings were all black and white. More and more friends ask me why, but I just ignored and insist my own way stubbornly. Until I read one of Picasso's words, I felt into thought again: “I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.” Suddenly, I was shamed that I reject color because I am not good at it. I thought if Pablo Picasso could not do something well, he must try him best to try and learn until he could finally master it. I told myself that I have to change, I have to try new things, and I have to rebel the old me, in order to create a new one. Be changeable is important to artist, and “change” is a key word of being a great artist like Pablo Picasso. Someone ask for the representative work of Pablo Picasso, and the other guy replied with a smile: Which Pablo Picasso? Isn’t it sounds like crazy? But we do have the Pablo Picasso in Blue Period, in Rose Period, in African-influenced Period, in Analytic Cubism, in Synthetic Cubism, and in Crystal Period. We have multiple different Picasso, and each Picasso is a total better new one compared to the last one. This change is a combination of life experience and social change, and every change is like the nirvana of the Phoenix. The old style burned and died in the fire, and the better new painting born in the ashes. Only keeping changing could help artist have endless inspiration, and since that, he could be the first painter in the history to see his own works and be collected into Le Louvre Museum by himself. Now, even though I could not use brush as well as I use my pencil, I am still trying to use color to create the different painting style of mine. However, this is only the second change I have made in my painting life, I will definitely keep changing and be always inspired to create my own paintings.

[shaoyinzhang]

Picasso Said

“My mother said to me, 'If you are a soldier, you will become a general. If you are a monk, you will become the Pope.' Instead, I was a painter, and became Picasso.”

“I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.”

“The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.”

“Every child is an artist, and the key to the problem lies in how he is still an artist when he grows up.”

“If we want to achieve something, we must continue to kill ourselves.”

“I paint objects as I think them, not as I see them.”

“I can draw as well as Rafael at 14, then I use my life to learn to draw like a child.”

[shaoyinzhang]

Conformity, Identity, Dissociative Identity

Based on the cool rules what I understand, I believe there are three level of state of human being: conformity, identity, and dissociative identity.

According to the definition from social psychology, conformity, which means going along with social norms, customs or norms. Conformity is a normal social influence, and it will usually and easily happen when a group of people getting together. To certain degree, conformity helps people getting well involve in the society with other people, but it also force people to gradually lose their identity, which means: being a sheep. These days, many friends of mine went to the Ultra. This is a big party without identity, which is composed of several dum leaders and endless thousands of crazy sheep. This level of human beings are even not humans. They are sheep, but the lovely controllable sheep trained by our society, including family, university, workplace, and so on. Everyone has to hold an ID to live in their own country, and their country use a long number to named them. It seems they have their own identity, but the truth is totally opposite: they become the dum sheep owned by the society which give them the “fake identity”.

But what is the true identity? According to Nietzsche, people have to figure out the situation that the god is dead, and they need to find a way to guide themselves. Sometimes be weird, be strange, be crazy is actually helpful to find the identity for ourselves. As long as we truly find the identity of ourselves, we easily become the great people. We usually said some artiest or actors really have their own characteristics. Because of this characteristic, or called identity, help others to find their different. However, unfortunately, identity means breaking from the group to become an individual, which is super difficult for people nowadays. Only the cool people always rebel the group, rebel the order of others, rebel becoming similar with others, and due to these ways, cool people could finally have chance to find their own identity. Like the great Pablo Picasso, or many other great artist, their paintings are quite unique. Every great artist has their own identity in painting, and these unique identity could never learned from school or others. Because they are unique, they are cool.

What I mean the dissociative identity is not the DID ( Dissociative Identity Disorder). I mean the dissociative identity is keep changing and keep rebelling our own identity. Take Pablo Picasso as an example again. Some one ask for the representative work of Pablo Picasso, and the other guy replied with a smile: Which Pablo Picasso? Isn’t it sounds like crazy? But we do have the Pablo Picasso in Blue Period, in Rose Period, in African-influenced Period,  in Analytic Cubism, in Synthetic Cubism, and in Crystal Period. As long as we keep changing, keep rebelling the current ourselves, and keep chasing some better identity, we could become the actually great people. If Pablo Picasso remain the painting style in his 17 years old, we probably will only have a good learner of painting, and lose a great artist. Not only artist, everyone should really keep changing, we have to never stop improving ourselves. 

Are you keep changing in your life? We need to have dissociative identity, and when people ask our experiences, we could reply with a smile: the experience of which me? 

[shaoyinzhang]

Everyone could become Pablo Picasso as long as they just start painting. Just do it! When we are kids, we actually know how to paint what ever we thought about. Unfortunately, when we gradually grow up, we become the “good art students” rather than the “great artists”.

[shaoyinzhang]

Weird, Crazy, but on Control

[shaoyinzhang]

Good or Great

Great art should not have a standard, but maybe a good art have.

When every artist start learning the most basic shadow, color, and sketch. Their teacher always use “good” or “bad” to evaluate their paint. However, after artists manipulate all basic skills of paint, if they remain painting the “good art”, then they will never become the great artist.

Based on the different periods of Picasso, we could find that his paintings gradually become "bad" ," weird", and "twisted". However, at the same time, his paintings become more valuable, more famous, and more “great”. During the late periods, such as the blue period, his painting could not evaluated by simply “good” or “bad” by his primary art teacher.

Especially artist, when they are overly chasing the good paintings, then they probably will never be great. The “good” or “bad” evaluation need a really strict standard, which is based on other artist. But the real value of artist is actually creating art. As for creating, they have to make something by themselves, and in this way, the standard from others will actually stop them become succeed.

That is the reason why school will never make some great creative artist. School will only train some good students, good workers, and even the good machines. We need to be creative, we need to start doing something followed by the order of ourselves, and we need to chasing the “great” rather than “good”.

Everyone could be Picasso as long as we truly want, truly start our own things, and ignore the orders from others. Try to become a great person, rather then a good student. 

[shaoyinzhang]

Breaking the Cycle!

    I have heard lots of words from little girl like this: “I want to get marry with someone like my Dady when I growing up.” Or, like this: “My parents are mine super-heroes in my mind!” All of these are childish! Guess what? Your parents are just normal people. They are not your superman, not your heroes, and they are just your parents! So do my parents.

    We all shaped by our parents when we were kids. Parents shaped by grandparents, and grandparents shaped by grand-grandparents. This is a huge link, or a huge cycle, which inherits both good things and also bad thoughts. Our world could not stay at same stage with same thoughts all the time. The only way to be creative, to have own new thoughts, to make ourselves is to breaking the cycle from parents. 

    It is hard for kids to notice and realize that their parents are just normal people. But this is the moment that we all have to meet. Without this moment to realize parents are just normal people, we could never grow up to become mature. 

    Also, I definitely love my parents, so breaking the cycle absolutely do not means to blame them, to hate them, to get away with them. The only things we should do is just to admit the truth, and to get along with your normal parents. After all, none of us could choose our own parents, and none of us could even choose to be born. However, we could choose how to live, how to shape ourselves, how to be creative, and rather them wait parents to shape you. The only time you could be shaped by your parents is when you are still a kid. But wake up! You are already not a kid anymore!

    Love your parents, but to break the cycle!

[shaoyinzhang]

Be Wildly Attractive

    Cool people always keep changing, and always know what they want to look like. If you want to be cool, you would better be wildly attractive at first. But what is wildly attractive? And why cool people always know what they want to look like?

    Be wildly attractive do not means to be pretty or beautiful. As long as you could wildly catch others’ eyes, then you are already attractive. How to be wildly attractive? Is that means we should change ourself to to meet the aesthetic values of others? Cool people said, absolutely not! Cool people always know what they want to look like by themselves, rather then change themselves based on the environment outside. 

    The tricky things is that cool people never make themselves as what others want them to look like, but they could always catch attentions of others. That’s the wildly attractive. When you first see that guy, you may notice that he or she is definitely cool with the fatal attraction.

[shaoyinzhang]

Comfort or Freedom

There is a trade-off between comfort and freedom. Most of us, the so-called free people in the freedom-age, are all slaves of comfort actually. It sounds unbelievable and scarring, isn't it? But do people really don't know the truth about being slaves? Most people maybe never notice, because the comfort is so wonderful that it allows slaves to give up thinking. Even though some others know the truth, they are so infatuated with comfort that giving up rebellion. When all the other people are willing to become the marionettes of comfort, only cool people rejected this transaction, which need them to betray the liberty and their soul. However, what the comfort, freedom, and the trade-off between them really are? Now, let me explain these.

Comfort, also called easy, safety, and privilege, to be honest, is what I and most people pursue for life. In my mind, comfort means having a sweet family, living in a big house, or getting an easy job with high salaries. Let us be honest, these things are just what we desire for our whole life. However, cool people say: no! We prefer freedom! Freedom, also called self-decision, self-control, and suffering.

First of all, what is self-decision? According to Nietzsche, most people in the world living in a state without believing god is really there. He pointed out that god is dead. Thus, people have to figure out what I am living for, and how should I live. If the god is not existing, people should be the god for themselves, to control, to lead, to make decision for themselves. But for most of us, it is nearly impossible to make the true self-decision. How do you know you cannot? Ask yourself a simple question when making a decision: Do I really want it? Do you really want your university? Do you really want your major? Do you really want the clothes you wear today? Do you really want the lunch you just had? Well, some people may realize that they did not make their own decisions, because their parents, friends, or professors help them to make. However, some may still insist that they made their own decision for everything. Well, what do we based on while making decision? It is our own worldview, culture, and ethos, and all of these is learned directly or indirectly from our society. In other words, still the society that we lived in make the decision for us. Is that means people could not make self-decision? Absolutely not! But the cost of making the self-decision is loneliness. Our society is the biggest obstacle to making the self-decisions, and in order to be cool to make self-decisions, people have to rebel the society. Thus, just like Nietzsche, he lived alone in the mountains, away from the crowd, away from the society, and gradually forgot the social outlook that the society has instilled into him, so that he could make the real self-decisions. There is a trade-off between society and self-decisions. The earliest embryonic form of society should be called a group of people. Human beings are typical social animals, and human beings are gathered together at the earliest for safety. Gradually, human beings have put forward a division of labor, in order to make people pay the least easy effort to get a comfortable return. Society is the perfect tool used by comfort to "tame" people to be the sheep. Thus, cool people like Fred said: “The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself (freedom).” However, in order to having a comfort life offered by society, people like me have to give up the freedom form making self-decisions.

Secondly, what is self-control? I was confused about some strange question when I was five years old: Why I could move my body when I want? Why I could not move my mom 's body with my mind? Why I could not stop my stomach rubbing when I was hungry? What can I control on my body? All question could be answered in a scientific way, and now we all know that everyone could move their legs and arms when they want. But only move our body is the true self-control? According to Thompson, the most basic thing is to control your own body to dance, to beat rhythm, and to stay composure. For my own perspective, this is the only statement from cool that I totally agree. African, the most artistic nation, especially in dance and music. Their art comes from life, like nature itself. The inadequate housing, difficult living conditions, hard work, and all these factors without comfort, help Africans mastered the ability of self-control. Their harmonious rhythm, exquisite dance, and harmonious footsteps are all because of the experience in the uncomfortable hard work. The labor itself, brings the tacit agreement, the rhythm, and all the nation's desire for the art. They control their own bodies to express their understanding of life in an artistic view. That is the true self-control. Another self-control is to stay composure, also called having a poker face. Never cry when feeling sad, never smile when feeling happy, and never show a twisted face when feeling angry. Why not show sadness to cry out? Well, sadness could always be contagious. When you cry out to release your pressure, you might unconsciously make others who around you have terrible feelings. But if we would better not cry, why shouldn’t we laugh while feeling happy? Well, maybe the people around you just got a terrible grade and feel terrible during that time. Your laugh will only make them feel worse. But whether the body-control or the emotion-control is hard, and even rebel to the comfort. Like the most graceful dance - Ballet, a dance with toes. Ballet dancers need to endure terrible pain to tiptoe dance, to control their body, and to complete the elegant art. This is not comfortable, but they perfectly control their bodies to express their emotions. On the stage of performing, they are painful, but they are also enjoying the freedom.

Thirdly, what is suffering? Fred said that: “To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering.” Suffering is everywhere around us, near us, and among us. But most people cannot see it, because the comfort uses a sweet rosy filter to cover our eyes. Suffering must be the most suitable direct antonym for comfort. Thus, suffering could be explained as hardness, dangerousness, loneliness, and poverty. After reading Bois, I am deeply aware of the poverty, suffering, dangerousness and being watched of black folk. But it is because of these factors that they learned the rebellion, learned pleasure-seeking, and learn the definition of cool. In the mind of cool people, suffering is the rebellion of all good things, including privileges, safety, easy, and so on. According to Nietzsche, people are a kind of strange creature between the animals and gods, and in order to become the so-called “superman” or even the god for yourself, people have to practice themselves, challenge themselves, and resist themselves. And only when people have been hardened to become their own “gods”, can people truly lead themselves, control themselves, and get real freedom. Although Nietzsche does not believe in any religion, it is embodied in all kinds of religious thought in the past and present. Whether in Western Christianity the sufferings of Jesus, or Eastern Taoist culture of hard practice, or after eighty-one trials before the Buddha's story in Buddhism, reflects the importance of suffering. Only through the hardships can people get rid of the shackles of “comfort” and become the cool people that can lead themselves. When I was in junior high school, one of my classmates was the coolest girl I know now. When facing with numerous privileges, she resolutely abandoned all, and chose her own road with full of suffering. She is a coser, a deviant bad girl in most people’s mind. However, in fact, she has a rich family, which has already helped her to plan a smooth and unimpeded life. As long as she wants, she can actually be comfortable like a princess, and the only price is to give her soul to her parents, family, and the “comfort”. But she chose to keep her path under most people's spit. She rebelled her family, her privileges, and her comfortable life. After a month of school, she dropped out, followed her team and went around. She didn't take a penny with her home when she left, and all the cost of living was earned by her own performances and photos. I haven't seen her for a long time since she dropped out. Until last year, she had just finished with her team from Singapore, and I met her in a diffuse. In cosplay-circle, she has been mixed up with little fame. She lit a cigarette and said with a poker face, "I've been doing well. Now, I can get around ten thousand of the appearance fee. How are you going to college now? " She is such a free cool people lived with suffering, and I, as the "comfort" slave, only felt shamed in front of her. When people choose freedom, they have to bear the suffering, and when people like me choose comfort, we must become the slaves of "comfort".

The world is so big and the universe is so wide, but we are only a small dust in the vast universe. We are negligible and life is short. Thus, if we do not care about our own life ourselves, then no one will care. These principles are known to people like me and the cool people, so we are all in the final analysis of happiness seekers. But why are our choices so different between comfort and freedom? I have always believed that, since life is limited, the most intelligent person should not think about what life is, but figure out a formula that can maximize happiness. What is the maximum value of happiness? Well, it depends. For example, should I rebel my family to give up all the privilege they will give me in order to adhere to my own ideas to learn painting, or obey my family to give up my wants and freedom to learn business in order to have a more comfortable life with privileges? According to the formula of the maximum value of happiness, I should compare the happiness of rebelling my family to learn painting with the happiness of learning business to get a more easy comfortable life. The point is that the cool people will choose to rebel, because they could win more happiness from freedom, from self-decision, and from the achievement after suffering. However, for me, a typical slave of “comfort” could obtain more happiness from compromise, from easiness, and from the comfort in my scheduled life-road. There is no right or wrong between comfort and freedom. Whether for the cool people or the “salves of comfort”, the right way to get the max happiness in their short and precious life is to have a correct outlook on life for them.

[shaoyinzhang]

Is This Rabbit a Rabbit?

Here is an extremely weird word that you actually realize it is weird: Hey, that’s me! Wait a minute, is there something wrong? Well, think about it, don’t you find out that it is totally weird? Yeah, you maybe got it now. It is weird because it seems that you stand out of your body and point yourself to say that word. There are two of you. Then, which one is true?

Well, actually, maybe it is just a moment you point your photo and tell others that people on the photo are you. Thus, you will probably tell me: Well, it is quite easy, because I am true, and that is only a photo. However, think about this. (Maybe it is a little bit scaring.) You will point to your chest and say to others: Hey, this is me! And when you point the photo, you will still say: Hey, that’s me! Both are “me”, which means both are “you”! Now, are you still clear with which one of you is true?

During the class, professor showed us an interesting picture with some black lines. Someone said these lines consist a rabbit, and others believe that is a duck. Well, this picture is quite popular that maybe many of you have already seen that before. I thought that both the rabbit-answer and the duck-answer are  all right, but the professor said: Yeah, it maybe both right, but on the other hand, they are both wrong. The whole class just remained in silence for a while. Well, why this is a rabbit? Originally, this is just a picture with some lines. We think it is a rabbit or even a duck is only because that we think that is. Even there is a real rabbit here on the class, on the other perspective, there is actually no rabbit. Because there is no rabbit will call themselves “rabbit”. None of them will answer when you say: Hey, rabbit, come here! Rabbit is only a word that people posed on them. In other language, like Chinese, people call them: 兔子.  After all, all nouns are pronouns of whole world.

Every thing we call is just the name we gave to them. Rabbits are not rabbits; books are not books; even time is not time. Thus, who you are? Who I am? Are you a real people? Am I true?

No one could give the answer.Thus, the cool people say: Knowledge is dangerous. Hey guys, keep unknown!

[shaoyinzhang]

Hold the double-consciousness

We seems are living in a peaceful, friendly, and rosy society, but only truly cool people could see through the illusion to understand the coldness, loneliness, and cruelness of the real world. According to the class, in order to have the cool awareness of that, we have to hold the double-consciousness like African-Americans and push ourselves surrounded by a group of people who not only different with you, but also maybe hate you, or even want to kill you. Then you could see a bloody, cruel, but real true world.

As a yellow people, I could hardly understand the incurable historical conflicts until today about the races of America. However, as a international student, I could at least totally understand the loneliness of this world, even I am in a “huge fake paradise”: the university. Even though most of the native citizens around me are such so friendly and enthusiastic, to be honest, no matter how nice they treat me, this kind of nice is always like the attitude that is showed by the host when entertaining guests. It is very polite, rather than make me feel that I am close to them.

Maybe the university is still too “sweet” to find the double-consciousness. We’ve mention that we need to put ourselves in to a situation which surrounded by people who hate you in order to know what the double-consciousness really is and how cruel this world really is. This make me of an unpleasant experience of my trip to Taiwan. Here I do not want to mention some of the historical contradictions in China, but in a word, there is an indelible political contradiction between Taiwan and the mainland of China. When I lost my way in the alley of Taiwan, I asked a grandmother to find the way back to the hotel. However, I never realized that no matter in Chinese or English, this stubborn grandmother always pretended that I didn't exist, without raising head, looking up, or making any sounds. It was the first time I felt this invisible political contradiction at the age of 12. At that moment, I was mainland-people and a Chinese, and the old woman was a privileged Taiwanese in this land.

We might could be an ostrich, burying the head in the sand and never paying attention on the real cruel world. But as the boys in the article say, African Americans can't. They are being watched without any privileges until this “peaceful rosy age”. Because of that, they hold the double-consciousness and are definitely cool.

[shaoyinzhang]

Have a Poker Face

During the class today, we mentioned a kind of special self-control: controlling our emotion. Never cry when feeling sad, never smile when feeling happy, and never show a twisted face when feeling angry. I suddenly thought of a cool word that I have learned in my favorite animation when I was a kid: the poker face.

In that animation, the protagonist's father taught him to be a poker face, never to let the enemy know his emotions, either in horror or in joy. Indeed, poker faces can make people become mysterious, powerful, and cool. In the face of danger, the poker face is a powerful self-defense weapon.

But during the class, professor showed us another cool reason why we need to have a poker face in today’s society. Nowadays, we might never experience the adventurous adventures like the animated cartoon. Why not show sadness to cry out? Well, sadness could always be contagious. When you cry out to release your pressure, you might unconsciously make others who around you having terrible feelings. But if we would better not cry, why shouldn’t we laugh while feeling happy? Well, maybe the people around you just got a terrible grade and feel terrible during that time. Your laugh will only make them feel worse.

After all, poker face itself sounds cool enough. Thus, try to have a poker face, even it is really difficult to control your emotion to actual do that.