A Study On The Aesthetic Characteristcis Of Ink Play

Ink play,as a kind of drawing forms distorted and neglected for a long period of time,is a unique playful mentality and creative work of the Chinese ancients. The popular saying of"ink play of literati"renders ink play always subordinated to the category of drawings of literati, which, however doesn't mean that ink play amounts to drawings of literati. The word"play"has brought ink play invectives , thus the article tries to straighten out the relationship between ink play and literati, and reveal what ink play literally should be. Fortunately,ink play as a traditional Chinese drawing form, bears both unique national charm and the potential of expanding towards the international world. This article, by means of researching and remarking on contemporary ink play, compares and analyzes the applicability of Chinese and Western theories related to this topic, points out the deficiencies of the way the Chinese and Western theories interpret traditional ink play and discloses the correspondence between the two kinds of theories, and finally sees through ink play by setting it into the cultural and historical context conformed with it, accordingly has an insight in to the aesthetic spirit of ink play and reveals the particular artistic phenomenon and spiritual glamour attached to it. This article goes in three ways as to discuss the aesthetic traits of ink play, they are respectively: essence of being made a game, the state of individualization and representation of symbolization. It's the most special and basic characteristic of ink play that it's seen and made a game which dictate the ontological attribute of it, and it's essence of being made a game to some extent resembles the"Theory of Game"in the western world. However, as artistic form in traditional context, ink play represents its unique playfulness corresponding with traditional local cultural spirit, being playful with literary and artistic work is an important model of the artistic activities of the traditional Chinese literati ,which displayed the special spirit of playfulness of Chinese ancients. Affected by the trend of"Mad Zen", the Buddhist savor of"Being playful through Samādhi"brings out the unique long-term charm of oriental ink play .Individualization emphasizes on probing and analyzing the pattern of the main bodies who created ink play,the content created by them and their mindset ,and searching the inner spirit and form of their activities which purely donated to life itself.The tendency of"insanity""narcissism"and"grotesqueness"showed by individualization is impacted by deep social and humanistic factors, the trend of symbolization of ink play shows that the subject went through a process of abstractly symbolizing ink play to finalize its'design in the way he chose the materials of drawing and the way he processed the drawing skills, which was closely related to the private experience and feelings of the author. Symbolization which is a kind of"quasi-symbol"and"quasi-imagery", shows the sublimation brought about by ink play as an artistic symbol. Imagery and symbol fall into perfect theoretical system both in China and the West in terms of the history of philosophy of art, and the uniqueness of ink play is finally highlighted by the aesthetic form which attempts to grasp the image of life, thus, ink play is the carrier of art which demonstrates the rich life.