Reflection Of Anti-utopia In The Field Of Contemporary Figurative Paintings

The concept of anti-utopia originates from the well-known Anti-utopia Trilogy in earth 20 th century.Anti-utopia is based on modernity,which has exposed its own defects in the process of development.Anti-utopia is essentially the reflection on and questioning of the “dark side” of modernity.In English,there are two words that correspond to dystopia,namely “dystopia” and “anti-utopia”.Utopia researcher Sargent has distinguished these two words.The first word can be interpreted as utopian narration such as the conception of concrete societies in utopian literature;the latter is the anti-utopia and judgment and criticism of utopia.Therefore,to discuss how and why anti-utopia is shown in contemporary figurative paintings,we should start from the two aspects of specific dystopian scene conception in artworks and the creation appeal of artists behind the works for integrated discussion.Meanwhile,the definition of anti-utopia has also been constantly enriched with the development of the time.It has shifted from the initial simple criticism of utopia to reflection on the process of real social development,and then to the ecological field,so it is closely related to the development of the human society.Today,it includes the discussion on the problems brought by the series of modernity such as political power,science,rationality,humanity,human right,ecology,and artificial intelligence.Starting from the perspective of post-modernity and based on their own observation and reflection on the era,contemporary artists have created anti-utopian figurative paintings bearing the meanings of persuasion and warning.Meanwhile,such artworks have guided the audience to observe and understand their current reality of survival,and think about the future of human beings,hence effectively becoming a part of the modern social early-warning mechanism.Anti-utopia has extremely high practical significance today.The problems discussed by it are closely related to each of us.Have the social problems cared aboutanti-utopian thinkers been somewhat eased or has science and technology development brought our life increasingly closer to the moral of dystopia? Currently,there are already rich research findings on anti-utopia,but there is insufficient literature on the combined research of anti-utopia with figurative paintings.Therefore,this research project remains to be explored by us.This thesis mainly takes four contemporary figurative painting artists as the research cases: Adrian Ghenie,Neo Rauch,Jia Aili,and Nigel Cooke.The thesis starts from the four perspectives of anti-utopia: Nazi Totalitarianism,human alienation,scientism,and ecological disasters and conducts research in combination with different expression techniques of artists to more comprehensively delve into the reflection of anti-utopia in modern figurative paintings.The four artists are all leading figures in the field of contemporary figurative paintings.They are from different countries and have different artistic styles.Research on them can deepen our understanding on anti-utopia and contemporary figurative paintings.Finally,based on one’s own practice,the author will briefly discuss the dynamic role played by anti-utopia in one’s own creation.