A Study Of Cai Zhizhong’s Comic Art In The Perspective Of Oriental Aesthetics

The concept of oriental aesthetics originated from the evolution of orientalism,as the expansion of European merchants to the east in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries led scholars to study the history and civilization of eastern countries,and the concept of orientalism began to emerge in academic circles.In 1926,the French scholar Renard published a book entitled "History of Oriental Culture",followed by the concept of "Oriental aesthetics".The introduction of this concept prompted the public to move away from the basic concept of Western art knowledge,on which they had relied so heavily,and to begin to recognize the importance of Eastern art and aesthetic experience.The oriental peoples represented by China and India have a rich and unique aesthetic thought that distinguishes them from Western aesthetics and shows distinctive oriental aesthetic qualities.Oriental aesthetics with Chinese aesthetics as the core is the aesthetics of life,which is characterized by intuition,experience,subjectivity,and the oneness of time and space.Studying Chinese art with an oriental aesthetic vision can accurately and profoundly explore its essential characteristics and artistic connotations.Against the backdrop of Western aesthetic standards dominating the art market,the cartoons of Taiwanese cartoonist Cai Zhizhong quickly attracted the interest and attention of domestic and international readers to Chinese cartoons upon their release.The reason why Cai Zhizhong’s cartoon art has triggered such a fierce response is that "the core of oriental aesthetics is packaged in cartoons",Cai Zhizhong interprets the profound traditional Chinese philosophical thoughts in a light-hearted and humorous form of modern cartoon expression,leading more people to return to the classics and understand Chinese traditional culture.Therefore,if we analyze Cai Zhizhong’s cartoon series in depth with the view of Oriental aesthetics,we can find that Cai Zhizhong’s cartoon art is deeply influenced by the aesthetic thinking of the Eastern nation,and his works have the artistic characteristics of simplicity,implicit introversion,natural simplicity and full of interest.His cartoons are the physical expression of Eastern aesthetic thought,and his cartoons build a bridge of "return" for the public,allowing more modern people to understand traditional Chinese culture and wisdom today.This paper discusses the value and influence of Cai Zhizhong’s cartoon art on today’s society by analyzing the oriental aesthetic features in his cartoons and based on the present time,in order to have a more comprehensive understanding of Cai Zhizhong’s cartoon art.