What do you see in "realistic" oil paintings?

Let me talk about some thoughts on China's realistic oil paintings. In China, realism has always been regarded as the value scale representing the academic artistic viewpoint and the touchstone to measure whether an artist has a solid foundation.

In recent years, realistic oil painting has made great achievements in different auction institutions, during which a large number of representative realistic oil painters have emerged. On the one hand, it reflects the diligence and enterprising of artists, on the other hand, it reflects the aesthetic habits of ordinary people, who still tend to obtain aesthetic pleasure through external forms, which is also in line with the illogical thinking inertia of China people.

However, the development of things always has two sides. Due to the convergence and cooperation of the market and various interests, vulgarization of various arts becomes inevitable. For example, a large number of realistic oil paintings are branded with a strong brand, or hyped and spoofed, which are actually misinterpretations of realistic oil paintings. Due to the lack of artistic and spiritual precipitation, some painters habitually follow the trend, but in fact they have a little knowledge of the semantics of realistic oil painting, which is manifested in the following aspects: lack of independent thinking and profound philosophical research, thus losing their due artistic perception and artistic feeling, painting only pursues appearances and lacks profound connotation, and their only thing is to cater to the market.

Realistic oil painting is the foundation of western plastic arts and has a complete scientific system. First of all, they attach importance to "masters", have their own corresponding methods in seeing, thinking, reading and tasting, presuppose in the learning process, focus on theory, methodology and practice, and attach importance to cultivating the painter's reading ability in every link. Because the influence of masters on thoughts, skills and feelings is self-evident, especially in contemporary times, on the basis of thoroughly understanding history and grasping modern concepts, oil painting has completely changed from traditional scientific research to freehand brushwork, performance, psychology and intuition research. This transformation process is actually the transformation of aesthetics and function, and the outstanding thing is to write "truth" instead of "reality".

In the artistic sense, conceptual realism is to seek its conclusion. When the conclusion is transformed into a concept, painting is over. We should know that the persistent internal driving force that constantly supports us to move towards truth and life dimension is the basis for the freedom of Chinese and western artistic spirits, and our spirit should also conform to the higher will in our lives to move towards freedom and light, which is aesthetics and creation.

In China's realistic painting, analogy, imitation and convergence are common. Coupled with our principles of life, this phenomenon makes us lack mental clarity and certainty, and at the same time causes the loss of independent judgment and comprehension. In painting creation, we should always remember to go to the truth alone.

In a word, I think realism is just a way to construct our exploration of truth. If our eyes only have the reappearance function of retina, the spiritual implication will never be seen, which is what China's art often says. Therefore, if realistic oil painting wants to gain its due value and vitality, it must establish contact with great traditions and compare the current thinking from a historical perspective. In this process, art has not regressed, but gained the same value. China people should look at the world with their own eyes and establish their own methodology, which is the hope of realistic oil painting.