Uplifting Humanity Through the Arts
This post was originally written October 30, 2021
Historically beautiful art has been a way to convey hope for the human spirit, connect us with the divine, and open our hearts to love, hope, and spirituality. We may still find these simple yet profound concepts in ancient art and some in contemporary art.
Often art tells a story, as is the case in the themes shared below. These cover themes of modern times and some recent historical times, and we can see parallels with the ancient past in their telling.
The NTD Painting Competition allowed artists to share with us some really beautifully done realistic paintings. Through these paintings, the artists share the depth of their hearts. The beauty of the art speaks for itself. Because this artwork touched me so profoundly, each for different reasons, I decided to share it with you.
The uplifting nature of realistic art
Transcript
It is generally assumed that human art began with the imitation of nature. When it comes to imitation, realistic painting requires very high levels of skill in order to represent nature as it is. The more realistic the picture can be painted and the more similar it is to its model, the more impressive it is with people often reacting involuntarily to such paintings. In the West, a unique artistic pathway developed from which outstanding realistic art emerged.
The world we see with our eyes is a tangible image. The artist expresses his or her views and emotions through pictures, an image that can be touched, the image created by God. Through realistic paintings, it is still relatively easy to communicate with the viewer. Whether the viewer has studied art or not or as a layman and has never been introduced to art before, he sees a beautiful and highly realistic lifelike work and thinks, wow, he will feel the inner beauty of the works speaking directly to him.
With the ability to paint realistically, an artist can create higher works of great compassion. There are no limits to this ability, and it can be extended endlessly. An artist can use his ability to depict reality creating an image in his mind. Although other people cannot see this image, the artist can create a painting of such depth that the viewer can dive into it. Viewers can believe in the existence of this pictorial reality and feel its power.
Art results for life and tells about life. In the field of traditional art, the concept of universal validity is very important. For example, a photo can show all the details very clearly because it is a snapshot of the whole. In classical art, many details serve the topic. This means that in many parts of the painting, there are details that must be generalized. That is, the artist must have the ability to fashion the work and condense its content. It can reflect not only the artist's technical skills but also his thinking, his powers of observation, and his understanding of nature. Painting is a form of homogeneity. On the surface, it is a static painting though, in fact, it may be a collection of events or phenomena from many different moments in one image. So painting always reflects the artist's experiences, and the painter brings many messages into the picture. On the surface, it seems as if it expresses a certain moment, but in reality, it is the accumulation of many different moments. From this point of view, the difference between painting and photography is immense. We spoke about the most valuable part of realistic painting. For example, realistic painting can capture the entire scene of a historic moment which might be a very large scene in terms of space, and it is most convenient to capture this process in a painting.
When discussing the core of traditional culture, we must deal with the expression of the divine and the reverence for gods. Painting is the most convenient way of revering the manifestation of the divine. It is not only about realistic element, the divine has created everything, and we use realistic painting to follow the path of the divine. God has indeed created man in his own image and likeness. We use realistic painting to represent people and gods, so a realistic approach should be the best way. Indeed, the use of realistic painting is a kind of modesty and a perfect form of representation.
I saw what NTDTV suggested the Orthodox spirit of pure truthfulness, benevolence, and beauty. It refers to this spiritual attitude. I think it's great because NTDTV can point to this spirituality on a higher level. Usually, people say true good and beautiful, right? Pure truthfulness, pure compassion, and pure beauty. These are not just words. It refers to a higher level. It is a spiritual manifestation of the higher realm of truth, kindness, and beauty. I really think that when you reach this level, you will consider it valuable. The direction is clearly indicated pure things don't mean painting with pure colors. If you can attain real purity in your field, you can attain that understanding and that humility. As a result, you will be able to create works that are based on the original Orthodox culture. I think that's great. Very valuable. As an artist and you should think about why such a competition has been brought into being at this time. When you think about it in a quiet moment, you realize how deep the meaning is. It is a great contribution to history to the whole human society, to the individual, and to the present time. I think the new Tang Dynasty TV station is really wonderful.