Ontology of Art

SHEN Dian-huai

【Abstract】Art is a macroscopical concept， a social ideology which is more classic than reality. When the word art is mentioned， two things will immediately occur to people. One is the response to beauty， the other one is the carrier which reflects the aesthetic perception. Taking the example that the mother of modern dance， Deng Ken， visited the Parthenon in Greek with a world-renowned scientist， as Den Ken was touched by the great ancient building， the scientist just asked her about the marble texture of the temple. Thereout， the author could not help but ruminate what is primary for the noumenon between the metaphysical response and the physical carrier of art standing in front of art， the macroscopical object. From this， the “noumenon” of art was endowed two prominent hierarchies by the author， as it were， “the first noumenon” and “the second noumenon” （the physical carrier of art and the metaphysical response to beauty）. Both are main parts for each other and never separate from each other， jointly building the noumenon of art.

【Key words】Noumenon； Art； The first noumenon； The second noumenon

中圖分类号： J02 文献标识码： A 文章编号：2095-2457（2018）03-0087-003

1 First Noumenon of Art

As described in Chinese ancient prose “Although there is only one character engraved on jade， it is still the noumenon of jade.” “Noumenon” refers to the root of plants， the source of objects and body or shape of objects. For art， the noumenon of art also indicates the origin of art. Hegel said when speaking of the beginning of Logic： “Origin is the beginning， which is principal to thinking， the course of thinking should be the initial object.” For the same reason， the origin of art， or as called the “noumenon”， is the very start of the course of artistic creation. So-called “the course of thinking” by Hegel can only be thoroughly conveyed via the concrete physical carrier， reflecting the true essence of art. Thus， “the first noumenon” of art set up by the author is the physical carrier transmitting the spiritual core. As Aristotle described， “Reality precedes potential， and the form precedes materials， obviously precedent to concrete objects. In this way， the position of the first noumenon can be only given to the form instead of concrete objects.” Even though the contradiction fills his philosophical thought， there is a tendency of dualism on the question that which one is the noumenon between materials and the form. His thought has clarified the question that what is primary between materials and consciousness. Spiritual qualities of art are able to be conveyed and sensed by carriers. In a similar way， there is no exception for the class of art. Art is a macroscopical artistic category which integrates the building， music， dance， fine arts and other forms. The spiritual symbol that the artist conveys and the appreciator receives is presented by their media vehicles.

Regarding dance as an example， it is one expressive art of body languages which has been extracted and purified， integrated， processed and beautified. We can only receive the aesthetic signal of the art and its potential metaphysical core of spiritual culture through the symbol transmission of body languages. In terms of its physical carrier， dance is the locomotor expression of the human body under the space. Despite his materials are composed of the parts of humans arms and legs， body， head， face and so on. While it seems to be a little farfetched to judge his noumenon merely by these materials. Since not just dance transmits the symbol through body among thousands of species， martial arts， acrobatics， gymnastics and other forms also express themselves through these materials. However， the difference is dance shows more in conflicts between people and between nature and society under the direction of the metaphysical ideology and the continuation of inner feelings. Its special body language constituted by ever-changing patterns of manifestation conveys the charm of art. In another word， for the same body movement formed by arm materials， winning serves as the starting point in the definition for the noumenon of martial arts， while expressing emotions is the finality in the noumenon of dance. Consequently， the specialty of its conveying carriers is distinguished.

For another example， both the sacred temple building and the grandiose stone bridge construction are made up of tiles and mudstones. But why two different objects are formed？ The key lies in different starting points in functions and finality， different constructional forms are taken in the course of structure formations， formed under the direction of main ideas.

As far as the first noumenon of music is concerned， whether the sound of noise created by peoples coming and going in the market， or the operating sound from the operational machine in the construction site， whether the sound of the chorus led by the command， or the melodious sound of pianos， their materials all come from the “sounds” felt by the auditory sensation. But why the first two can be only called as life， and the latter two can be called art. The crucial point lies in the arrangement of the form structure on the basis of sound materials. Given that the transformation of the weak and the strong for the sound made by people in the market is conducted and the structure of the operating sound in the construction site is sequenced under artists main part creation， in all probability， they will become great artistic works under artists batons.

So when the first noumenon of the art category is confirmed， physical carriers we have stressed are the formalized materials of the creative structure for subjective initiative rather than materials. From this， the origin of art will show the value and meaning of its presence.

2 Second nounmenon of art

If the first noumenon of art is the physical carrier， the second noumenon of art should be the truth of beauty conveyed by the physical carrier. It is an aesthetical realm can only be felt rather than be told， the invisible aesthetical realm in the visible. As the author reckons the second noumenon of art is the highest realm of aesthetical art. In other words， despite not all artworks are able to reach an extremely high level of this aesthetical realm， any artwork is of metaphysical spiritual space volleying over concrete objects. Furthermore， what the “spiritual space” manifests is not to grasp the essence of the first noumenon-carrier but to understand and feel the first noumenon， as it were， the second noumenon.

As written in the book Rodan Theory upon the overall process of Rodan creating the Balzac statue： integrating spirit into the soul of Balzac， Rodan started to create his appearance. He read the description of Balzac written by Lamartine： “He possesses a face composed by elements”， “he has a full figure in the soul， so it can carry his heavy body.” Rodan thought these sentences confirmed most issues... And then he finally saw him. He saw one strapping body， with vigorous and firm steps， and the weight of the body had completely disappeared in the downthrow of the black cassock. Fluffy hair was against the strong neck， with hair circling the face， the face of one element. He is Balzac... It was the emergence of the noumenon of creation in Balzac， the pride of creation， the dignity of creation， stun and intoxication of creation.

In the first place， Rodan extracted the spirit and the soul of Balzac in a good deal of materials and then started his creative process. The spirit and the soul are the creativeness soaking in the Balzac statue， the noumena of this art treasure， the “noumenon of creation” quoted from Rilke.[1]

Similar to the second noumenon of art mentioned above， we can find their beginning and end through different classes of art. As “Drawing a horse” recorded in Chinese ancient documents： Li Bo often passed the government office which was responsible for horse breeding， “he spent all day watching the horse and even had no time to talk with his friends， concentrating on studying the expression of horses， keeping the image of the horse inside after a long time.” The spiritual quality of “the expression” hereof is the second noumenon of art[2]； Danner stated Philosophy of Art： “ Once the architect has some major characteristic in his mind such as the tranquility， simplicity， sturdiness， elegance and so on in the eras of Greek and Rome， he is able to enter the creating process.” The main characteristics described here such as tranquility， simplicity and so on is the second noumenon of art for the building. When Liszt talked about Chopin， he said： he enabled the composition to have some kind of special color， some kind of uncertain realm， some kind of leap which was almost immaterial； their strength was immeasurable， beyond the reception of auditory organs， reaching an inner resonance. “The immaterial leap” mentioned here is the second noumenon of musical art. Regarding the noumenon of dancing art， there is a very wonderful description in Artistic Issues written by Susan Lange： You are not just watching the substance present moving around in space during the process of dance appreciation. What we see actually is a virtual scene in the substance. Although time， space， strength， clothing， props， and light are included in dancing， we dont attach much importance to the modality during when appreciating. What we see， hear， or sense in a perfect dance should be some virtual entities. The more perfect the dance is， the less these objects we can see from them. The modality jointly constructs the language of the body， serving for shaping the creative image. The dance itself is artificially created by artists rather than the natural substance. The virtual entity mentioned here is the element which forms the creative image， the second noumenon of the dancing image.

We can roughly see some information of the second noumenon of art from the noumenon of various classes of art， the drawing， building， music， and dance listed above. In conclusion， we can say that in essence， the second noumenon of art is the presentation of one kind of strength， the leap of humans life and humans essential power， the creation of initiative， the inspiration of the appreciator， the concentrated reflection of aesthetic consciousness. As the creativeness， expression， tranquility， simplicity and immaterial leap we mentioned earlier all illustrate one essence.

Ancient artistic theory in our country is classical art theory with oriental mysticism and possesses rich ontological color， which has had profound research on this metaphysical spiritual characteristic of “the second noumenon” of the art described by the author. As the ancient litterateur， Lu Ji said the abstract concept gave it the concrete form， and the silent idea gave it the sound.[3] The ancient litterateur Sun Guoting stated calligraphy and paintings were casual and had no art of composition when someone was skilled at them， and he was able to draw it to his hearts content without watching the look of the cow out of skillfulness.[4] Chinese ancient poet Liu Yuxi said the realm of poetry is not the secular object. The poet Zhang Yan advocated “Poetry pursues the realm which is beyond the image instead of the concrete visual entity. All splendidness of poetry depends on the realm”. He also mentioned music appreciation rested on the realm which was beyond the sound， which was everything you really acquired. The records mentioned above are all good discourse. The renowned Chinese poet Si Kongtu thought “Art remains in the scene which is outside the scene，” and Chinese poet Yan Yu thought “Poetry is like the sound in the sky， although the color of the appearance， moon in the water， and image in the mirror have been completely conveyed when being read out， the thought has never stopped， as it were， integrating the ideas listed above as a whole. However， in ancient China， this kind of traditional artistic ideas had been accused of idealism and anti-realism， such kind of blame is an extremely-superficial idea， the typical expression for being ignorant of the truth of art. These accusants dont understand the truth of art is the second noumenon which needs to depict the noumenon of art which surpasses the image. It requires this kind of apperception and comprehension in nothingness. For example， Belinski ever said， “Lyric poetry seems to have no contents.” He took Alexander Pushkins lyric poem as an example：

Farewell to you， unharnessed Ocean！

No longer will you roll at me

Your azure swells in endless motion

Or gleam in tranquil majesty.

A comrades broken words on leaving，

His hail of parting at the door：

Your chant of luring， chant of grieving

Will murmur in my ears no more.

Oh， homeland of my spirit's choosing！

How often on your banks at large

I wandered mute and dimly musing……

Although The comprehension of Hamlet varies from reader to reader， how many people will consider Alexander Pushkins The Call to the Sea is so boring when having different cognitive perspectives in noumena. Aimed at the criticism which remains in “the first noumenon of art”， the author thinks：

Whoever has a resonance towards the sea in his mind， whoever thinks the secret sound of sea waves speaks to him in the understandable language， he will feel the great creation of art in this little poem. It follows that it is one mediocre for not understanding the intangible character of the artistic noumenon and for lacking penetrating power in artwork appreciation， and the great creation of Alexander Pushkin will be regarded as sleazy and empty and boring substances， just like regarding the lustrous theory for studying the noumenon of art as worthless idealistic things.

3 Intersubjectivity

Intersubjectivity refers to the existence of the relationship between subjects is confirmed， existence becomes the contact， dialogue， and experience between subjects so as to reach the comprehension and harmony between each other. Similarly， “the noumenon of art” is the communication and joint construction between modal carriers of visual and auditory senses， as it were， the subject spirit of artworks and artistic creation and aesthetic appreciation. “For the species of art， we should have abilities to observe， and then we can see them， once seeing them， the happiness and fear we feel are stronger than the situation that we see something beautiful. As what we have touched is the real object”[5].the idea that artists need to observe life and reflect the life that we often mention in normal times is non-specific and inaccurate. For artists， “understanding life” and “feeling life” are more important， in this way， the beauty of the highest can be acquired. In fact， most of the people are used to acquainting with the concrete and visible external object， not good at subliming towards the metaphysical noumenal world. Even scientists or artists will make some mediocre opinions in each others unfamiliar domain. Schiller said something laymen care for is different from that of scholars or artists， primary goals for laymen and scholars lie in the reality of mastering the substance of objects. The root cause for preventing the sublimation of people from the phenomenal world to the noumenal world is people who hold mediocre opinions do not understand the real relationship between mastering the noumenon and mastering everything. Generally speaking， people always regard the “vacancy” as the real “vacancy”， “nothing” as the real nothing， thinking they will lose concreteness if entering the noumenon. They have no idea the noumenon， or called the “vacancy”， itself is the source of all lives and the essence of all forms instead of a state of nothing. All art can only gain all by grasping the noumenon and getting rid of everything， only “you are exhausted”， you can “possess everything”. Putting the form of invisible human s life in the core and first place or putting various concrete visible objects （such as stories， plots， and characters） in the core and first place is the issue in terms of artistic creation. It is the basic difference between the gifted artist and the mediocre artisan.

Taking a look at previous examples， if Rodan did not firstly extract the“creative and insightful nounmenon” from Balzac in numerous life materials， but to cling to every piece of life materials； if painters did not save and refine spirit and firstly felt the charm of the horse， but to merely remember the body and the hair of horses； if the architect in ancient Greek did not firstly acquire main traits of tranquility and simplicity which seems to be totally unrelated to the building entity， in that way， how can they create these immortal art treasures？

In short， art neither merely imitates reality nor imagines detached from reality. The first noumenon and the second noumenon of art is the unification of subject-objectification and object-subjectification，the comprehension and communication between both parties， and both are indispensable. Based on our grasp of the formal structure of the first noumenon of art， with the comprehension way of the coexistence of virtuality and actuality， the spirit of art will go up to the metaphysical spiritual quality， using invisible and incomplete realistic formal structure to transmit the space charm of the second noumenon in the artistic imagination.

【Preferences】

[1]Lopes， DM.2001（4）.The ontology of interactive art [J].Journal of Aesthetic Education.

[2]Qi Deliang.2005.Book for Literary Theory[M].Henan University Press.

[3]Qi Deliang.2008.The Collated and Annotated Translation for The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons.Shanghai Chinese Classics Publishing House.

[4]Tu Xiaoyuan.2006.Chinese Calligraphy Tentative Analysis of Tianjin Block-printed Edition[J].Tu Zongtao，. Academic Journal of Tianjin Normal University

[5]Tavinor， G.The art of videogames[B].The art of videogames.