Urban Sculpture Into Probity Develops into Problems Creates Thinking to Be Transformed

A few days ago, the National Urban Sculpture Awards Base was permanently settled in Nanchang. The Nanchang·China International Sculpture Art Museum also started construction and will become one of the largest sculpture museums in China after its completion.

This incident once again made urban sculpture the focus of public attention.

"Rush-in" development

Urban sculpture is more commonly known as public art in foreign countries. It has been developing in China since the 1980s. “Urban sculptures come in sync with the reform and opening up, and it can be said that in the plastic arts, the largest amount of input has been made in all regions.” Zou Wen, a public art critic, said that traditional Chinese art has distinctive characteristics of agricultural civilization. After the reform and opening up, these traditional arts did not actively adapt to urbanization and even feared this trend. Urban sculpture, on the other hand, is active in serving and cooperating with the process of urbanization and uses art to promote the development of Chinese cities.

According to incomplete statistics, there are tens of thousands of urban sculptures in the country, and there are more than 3,000 in Beijing alone. Judging from the outer ring, there are tens of thousands of urban sculpture practitioners, one or two thousand more active, and 100 people who have a long-term voice.

Over 30 years of development, a number of urban sculptures have emerged, such as Guangzhou's Wuyang Sculpture, Beijing's Monument to the People's Heroes, and the Yellow River Mother's Sculpture in Gansu. These sculptures have been proved by history and become a manifestation of the city's cultural end.

However, the rate of urbanization in China is too fast. Zou Wen said that as a city sculpture that closely follows the development of urbanization, although it has been following it up, it appears to be incompetent, and what it presents is "brute-in" development. The urban sculptures achieved in just 30 years may be the sum of the past 300 years. “In the past 30 years, the total number of sculptures in Chinese cities has accumulated, and the quality has not yet leapfrogged.” Zou Wen said that it is not without quality, but the denominator is too large and the quality is too rare.

This "brute-in" development has also attracted attention of all parties. In recent years, local governments are striving to explore how to make urban sculptures move in the right direction. Many places have already included urban sculpture planning as an overall consideration for urban construction planning. For example, the Shanghai Municipal Master Plan for Urban Sculpture (2004-2020), which was approved by the Shanghai Municipal Government in 2004, expands the construction of Shanghai's urban sculpture along the “one vertical, two horizontal and three rings”.

"Busy" artist

Urbanization in China is accompanied by economic restructuring. The external environment for the development of art has also undergone great changes. The market has gradually entered the art field. The involvement of the market provided the material basis for the development of urban sculpture on the one hand and gave rise to a series of problems on the other.

Urban sculpture has a long cycle of creation and labor. This is contrary to the needs of high-speed urbanization. As a result, there have been a large number of "limited projects": Before a city sculpture was created, there were propositions and time-limited objective constraints. What caused this was that public art was subject to investors.

Many people have also tasted the "sweet spot" of their economic interests and have invested in this industry. In Nanjing, Guangzhou and other places, there are factories specializing in the production of various balls, ribbons and other accessories. They directly imitate the works of foreign countries and assemble them into urban sculptures suitable for the current theme: “soaring” and “harmony”... This type of N-finished product allows the urban sculpture in many places to be the same, obliterating the creation of art.

The mentality of quick success and instant benefit also allows the artist to form a psychological comparison. It is not a work, not an achievement, but a car. It is an estate. In order to receive the project, they have many ways. “I often refer to the current urban sculpture industry as the 'Warring States Period' and the artists are 'busy'.” Zou Wen believes that the commodity economy has a great impact on the urban sculpture industry, turning the artist into a “fighter in the mall” and putting Academic and artistic atmosphere dimmed.

Creative thinking needs to be transformed

Urban sculpture exists in the public space of the city and is associated with the city. It is no longer a simple personal artwork. Nowadays, many artists still believe that urban sculpture is a social representation of individual works, which imposes personal expression on society and requires the public to accept and adapt to their own personalities.

“Most people always want to leave their personal traces in society.” Zou Wen said, therefore, the effect of the work may be greatly reduced: the public may not recognize it, may think that the work does not meet the urban character, resulting in “congenital patient outcomes of public art” ".

Zou Wen believes that the arts that enter public sights are, first and foremost, the condensing objects of the public will. They must conform to the current universal aesthetic and must serve the society. However, it does not mean that all artists must completely “grieve” in the current aesthetic. With reference to the current average aesthetic level, artists must also increase their “advanced amount” and “patch” in advance. Because art still has renewal, the aesthetic level after decades and 100 years should also be considered.

Zou Wen mentioned that in Western society, artists are also pursuing individuality. Enlightened public groups do not exclude personalities and styles. However, in the process of the formation of the Chinese civil society, the universal aesthetic cannot be achieved in one step.