i just read a very brief and short introduction to an artist. less than 100 words mentioned the artist's theme, style, understanding of life, etc. i was told that he wanted to portray urban people's disillusionment of urban life. this remark made me pause for a second and wonder what it meant exactly.
of course, such a brief and short introduction may overlook many important aspects of his thought, merits and achievement. but what gets mentioned in this introduction must be a result of careful choice. in other words, urban people's disillusionment are not an accident or misinterpretation or misrepresentation or misunderstanding of the writer (just suppose the writer is not the artist himself). it must be true of the artist's viewpoint.
such a philosophical attitude is really amazing. how did the artist come to the conclusion that it was only urban people that got disillusioned about life? i am city born and city bred. so i have no idea how a rural life is. that kind of life, it seems to me, is hopeless. one works on a pitiously small farm land and one'e life ends up empty. what drives millions of rural residents to cities may not be economic gains only available in cities. what's hidden in such desperate escape is a meaningless life. i don't mean urban life is meaningful. but when life is examined carefully, it could be meaningless no matter where it is lived. cities offer more distractions, diversion, opportunities, temptation, material and cultural benefits that one can almost forget the meaninglessness of life when these things are available to people in cities.
there is another source for this idea that urban people disillusioned about life in cities. some foreign scholars talk about disillusionment in urban life and their books arrive in chinese bookstores and artists read about them and pick up these ideas. it may be a great idea. but does it apply to chinese way of life? does it apply to life itself anywhere? i wonder. if life is a disillusionment, it hits you no matter where you live, how you live. this is almost naive to single urban people out and conclude that only urban people get disillusioned. who are privilaged enough to be able to steer away from disillusionment? if anyone finds out, drop me a line.
i am not yet talking about disillusionment itself. are we sure that it is disllusionment? are we sure that it isn't a great awaking to truth?
that's why nowadays i am quite cautious about theories and catchphrases. many of them contain absurdities and bad assumptions. i hate to pick them up in streets.
again, i can be totally wrong about the artist. probably he has full reasons to believe his conclusion about disillusionment. unfortunately, all i can see is a short text introduction. his graphic paintings may be mroe informative and instructive.
