What kind of "self-cultivation" is there? People's Daily commented: Urban Sculpture

Talk for a while before bedtime, there is a world in your dream. Good evening, listeners.

Not long ago, the sculpture of the Cowherd and Weaver Girl, built at a cost of 7.15 million yuan in a certain county in Henan Province, sparked doubts and sparked heated discussions about urban sculpture. Today, let's talk about this topic.

Urban sculpture, first and foremost, is a public facility that relates to the image of a city. It is a constituent element of the urban environment and a concentrated reflection of the cultural taste of the city. Whether it is highlighting regional cultural characteristics or commemorating specific character events, the construction of sculptures must consider input-output and must be evaluated and demonstrated in detail. If rashly taken up, it may fail to reflect urban culture and form cultural and tourism attraction, and become a superficial political achievement project. It should be noted that some low-quality sculptures with inappropriate themes and content can be costly in the early stages and difficult to dismantle in the later stages, wasting financial resources and damaging the credibility of the government.

In response to issues such as excessive scale, low quality, and unsuitable themes of some sculptures, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Rural Development issued a notice in 2020 on strengthening the management of large-scale urban sculpture construction, which clearly stated the need to strengthen the control, management, and review of urban sculpture. This requires various regions to plan and construct sculptures in accordance with laws and regulations, and departments such as planning, approval, and design to collaborate and make urban sculptures more outstanding. People's cities are built by the people, and everyone's affairs are discussed by everyone. In the planning stage, the role of government guidance, expert evaluation, and public participation should be played, and opinions from all walks of life should be widely solicited to repeatedly discuss and form consensus on issues such as whether to build, whether it is worth it, and whether it is appropriate or not. During the bidding and construction stages, information disclosure should be strengthened and social supervision should be strengthened. Only with full participation from all parties can urban sculpture withstand the scrutiny of the masses.

Urban sculpture is also a work of art. Some people say that sculpture is the finishing touch to beautify a city. The Mao Zedong Youth Art Sculpture in Changsha embodies the great spirit of guiding the country; The "Yellow River Mother" in Lanzhou symbolizes that the Yellow River has nurtured the endless descendants of China; The "pioneering cattle" in Shenzhen demonstrate a special zone temperament of daring to explore and try. Good sculptures can decorate the city, beautify the environment, and bring people aesthetic enjoyment and enlightenment. On the contrary, urban sculpture is not as satisfactory as expected and instead hinders the view. In this sense, sculpture is not only a technical activity, but also an artistic activity. It tests the artist's wisdom and ingenuity. In addition, urban sculptures are often placed in public places and cannot be moved, causing passersby to "bow their heads but not look up". Therefore, their creative level must be evaluated with higher artistic standards.

Art creation should be bold and innovative, but urban sculpture design cannot be arbitrary. It must be noted that modern sculpture art is developing rapidly, with various schools showcasing their strengths. Artists unleash their imagination to the fullest, innovating in style, materials, technology, and constantly breaking through the traditional boundaries of sculpture art. But unlike the cutting-edge exploration and niche exhibitions on the creative front line, urban sculpture needs to conform to public acceptance habits and connect with public aesthetic concepts. In recent years, due to the disconnect between personal expression and social concepts, and even violating mainstream values, public order, and good customs, some urban sculptures have also sparked controversy. This indicates that urban sculpture is a public art and people's art. The vivid and beautiful image, positive and healthy taste, and elegant and popular style should be the creative direction of urban sculpture.

Of course, the style of urban sculpture is not static. In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, realistic works praising the people and labor continued to emerge, becoming the coordinates of the era of construction; Since the reform and opening up, from grand themes of political history to glimpses of daily life, from simple realism to the coexistence of abstraction, imagery, aesthetics, and symbols, urban sculpture has shown a trend of blooming with a hundred flowers. It can be seen that urban sculpture is a reflection of the spirit of the times. Drawing on new art forms and means of expression, better melting the spirit of the times and urban culture, and creating more influential works, can form a positive interaction and common improvement between sculpture art and public aesthetics.

The quality of sculpture reflects the level of aesthetic education. In recent years, with the continuous popularization of urban sculpture, the general public's level of understanding of art has gradually improved. It should also be noted that some creators lack independent artistic judgment, copy and create similar works, or have weak basic skills and simple and rigid works; Some managers equate sculpture with building buildings, bridges, and paving roads, or blindly seek the greatest, or blindly require sculpture to carry multiple symbolic meanings, and even fail to understand its meaning without following instructions. The relevant phenomenon indicates that optimizing the quality of urban sculpture is not a temporary matter; Improving the level of social aesthetics requires long-term efforts. Expanding aesthetic education to a higher level and enhancing the overall aesthetic level of society, including creators, decision-makers, and viewers, is essential for urban sculpture to stand proudly, allowing the light of art to illuminate urban spaces and allowing the general public to immerse themselves in the ocean of beauty.

This is exactly:

Art is for the people, do not be a niche view.

Sculpture with excellent creation, enjoying both refined and popular elements.