Art 、Philosophy and Science

by Min Zou

Art is not something you see, but you let other people see things.                                
  ------ Edgar

Since I became a professional artist, I have been pondering the relationships between the art, the philosophy and the science. Especially when I see some artists actually shouted: Art is nothing! I want to discuss what on earth the art is. Here, I talk about my perception of art, philosophy and science, and how I have been engaging in my artistic creation.
First, I think everyone's art is the embodiment of his / her own cultural knowledge and culture connotation. Everyone speaks on his / her cultural background. Different cultural backgrounds and different social experience can lead to different ideas, which can lead to different arts.The art itself is a special way that a human takes emotion and imagination as the characteristics to grasp the world, and also is the visual reflection of the real life and the spiritual world of human. With the development of society, the imagination and creativity of human are keeping getting on. Art breaks the boundaries of space-time, enhances people's sentiment, expands people's imagination, stimulates people's thoughts and feelings, and cultivates people's temperament. The art activity is not only an important part of the spirit civilization of a nation, but also an important part of the spiritual life of the individual. Outstanding artworks are the common spiritual wealth of all mankind.The artists express and communicate their aesthetic susceptibility and aesthetic ideals by art creativity, the viewers meet their aesthetic needs and obtain the aesthetic feelings by art appreciation. The aestheticism is the perfect play of aesthetics. In addition to aesthetic value, arts have other social functions, such as cognitive function, education function、mold functions, and entertainment function and so on. Among, the social function of art is that people understand the nature、the society、the history and the life by art activities. The educational function of art is that people are nurtured and influenced with the truth、the goodness and the beauty through the art activity, which can lead to the changes of the thoughts、the feelings、the attitudes of life and the values. The entertainment function of Art is that people get the spirit enjoyment and aesthetic pleasure and aesthetic needs.

Science is a kind of social ideology, which is the knowledge system about the nature, the society and the law of thinking development. There is not only objective factors in science, but also the human factors. The nature comes first, then human come, after human exist, then the natural sciences come, so, anyhow the natural sciences are man-made out. There must be some human agreed factors in the human language、 the human thinking way、 the experiments by people. In science, what factor is the truth factor and what factor is a human construct factor is now a problem in the philosophy of science.
In the past, scientists do science for science, satisfying their curiosity and seeking the truth. Some of the early scientists dedicated themselves to science. They believe that science is value-neutral. Now the social consequences of science are very serious, such as creating nuclear bombs, biological weapons, and chemical weapons, which could destroy mankind. Cloning, Genetic engineering, IVF, Organ transplants and so on, these kinds of technology will have a significant impact on the entire human life and ethics in the future. So scientists not only seek truth, but also ask its social consequences. After all, science is for the human beings, and for the happy life of human.

What is the difference between the art and the science? The science reflects the laws of the objective world with the human reason. Art reflects the world through the human sensibility, including objective and subjective world. For science, it is more of "discovery", and for art, it is more of "creation." Art is a reflection of the true feelings of human heart.
How do I create my art now?
Einstein is one of my most admired scientists. Einstein's theory of relativity in my eyes is the most beautiful theory. The curved space-time, the relative time, and the relative space is like a poem, and is like an imaginative beautiful picture. I like the philosophy. The philosophy in my mind is the pursuit of beauty, the pursuit of the natural beauty, and the exploration of truth. Especially, after I read Plato's theory of ideas, Hume's empiricism, Kant's transcendentalism, and Sartre's existentialism, I more feel that the beauty of philosophy is almost unparalleled. With a philosophical look on the science, how would it be ? With a scientific look on the art, how would it be?
Alexander in his "space, time, and the gods", said: " The solution of all major problems in philosophy depends on what time_space is - Particularly, the answer of questions of how the two interrelated." Since ancient times, time and space has always been a big topic. People ask what time in the end is. Augustine once lamented: "What is the time? No one asked me, I'd know, someone asked me, I would like to explain, but staring into space.” Heidegger also said:” The time as it is is the philosophical issue. Whether in natural science, or as a way to anthropology, time itself says nothing. Time is of some kind of secret nature. Thus, the concept history of time is the history of misunderstanding of time. The concept history of all time at macro level of human knowledge all maybe impresses and repeats the predicament or desperate Augustine encountered at the personal thinking level.
　　
In the era of the famous French scientist Poincare, non-Euclidean geometry has been come out, which you can find in the practical application of physics. The uniqueness of mathematical system is broken, which can be built on top of different intuitive! How to determine whether the Euclicdean or non-Euclidean geometry represents an innate intuitive? Poincare said that they are comprehensive, but not innate, but agreed. For some kind of convenience, some purpose, we agreed to a rule as an axiom, and thus establish a knowledge system to. Poincare's conventionalism and space-time theory, Mach's principle of relativity, the principle of same of the light speed , and the love of philosophy, made the advent of Einstein's theory of relativity, which tells people that the time is not absolute and unchanging, the absolute space is not constant, but relative, time and space are closely linked, isolated time and space do not exist in isolation, and the space-time is curved. Curved space-time tells matter how to curve, time and space tells matter how to move. Theory of relativity put an end to the concept of absolute time, it tells us the time is a subjective concept. Meanwhile, the theory of relativity also tells us there is no absolute thing, and the absolute idea, the ultimate truth no longer exists.
So, since 2010, I created a series of oil paintings ，the main theme of which is in a series of space-time. Among these paintings, there are 《time to travel》、《cross the time》、《the curved space-time》, 《the magic universe》, 《flying to the universe》, 《and the alien dialogue》, 《Star ladies》，and so on. They also are the accumulation of my natural science and philosophy of knowledge of many years.
　　
The universe, we all know, is the sum of time and space, one-dimensional time and multi-dimensional space of scientific speculation exists in the world we live in, and now scientists believe that the space is of 10-dimensional, but we can only feel the three spatial dimensions and one time dimension. If a space is of less than two-dimensional, which certainly can’t produce life, and it is also hard to imagine a higher dimensional space.
　　
In these paintings, I try to describe the profoundness, infiniteness and mystery of the universe by my paintings, and try to display the hierarchy、the depth、the greatness and the infiniteness of the universe in front of people, for people to taste the endless universe, crossing the time, time travel and magic blurred galaxies. In this series of paintings of time and space, I put not only my Chinese painting technique of years into the Western oil paintings, but also the actual situation theory/ yin and yang theory of Chinese philosophy, and especially take space-time as the media to form my own unique painting language.

Min's Viewpoint of Art

　First of all, I think the everyone’s art is the embodies of his / her own cultural knowledge and cultural connotation. Everyone speaks on his / her cultural background. Different cultural backgrounds, and different social experience can lead to different ideas, then create different arts. Everyone just exerts his / her knowledge and wisdom as much as possible.

I would like to explore the more deep-seated things by exploring the philosophy of time and space, and see the essence of things through the surface phenomenon of things, then see the develop and future of things. Look upon the world at an extremely broad mind and endless horizons. The same for the art, describe this universe - the sum of space and time with a great spirit and imposing manner, and integrate knowledge, wisdom, and emotions into my paintings.
All knowledge fields (including art) eventually up to reach the level of philosophy. By exploring the viewpoint of time and space, we can see the different philosophical viewpoints during the different periods, and the development of science and technology promotes the formation of philosophical concepts. A history of philosophy is the complex of concepts of different periods. When the art combines with science, the art is of scientific; When the art combines with philosophy, the arts is of philosophical (depth); When the science combines with philosophy, the science is of philosophical.

When art, philosophy and science into one, it goes beyond the science, the philosophy and the art single individual, which makes the art be of scientific and profound (philosophical) with levels and depths, and no longer just explore the phenomenon of surfaces of things. So there must be a certain philosophy of knowledge, a certain artistic heritage, a certain scientific knowledge in the person to deeply understand the combination of art, philosophy and science! This is what I have been exploring and pursuing. I hope my art will be of deep and profound, not just staying in the surface phenomenons of things.
The highest state of art is also a philosophical realm. Philosophy is the highest state of all scientific knowledge. No matter what fields of knowledge, he/she will become a philosopher when he / she reaches the highest state, but the philosophy is also based on the science. Therefore, different periods, different regions, different philosophical concepts. A history of philosophy is the complex of different ideas in different periods. The advancement of science and technology promotes the formation of philosophical concepts.
Of course, to reach the highest state of art, to achieve the level of philosophy, we not only have knowledge and wisdom, but also have a transcend state of mind, the sentiments free from vulgarity, boundless horizons, and broad mind. Not an common person can achieve, not just one day to achieve, she is something inside, she is a kind of spiritual realm, but also must be carefully to comprehended by heart....

Someone asked me: "Does not this exist: the mathematics deductive is beyond or instead of a physical exploration, and people believe it. "Yes, to some extent, this exists. Many physics experiments can not be confirmed in the experiments. This is why Hawking, the world's greatest scientist, did not obtain the Nobel Prize, because his theory can not be proven and disproved! So, some people say that the physics has come to a dead alley, so, many physicists have change their occupations.

The same to the Philosophy. From ancient Greek philosophy to postmodernism, deconstructionism, Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Hegel, Wittgenstein, Sartre, Derrida and so on. In 2007, I asked a professor ( University of Cambridge ) if the philosophy went to a dead alley, she replied: "go on, the road there!"

The same to the art. From the ancient art to the modern art, Classicism, Rococo art, Neoclassicism, The romantic, Realism, Impressionism, Post-impressionism, Fauvism, expressionism, Cubism, Abstractionism, Surrealism, Abstract expressionism to Pop art, and so on. So someone said the art comes to a dead alley. Now people just repeat the previous arts without innovation!
All theories are valid within a defined range. Out of this range, not easy to say! Because people's knowledge and understanding is limited! Especially for a scientific theory.
Art also. This is why the art history exists! Different periods , different regions and different cultures, different art!
Of course, the art is different from the science. The science reflects the laws of the objective world with the human reason. The art reflects the world through the human sensibility, including objective and subjective world. For the science, it is more of "discovery", and for art, it is more of "creation." The art is a reflection of the true feelings of human heart.

The artists express and communicate their aesthetic susceptibility and aesthetic ideals by art creativity, the viewers meet their aesthetic needs and obtain the aesthetic feeling by art appreciation. Aestheticism is the perfect play of aesthetics. In addition to aesthetic value, arts have other social functions, such as cognitive function, education function、mold functions, and entertainment function and so on. Among, the social function of art is that people understand the nature、the society、the history and the life through art activities. The educational function of art is that people are nurtured and influenced with the truth、the goodness and the beauty through the art activity, which can lead to the changes of the thoughts、the feelings、the attitudes of life and the values. The entertainment function of Art is that people get the spirit enjoyment and aesthetic pleasure and aesthetic needs.

Science is a kind of social ideology, which is the knowledge system about the nature, the society and the law of thinking development. There is not only objective factors in science, but also the human factors. The nature comes first, then human come, after human exist, then the natural sciences come, so, anyhow the natural sciences are man-made out. There must be some human agreed factors in the human language、 the human thinking way、 the experiments by people. In science, what factor is the truth factor and what factor is a human construct factor is now a problem in the philosophy of science.

The art itself is a special way that a human takes emotion and imagination as the characteristics to grasp the world, and also is the visual reflection of the real life and the spiritual world of human. With the development of society, the imagination and creativity of human are keeping getting on. The art breaks the boundaries of space-time, enhances people's sentiment, expands people's imagination, stimulates people's thoughts and feelings, and cultivates people's temperament. The art activity is not only an important part of the spirit civilization of a nation, but also an important part of the spiritual life of the individual. Outstanding artworks are the common spiritual wealth of all mankind.
Why Socrates could become a great philosopher, because he said he was ignorant. We have to see our own ignorance,then we can progress. Only after we go-ahead, we can see the meaning of our own existence. Because people are of not only rational, emotional, but also thinking and intelligent.　


Min's Principle of Art

My artistic creation ideas of the present stage are from my true feelings、、、， my thoughts, my feelings, my knowledge, and my wisdom...

As an artist, I have a Bachelor degree in engineering, and a Master degree in art. I like the abstract theoretical thinking. My work generally comes from the accumulation of my knowledge, the love of nature, the love of Natural Science, the exploration of Humanities and Social Science, and the philosophical insights, so, many of my art works are from the accumulation of natural scientific knowledge and philosophical knowledge, such as: 《Cross the time》, 《Time travel》, 《the curved space-time》, which only can be understood by persons who know some knowledge of philosophy and natural science. So, it can be said: Most of my inspiration comes from my thoughts and thinking.

With the growth of my art works, my art works have experienced the changes of history, cultural integration, and the exchange of Chinese and foreign culture. The current art is very colorful, and the diversity of art can expand people's thinking, and no longer binds off their own thoughts , and people can look at the world in the multi-dimensional ideas, so that people can be of more inclusive in this world and can be of more innovative, then promote the social progress. I think we should look at this world in a multi-dimensional thinking , just as the multi-dimensional nature of the universe, but I think we should pursue the truth, the goodness, and the beauty. Inside me, I like those simple, natural, and sincere things. So my works are always full of truth, goodness, beauty, and the love of nature.
With the growth of my works, the style of my art works has also undergone some changes, which emphasizing on the realism first, then the semi-abstract level, and now my works is of more abstract. The ultimate of art reaches the philosophical level. I like the pure things, and a little philosophical thinking, so my works are of a little philosophical flavor, and a feeling of pure. Anyhow, I always put the truth, the goodness and the beauty into my work, and make my works look very natural and pure.
As the technology advances, the content and the manifestation of art is rich and varied, but the pursuit of truth, goodness, beauty is the same. Art is that an artist expresses his / her inner world, and a way to express his / her true feelings. How changeable the outside world is, but the true feelings of a person is not free to change, that is, the relationship of the form and the nature. See the essence.through the form.

When an artwork must be coherent, I always work continuously for many hours, or even days. If not in one go, the painting can not be perfect. So sometimes after I complete a painting, just want to rest. As for some art works do not need to be wrapped, then I just paint a little bit each day with the clarity of composition, just doing as the painting idea.
　　　
As a painting work of art, how can I appreciate it? First of all, from a general point of view, is it beautiful? Then, is it innovative? Is there some thoughts and emotions inside? Can it inspire me? Whether it is a figure painting or a landscape painting, everything is spiritual. Is the paintings spiritual? Of course, there are some different views on oil paintings and traditional Chinese paintings. When I appreciate an oil painting, I will pay more attention to the expression of colors. The Rich and natural of colors enhance the beauty of the painting. When I appreciate a traditional Chinese painting, I will consider more about the skill.　
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Education:
Studied in China and Europe.
Bsc degree in 2004.
MA degree in 2008
2008 to 2009, studied at the China Academy of Fine and Art.