作者：杨晓阳
关于“大美术”
美术本来是大概念，后来逐渐被人为缩小了。现在人们一提美术，就是指绘画、雕塑以及一些实用性设计，如广告等。这是对美术内涵、范畴和意义的严重缩小，我认为：
1.一切有形有色的事物都是美术。大到一个国家、城市、地区的面貌，小到居室、餐具、食品、钥匙链等任何能够看到的小物件。美术就是创造“美”的视觉形式的“术”——这个“术”有艺术的成分，也有技术的成分。它可以创造纯粹供审美的、非实用的形式，也可以创造实用的美的物品，还可以将现有的东西按照美的法则来排列、置放。在此基础上理解美术的范畴，就包括绘画、雕塑、工艺美术、建筑美术、环境美术、设计美术、装置美术、服装美术，以及一切民间美术和随着新生活需要而诞生的全部新的物类美术,诸如我们现在了解的剪纸、陶艺、面花、布饰、摄影、插花等，还有我们还不能了解的未来的更多的品类，以及它们的置放方式。
2.美术在人的生活中是一件大事。它无所不在，无所不有，人的举手投足、衣食住行、生存环境、所见所遇，无一不与美术有着直接或间接的关系。
3.美是人类的目的。美不仅是人类的本能，还是人类的目的。人类社会的全部生产、建设行为都是为了实现美，人类社会发展的最后阶段、最终目标就是美——美的世界、美的生活。
4.美是改造社会的动力。人类是按照美的法则来塑造形象、塑造生活、塑造环境、塑造世界的。求美的本能是人类改造社会的内在动力。
5.美的意识和美的世界互为因果。人类用美的意识改造世界，但外部世界的美的程度会影响一定时期的美的意识。
6.人类对美的要求和对经济发展的要求是同步的。它要求实现与某一个经济时代相对等的美的生活。
7.美术发达的程度是一个民族、一个国家文明程度的重要指标。没有美术的民族是野蛮的民族，不重视美术的国家是盲目、幼稚、不成熟的国家。
8.美术在经济建设中扮演着至关重要的角色。没有美术的建设是短视的建设，也是短命的建设；美术可以促进、带动和补充经济发展。
9.美术可以兴国。一个国家、一个民族在美术上的成就，可以长久地留存在这个国家、这个民族的美的意识进程中，可以长久地留存在这个国家、这个民族的博物馆里和地面上，成为后人永远无法替代的历史成就，成为这个国家兴盛强大的标志。
10.美术是全人类、全社会的事业，它不仅仅属于美术家。
11.中国需要“大美术”，需要美术的生活、美术的中国。
关于“大写意”
1.传统的写意说。写意、大写意，作为中国画的画法由来已久。王维留下过“凡画山水，意在笔先”的论调；白居易《画竹歌》亦有“不根而生从意生”之言；张彦远在《历代名画记》中说顾恺之画“意存笔先，画尽意在”、“虽笔不周而意周”；欧阳修也有“心意既得形骸忘”、“古画画意不画形”的诗句；苏东坡论吴道子画有“出新意于法度之中”一说。此后，赵孟頫的“存古意”理论、梁楷的大写意人物画、徐渭的大写意花卉、陈洪绶的古意人物，以及元四家、明四家、“四僧”、扬州八怪、海上画派等，无不以写意为正宗。
2.写意是中国所有造型艺术的精神。写意不仅是文人画的形式，也是文人画的精神，还是中国所有造型艺术的精神，包括工笔画、宫廷画、民间画工画和雕塑、装饰画。它们都以传达“意”为主旨，在形似和神似之间，都更强调神似，并且以神似为最高目标。而所谓的“神”，有很多作者主观的“意”的成分。
3.写意是中国所有艺术的灵魂。不仅造型艺术，所有中国艺术都是写意的，音乐、戏曲、诗词莫不如是。一定的曲牌、词牌、表演动作都有一定的格式，都代表一定的情绪，比如京剧表演：鞭子一挥就是几千里，两手一合一插就表示关门。中国人把一定的内容、形式概括为程式，即不以描摩具体对象为目的，而是借助这个约定的程式来写意。
所以可以说，写意是中国艺术的传统，是中国艺术的精神、核心和灵魂。中国的艺术观从来都是轻“实”重“意”，留下了许多诸如意境、意象、意态、意趣、意绪、意在笔先、意在言外等语言和思维的结晶。
4.中华民族是一个写意的民族。再往本质上讲，中国是写意的国家，中华民族是一个写意的民族，写意是中国人与生俱来的本能。中国人的思维特征就是“意”思维。中华民族是一个概括能力很强的民族，讲究悟道，“朝闻道，夕死可矣”。中国人没有纯科学概念，是从社会学经验出发的，甚至不屑于经过严密的科学或逻辑论证，因此中国人通过经验或直觉得出结论，而西方人可能要在实验室或书斋里经过漫长推理、检验才能得出，比如中医学。中国人思考的东西“大”模糊，西方人思考的东西“细”清晰。细有细的好处，大而化之也自有其妙处。
中国哲学的核心是阴阳，二元对立，宇宙、世界、人生，莫不如此：天地、日月、盈亏、物我、生死、分合、敌我、男女、君臣、父子、夫妻、喜怒、冷暖……经久不衰，历久弥新。这是中国的辩证法、矛盾论。它不是产生在逻辑学上的思想，而是来自直觉和经验。这是中国人的思维特征，其核心还是“意”：从自己的经验中得出判断，并将自己的直觉外化、表达出来。
5.中国绘画更强调“写”的过程。在对中国画和西洋画进行比较时，还有一个环节应该强调，这就是“写”。中国画是“写”出来的，西洋画才是“画”出来的。中国画的绘画工具和日常的书写工具都是毛笔。这个柔软的工具给绘画过程带来了无限可能，在落笔之前甚至不能完全预知其效果。笔、墨、纸的性能是一方面；另一方面，落笔时的精神、情绪和体力状态都会在画面上造成细微差别。中国画有即时性，谁也不能画出两张完全相同的画：时移、地移、气移，画也就移。因此，中国画讲究一气呵成，不能间断。西洋画可以在铅笔稿上落笔，而中国画在落笔之前面对的是一张白纸；西洋画画坏了可以涂改，而中国画一笔画坏就只好重来。中国画更强调“写”的过程；抵达同一个目的地，坐飞机和走路的过程体验是完全不同的——“写”就是行路和体验，有过程意义，有节奏感、生命感，书写的是作者当时的瞬间状态，是当时的“意”。
6.写意因为中庸才显“大”。西方没有写意概念，却有一个抽象概念。写意是写实和抽象之间的一个概念，它是写实和抽象的“中庸”。因为“中庸”，不走极端，更具包容性，更显其“大”；既有象又仅具象，更显其“意”。
所以，从理论到实践，“大写意”是一个完整的体系，从无法到有法，从有法到无法，从而进入一种自由状态。“大写意”包括10种观察方法：以大观小、以小观大、远观近取、近观远取、仰观俯察、由表及里、以动观静、以静观动、以情动物、目识心记；五大技法：勾勒法、勾皴法、泼墨法、破墨法、积墨法；四步造型方法：写实、取舍、意造、忘形；4种用笔境界：执着、从容、放纵、忘情；4种用墨境界：淡墨明丽、中墨苍茫、重墨浑厚、焦墨沉绝。“大写意”是一种功夫，像所有中国功夫一样，需要长期苦练和积累，只有倾其一生，才能创造出新的程式。“大写意”是一种境界，每个人都要写出自己的境界、形成自己的东西，最后这个境界还要提升到一种个别样式，却同时又具有“代表普遍意义”的一种反映。这个境界在中国又叫“道”，宇宙间的普通道理。
杨晓阳简介:
1958年12月出生。1979年考入西安美术学院国画系，1983年毕业，同年考上研究生，1986年毕业留校。先后任西安美术学院国画系副主任、主任，1993年被破格评为副教授，同年荣获陕西省有突出贡献的专家称号。1994年任西安美术学院副院长，1995年主持学院全面工作，1997年任院长。
现为教授、博士生导师、中国美协副主席、中国国家画院院长。国家级有突出贡献的专家、全国高级教育名师、陕西省行业领军人物、陕西省十大杰出新闻人物、全国美展总评委、中宣部“四个一批”人才、中国文联全委。
近年对中国美术教育理论和建立中国美术学院教学体系的思考取得重大进展，强调美术教育中的中国特色、地方特色及个人特色。“大美术、大美院、大写意”理论在当代中国美术教育界引起广泛关注。
Fine Arts and Freehand Brushwork in the Broad Sense
Fine arts are the skills of creating visual forms of fine beauty. The skills contain the artistic elements and the technical elements as well, which can be used to create purely aesthetic, impractical forms and practical, beautiful objects as well and to arrange, emplace the present things in the principles of beauty. If we comprehend the category of fine arts on the basis of this understanding, we can find that fine arts would include painting, sculpture, industrial art, architectural art, environmental art, designing art, exhibition art, fashion art, all the folk fine arts and all the new types of material arts coming out of the needs of new life, such as paper-cut, pottery art, dough figurines, cloth decoration, photography and flower arrangement that are known to us. There are also more types of future art and their arrangement ways that are still unknown.
The degree of fine arts’ flourishing is the important index of civilized degree of one nationality and one country. Achievements of one country and one nationality in fine arts can be preserved in the progress of beauty consciousness of the country and the nation long. They can be kept forever in museums or on the ground and become the symbols of the country’s flourishing and the historical achievements that can not be replaced by offspring. Fine arts are the cause of the whole humanity and the whole society, which should not be simply confined to the artists. China is in need of the fine arts in the broad sense. She calls for artistic life and strive to become artistic China.
Chinese painting lays greater emphasis on the process of brushwork. Brushwork is the twinkling state of the painter at that moment, which is the image of the moment. Freehand brushwork conveys the spirit of all the Chinese modeling arts, which is the mean concept situated between the realistic expression and abstract expression. Because of its mean characteristic, freehand brushwork doesn’t go to extremes and is more tolerant, which projects more prominence to its broadness. It is characterized with the realistic image and the abstract image as well, which more stresses its freehand element.
From theory to practice, freehand brushwork in the broad sense is a complete system which passes through the reversible process of seeking expression methods, failing to find expression methods and thus entering into a free state. Freehand brushwork in the broad sense is the painstaking effort, which requires long-term hard training and accumulation just like practicing all the other Chinese kung fu fights. Only after spending the whole life on it can we create a new formula. Freehand brushwork in the broad sense is a realm of thought, in which every individual should paint out his own realm and form his own type. Finally, this realm should be elevated to an individual pattern, while possessing the reflection that represents the universal meaning. This realm of thought is called Tao in China, viz. the general knowledge of the universe.
Resume of Yang Xiaoyang:
Yang Xiaoyang was born in December 1958. In 1979, he was enrolled at the department of traditional Chinese painting at the Xian Academy of Fine Arts. In July 1983, he finished his undergraduate studies and embarked on graduate studies at the academy, and in 1986 he graduated and stayed at the academy as a teacher. He has worked successively as deputy director and director of the traditional Chinese painting department. In October 1993, normal procedure was waived, and he was promoted to the position of assistant professor, and elected as a middle-aged expert who had made outstanding contributions to Shaanxi Province. In 1994, he was appointed the vice-president of the academy. In 1995, he took charge of the day-to-day work of the academy. In 1997, he was promoted to the position of president of the Xian Academy of Fine Arts.
Now he is professor, supervisor of Ph. D candidates, Vice President of China Artists Association, President of China Traditional Chinese Painting Academy. He has been named as state expert who has made outstanding contributions to China, national great teacher of higher institutions, leader of the trade of Shaanxi Province, and one of the ten media personalities in Shaanxi educational circles. He also occupies the positions of head of Keview Committee of National Art Exhibition, national member of standing committee of China Federation of Literary and Art Circles.
In recent years, he has achieved significant progress in exploring artistic educational theory and establishing the educational system of Chinese fine arts academies and laid the stress on the fine arts education with Chinese characteristics, local and individual characteristics. His theory of “fine arts and fine arts academy, freehand brushwork in the broad sense” has attracted the widespread attention in the circle of contemporary Chinese fine arts education.