The Construction Of Autonomous Artistic Creativity In The University Art Education

In the following chapters we will offer a systematic research on the Autonomous artistic creativity in art education, by analyzing the phenomenon grade 77 and 78, the very people who are not only remarkable in professional art history of China, but also drawing public attention.It is intriguingly observed that many contemporary artists and painters from China, welcomed and acclaimed by reviewers both at home and abroad, are either a member of the well known "77, 78", or its direct/indirect descendant. It is this group that exhibits tremendous creativity never before seen since modern arts' establishment in China. What makes the "77, 78" group's universal success? How would one explain their remarkable contributions they have made to Chinese contemporary art? Traditionally, the researches on "77, 78" phenomenon were subjected to case study. The fact that it lacks an overall viewpoint and further discussions on educational doctrines leads us to put some weight on the resolution of following questions: What is the spiritual source of their artistic creativity? What can we learn from this in future art education?In case that former study on this subject is vacant, we might need to begin from ground zero. This paper begins with an explanation of historical background and social context of "77, 78", followed by an detailed narration on the relationship between the educational background of "77, 78" and the social history status of their time, as well as the relationship between teachers and students, and the connection between creativity and individual development.To make its arguments consistent, we have run a comparison of art student groups of "77, 78", "87, 88", "97, 98", "07, 08" in the famous "Sichuan Fine Arts Institute", with decades in between, only to discover, surprisingly, that despite the increasing of investments and the improvements both on hardware and software for art education, hard data covering exhibition entrance, awards received, working conditions and other aspects actually displayed a major downfall on the creative quality of our children. Yet we must admit, perhaps unwillingly, that the essence of artistic creativity comes from none of the above, but the automomy of its participant..Consequently, from studies on "77, 78" phenomenon we may conclude that: (1) Artistic creation relies on the subjective freewill of man; (2) Since the freewill of man is constructed through social practices, we must ensure this process as the major task in undergraduate art education to develop the creativity of students; (3) The subjective stance in art education is by no means individual, but interactive; (4) We must draw lessons from this phenomenon and, from which seek solutions to fix the current condition of our art education.The "77, 78" phenomenon serves as a specimen here purposed to reveal the inner strength of artistic creativity and to establish the relation between autonomy theory and the universal success of "77, 78" group. Any experience and conclusive guidelines from this will be priceless for today's art education.