Reflection Of The Symbol Of "Cross" On Painting Creation

In this thesis, I take "cross" as an example and its evolution in the field of paintings as a clue to explain the implications of "cross" in contemporary Western paintings and contemporary Chinese paintings. Initially, "cross" as a decorative pattern appeared in the paintings. Due to the influence of religion, "cross" can be seen everywhere as a symbol of religious themes. "Cross" symbols much more in Eastern countries, such as Japan and China, than in Western countries, which is greatly related to Zen Oriental. After Zen was transferred to the West, the explanation to "empty" in the Western countries is not exactly the same as in the Eastern Countries, and that is why "cross" in paintings have many symbolic differences between the Western and Eastern Countries.Firstly in this thesis, I analyze the "cross" itself by comparing the differences of philosophy and aesthetics between the West and the East. Besides its own meaning, "cross" also has many other implications including the "Zen" and the "Tao" in the East, of which it is more prominently expressed in abstract paintings. Before modernism, regarding the use of "cross" in Western paintings, religious themes occupy most. After postmodernism, because of the increasingly apparent impact of Eastern philosophy, the meanings of "cross" also have some changes in Western paintings.Then starting from the concept of Eastern and Western aesthetics, I elaborate the influence of "cross" on religious paintings, features of formal elegance and mental mapping to artists, from which, in addition to reflecting the differences in painting forms and in concepts between the West and the East, I mainly expound the spiritual directivity of "cross" in paintings.In the third chapter, by categorizing the presentation forms of the symbol of "cross" in paintings, I analyze the characteristics of paintings and their point of view of personal aesthetics after western artists were affected by Eastern aesthetics. I conclud that western artists are no longer subject to the restrictions of occurrence of real things or their existence, break the concrete "form" and embody the infinity of "cross" in space and time, fully demonstrating that Eastern philosophy has a great impact on Western Modern Art.Due to the influence of Western postmodernism, many symbols are directly "brought" and "transplanted" in contemporary Chinese art. Therefore "cross" is frequently presented in the paintings and death, invasion and rescue are the fixed meanings of "cross" in the subject matter of the war. With the prompt development and continuous improvement of artists'awareness, "cross" has been endowed with new meanings and connotations. Taking abstract art as an example, I enumerate some contemporary artists who use "cross" as the symbol of their creations. After re-interpreting Eastern philosophy, these artists realized the real meanings of "cross" in contemporary paintings, which makes "cross" have new implications. In China's modern or post-modern art, the phenomenon of the existence of "imitation", "bringing" and "transplantation" is inevitable, so the symbol of "cross" is expressed in many works of art in different manners.In the last chapter, I elaborate a major problem that contemporary Chinese art is facing, "the relationship between contemporary art and traditional art". As a young artist, we should clearly see underlying meaning of things, come out from "imitation" and "transplantation" and more truly reflect reality.