A Study On The Application Of Graphic Language In Figurative Painting

Contemporary figurative painting is a breakthrough from tradition,and the exploration and change in the appearance of works will accelerate the constant renewal of artistic perception.The development of art has gone through stages of objective reproduction,subjective expression,presentation of ontology and expression of ideas,and has given rise to a variety of formal languages.Flatness is one of the most prominent features of contemporary art paintings and is widely used in their creation.For some artists,two-dimensional images have a greater impact on them than spatial perception.The difference between figurative paintings using a graphic language and traditional realistic paintings is the way in which the artist sees the world and the way in which the image is processed.The graphic artist reconstructs the image in a more subjective way,conveying his or her thoughts and emotions more intuitively and quickly,presenting a strong stylistic identity.This thesis examines the use of flatness as a pictorial language in figurative painting,using Alex Colville(1920-2013)as the subject of study.The thesis is divided into three chapters: the first chapter begins with a brief overview of the development of the language of flatness in China and the West,taking modern painting as the nodal point for the transformation of tradition into modernity.The reasons for the change and the relevance of its production are analysed,and the characteristics presented by the language of flatness are then summarised.Based on this understanding,the second chapter examines Colville’s exploration of the language of flatness,which,thanks to his war experiences,gave him a unique perspective and thus reconstructed objects in reality.Through the collection and study of his specific creative process,the characteristics of his creation and the way he expresses his ideology are analysed;combined with a great deal of work,the expression of the language of flatness in his pictures is summarised:precise composition,geometric shape,clear contour lines and reduced space.Combined with the theory of creative practice,it is argued that the painter uses this approach to produce two kinds of feelings in the picture for the viewer: one is a sense of order and the other is a sense of narrative.The third chapter combines the results of the study,his own creative thinking process,and the initial effects of his practice to analyse and reflect on the picture.From the selection of the subject matter to the specific use of planar language,the results of the research can be put into practice,so as to build up one’s own work in order to strengthen the composition of the picture,refine the figurative shape and form a painting style.Graphic language is the product of artists’ assimilation of tradition in the creative process and the emergence of their own painting style.The study of the application of planar language in figurative painting has revealed a variety of possibilities for its development and has conveyed the artist’s spirit in a more intuitive way.This has also given the author a new understanding of the language of flatness and its concrete practice.