Abstract:

The genesis of yixiang (aesthetic images) in artistic and aesthetic activity concerns not only the object but, more intimately, the mind; it is the product of an “interfusion of mind and object.” How, then, should this interfusion be understood? From the perspective of “Experience-Expression” aesthetics, it cannot simply be construed as the “materialization” of yixiang. Rather, through the embodied experience of “the self becoming one with the bamboo, ” it takes form as an expression articulated in linguistic signs. “Experience-Expression” aesthetics emphasizes the unity of experience and expression in the genesis of yixiang. The genesis of the artistic image therefore concerns not only the process of aesthetic experience but also the subtlety of artistic expression, evaluation of the historical value of artistic and aesthetic creation, and selections of cultural standpoint. It is fully embodied within the dynamic historical process of artistic and aesthetic activity. From the perspective of the sociology of aesthetics, the evolving connotations of the “materialization” of yixiang reflect, to some extent, the underlying logic of the construction of contemporary aesthetic culture, but they have also contributed to the excessive “materialization” of consumptive images in the age of mass media.

Key words: “Experience-Expression” aesthetics, genesis of yixiang, materialization, articulation in linguistic signs, consumptive images