WHEN THE ARTIST BLINDS HIMSELF - THE TRAGEDY OF THE WORSHIP OF SKILL AND THE REJECTION OF KNOWLEDGE

In the development of visual art, the relationship between technique and thought has always been an endless dialogue. However, in the Vietnamese art market, a distorted notion has become a "cover" for intellectual laziness: Artists only need to paint beautifully, while knowledge is the business of writers or philosophers. This way of thinking not only devalues ​​painting but also directly pushes artists into a dire situation that we can call "self-blinding" to culture. When artists refuse to read, learn, and elevate their cultural background, they sever their connection to the intellectual flow of humanity, turning themselves into craftsmen who only operate based on muscle reflexes.

The first and most common mistake lies in absolutizing visual language in a way that separates it from other spiritual values. Many artists loudly proclaim that "painting has its own language," justifying the disregard for philosophical and literary foundations. In reality, painting does possess a language of form, color, and line, but that language doesn't exist in a vacuum. It's a means of expressing a worldview. When artists focus solely on wrist-based skill exercises, they are gradually transforming art into a conditioned reflex.

The consequence of the hand moving faster than the mind is the creation of superficial works. In this state, the artist is no longer creative but merely repeating visual habits. Biological instinct, which inherently seeks immediate visual gratification, overrides creative consciousness. A painting without guiding thought becomes impersonal, devoid of time and identity. It may be technically skillful, but it's the skill of a printing press powered by human effort, lacking the contemplation of the human condition and the vicissitudes of reality. The veneration of the wrist has enslaved artists to the very skills they painstakingly honed, instead of using them as tools to liberate their thoughts.

This lack of cultural background has created a vast gap when Vietnamese artists confront modern and contemporary Western art. When faced with the breakthroughs of Matisse, Van Gogh, or Gauguin, and especially the complexity of Cubism (Picasso) or Surrealism (Dali), the minds of many artists seem paralyzed. They are baffled because they only see the form without understanding the underlying principles. They don't realize that behind a Cubist painting lies a shift in spatial perspective under the influence of new physical and philosophical theories; Behind Dali's flowing images lies a profound exploration of the unconscious world of Freudian psychoanalysis.

Because they refuse to read and study, artists can only approach world art by imitating its superficial aspects. They borrow the techniques of masters but place them within an outdated and backward framework of thought. The result is hybrid entities, paintings with modern forms but the naive souls of itinerant landscape painters. This disconnect completely isolates domestic painting from the continuous flow of human thought. Artists cannot truly learn from others if they do not share the same frame of reference for knowledge. When the mind is empty, even with wide-open eyes, one only sees chaotic patches of color, failing to perceive the beauty of the hidden structures of thought.

One of the clearest manifestations of this "lack of knowledge" is the misconception of the concept of "Reality." Many artists believe that mastering linear perspective means they are reflecting reality objectively. This is a blindness to art history. They are completely unaware that linear perspective is essentially a rational visual convention of the Renaissance, an attempt to mathematically manipulate vision to create an illusion of space on a plane. By clinging to it as an absolute truth, artists are limiting themselves within the narrow lens of the past.

This confusion is further exacerbated by their approach to abstract or surrealist movements. Many artists label their bizarre collages as "Surreal," but in reality, they are merely rudimentary forms of "Symbolism." They use image A to represent idea B with a rational purpose, while the essence of Surrealism is the liberation of irrationality from the unconscious. Similarly, in their eyes, Abstract painting was often merely "non-representational," meaning that anything that didn't represent anything was called abstract. They completely lacked the distinction between the extremes of abstraction: from Mondrian's cold geometric abstraction to Pollock's violent expressionist abstraction. This ambiguity regarding the "genes" of these movements resulted in their works lacking intrinsic weight, being merely unconscious fragments of concepts they didn't possess.

To compensate for the intellectual emptiness, a trend of "painting accompanied by written explanations" emerged. Many artists superficially misused philosophical and spiritual concepts to enhance their works. Words like "impermanence," "emptiness," "meditation," or "energy" were attached to empty paintings as a kind of salvific mask. This is a subtle deception of both the public and the artist themselves. In reality, if a work has philosophical depth, that thought must be fully translated into the visual structure. It must reside in the haunting hues, the rhythm of the lines, and the tension of the composition.

When an artist needs pages of paper to explain the "philosophy" in their painting, it often demonstrates a failure in their artistic language. This reliance on written interpretation has transformed painting into a kind of superficial "appendix" to literature. When the mind lacks genuine knowledge to nurture ideas, artists are forced to borrow trendy concepts to "intimidate" the public. This creates a false art ecosystem where viewers are deceived by flowery words instead of engaging in a dialogue with the true energy emanating from the artwork.

The current "blind leading the blind" situation in the Vietnamese art market is largely due to a weak criticism system. When critics lack sufficient knowledge or are afraid of confrontation, they often use flattering words and meaningless praise to foster complacency in artists. To end this intellectual darkness, rebuilding a rigorous criticism system based on a deep cultural foundation is essential. Criticism must act as an aesthetic filter, capable of exposing intellectual fabrications and pointing out the superficiality in the thinking of those wielding the brush.

Art is not for those who are lazy thinkers. A true artist must be an intellectual before being a painter. Knowledge of history, philosophy, and literature does not diminish the artist's "originality" or "emotion"; on the contrary, it fuels their emotions, making them more expressive and directed.

When artists stop reading and learning, they drop the baton of art history, accepting a marginalized position as their international colleagues explore new territories. This cultural blindness will lead to the complete collapse of artistic language in the near future.

In general, painting is not just a matter of skillful hands. It is a journey of the soul illuminated by intellect. If Vietnamese artists do not soon abandon their dismissive attitude towards knowledge, domestic painting will remain merely decorative, visually appealing works, unable to reach the threshold of true art. Art requires a mind large enough to control the wrist, and a cultural foundation deep enough so that each brushstroke is no longer an unconscious reflex, but an act of creating meaning for life.

NGUYEN HUNG

(Excerpt from an art handbook - abridged version)

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