Peng Feng: Intercultural Thinking on Painting

On the afternoon of May 16th, in the 97th lecture of Wuhan University Yangtze River Forum, Professor Peng Feng, Dean of Peking University School of Art, gave a lecture entitled “Intercultural Thinking about Painting” to the teachers and students of our university.

Professor Peng Feng pointed out that a painting has the duality of media and object. According to Polanyi's "physical and mental relationship" theory, we have two kinds of consciousness, one is the "concentration consciousness" produced by the mind, and the other is the "attachment consciousness" produced by the body, and the purpose of art is to mobilize two kinds of consciousness, thus maintaining a balance between body and mind.

In the Q&A session, Professor Peng Feng further pointed out that there is a tendency for Chinese freehand painting to change from tangible to intangible painting, andvice versa, thus forming a symmetrical duality, but this is only the difference between painting types, which does not mean Chinese freehand painting is superior to Western painting.