DOI: 10.7256/2454-0625.2018.6.26468

Abstract: The object of the research is the decorative art, paintings, and installations that contain both phrases and words. Based on the analysis of the art work of an Ural artist Udmurt, American artist Barbara Kruger, and Chinese calligrapher Vand Gu, the author of the article describes stages in the evolution of the role of the word in the artwork of Russia, the USA and China. The subject of the research is the role of words in the overall canvas of an artwork in synchronic and diachronic aspects. The hypothesis of the research is that in terms of contemporary fine art, word plays an extremely important role which is not confined to the sphere of decorative arts but comporises the core element of the sense-making process in general. The methodology of the research implies the systems approach to cultural research. According to this approach, culture is a whole phenomenon that consists of individual mechanisms interacting with one another based on the general principle. In her research Zavyalova appeals to the studies of both Russian and foreign art experts, art critics and cultural researchers such as M. Vaymugina, M. Davydenko, V. Dyakonova, A.Zubareva, Vl. Lukov, V. Razakov, V. Woolf, Yu. Kharari, and R. Zajonc. The results of the research may be applied for cross-cultural description of contemporary art. The author's contribution is her statement that games with words, written symbols and phrases brings a new global meaning to contemporary fine arts. As a result of the research, the author has discovered important strategies of the Post Modernism such as citationality, collaging, and picturing objects as an artists sees them to the detriment of their realistic image, double actualization of meanings, mysteriousness, anonymity and deliberate play with the audience. 

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0625.2017.7.23551

Abstract: The focal point of the paper are numerous manifestations of the principle of “receptive aesthetics” in the culture of Japan which has reworked Chinese aesthetic patterns in the own way. The main concern of the paper is the idea to demonstrate the grounds for comparing cultures, to describe the typological features of Japanese and Chinese cultures. There are three main types of study design used to identify cultural features: the objects of fine arts, language expressions and films. There is much evidence of the possibility to draw the lines of similarity between Japan and China on religious, semantic, aesthetic and gender grounds. The main method is a systematic approach to a culture that allows one to trace the genesis of individual components of the cultural system, which subsequently influence the entire system as a whole. At the heart of the work there are 2 principles of the description of culture: the principle of “receptive aesthetics”, formulated by V.A. Lukov and Vl. A. Lukov, as well as the “universal return principle” of M.Yu. Lotman. The main findings of the research are culture-study interpretation of the motifs that served as the basis for Japanese artifacts. This is of much practical value, as the proposed interpretations can be applied to any area of cultural production. The interpretations, if necessary, will contribute to the creation of a unique color of the Far Eastern cultures, penetration into their ideological content, decoding of ethno specific meanings. The most important conclusions of the work are a list of typological features of Japanese culture, which are the results of Chinese influence. These features are as follows: religious syncretism, binary perception, seasonality, gender asymmetry, displacement of the animation focus.

DOI: 10.25136/2409-8744.2017.4.23771

Abstract: The focal point of the article is the phenomenon of continuity within the framework of Chinese culture. The subject of the study is the influence of the culture of Ancient China (5000 BC - 220 AD) on the culture of Chinese modernity. The object of the research are jade artifacts, fortune-telling bones, as well as folklore language expressions which are popular with modern Chinese. The basic methodology of work is a systematic and analytical approaches to culture, where the analysis of specific objects contributes to the understanding of the whole; the next method is the description of objects with the elements of interpretation and comparison. Exploring objects that reflect the evolution of Chinese civilization from ancient times, the author concludes that the consciousness of the modern Chinese contains a huge layer of powerful meanings, rooted in Neolithic antiquity. The most important results of the work are cultural interpretations of the functional orientation of Neolithic artifacts and their reflections in the folklore layer of the Chinese language, the data of which the author analyzed with the help of the on-line corpus of the modern Chinese language. In the course of the research, the author appeals both to the classical works of G.W.F. Hegel, N.Y. Danilevskii, E. Husserl, and to the relatively recently published works of J. Alexander, V.D. Leleko, T.I. Lavrenova, R.J. Klein, B.E. Ensor, Bai Yui. The results of the research are applicable to any branch of cultural production, as they contribute to the penetration into the depths of Chinese sense, the understanding of which is of the greatest importance for the contemporary cultural space.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0722.2014.4.11493

Abstract: