The Versatile Master Artist

Chapter 667: Chapter 306: Pandora (Part 2)

Wade was the first to enrich facial expressions in the portrayal of characters in oil paintings in Western art history, acclaimed as a master of emotional expression.

Due to social ideas, religious traditions, painting schools, and various miscellaneous reasons.

Before Wade’s appearance, whether Kangping or Jan Aik, hailed as the inventor of oil painting by the academic world.

Each of them was undoubtedly skilled and talented.

However, observing late medieval artworks, without exception, there’s a common point: the dying Jesus, the benevolent Holy Mother Mary, the cunning Judas… these figures all appear expressionless on the canvas.

This interestingly parallels the emphasis on “Treasure Appearance” in Eastern figure paintings.

All characters, whether happy or sad.

Painters of the late medieval period, around the 1400s, used the changes of ambient light and shadow, expressions of color, facial shadows, gazing eyes, and body movements to represent emotions.

Rather than simple crying and laughing on the features.

This treatment of religious artistic statues was very common early on worldwide.

This was a mystifying philosophical handling.

Different gods or Buddha sat serenely on lotus platforms, with solemn expressions and calm faces. Around them, the space was filled with dragons battling elephants, hellfires, and Pure Land scenes.

Reflecting a myriad of worlds big and small with tranquil expressions.

Thus,

there are even some radical viewpoints that suggest.

The artistic conception of Western schools was not as profound as Eastern schools and is related to Wade’s focus on facial expression, thus “taking a shortcut.”

The artworks by Detective Cat before us resemble the style and creation habits of the first generation of medieval oil painters.

On the draft, Tony’s physical body is standing emptily in the snow, while the essence of his soul melds into the surrounding environment.

The soul is above the shadow of the cat at his feet.

Over the past few centuries, Western oil painting circles have rarely adopted such “ancient and elegant” painting techniques.

After all, integrating emotional expressions into environmental details and the subtle line between that and Miss Mona’s self-portrait criticized by Mrs. Sakai is difficult to manage.

Usually, indulging in this artistic effect of “soul essence outside the character” doesn’t work as well as honestly depicting facial features.

However, here and now,

paired with Tony, this autistic patient, it surprisingly fits.

“This painting has a sufficient Zen taste! The shadow in Buddhism is the karma reflection of cause and effect. Could it be that Detective Cat has also specifically researched Eastern Buddhist murals?”

Professor Boggs’s eyes were sparkling.

This American devotee thought he had found a fellow companion who also loved Zen cultivation.

In reality.

The old professor slightly overinterpreted, thinking of this matter too complexly.

When Gu Weijing created this set of drafts, it indeed was influenced by Buddhism art in Elder Cao’s “Buddha Worship and Protection Painting” to a certain extent.

More advice, however, was given by Miss Ilina.

The drafts depict a worldview not of Buddhist karma and reincarnation.

For a forty-year-old intellectually challenged autistic individual to understand the concept of reincarnation is still too complex.

Miss Ilina hoped Detective Cat would depict a simple life view of intergenerational succession.

In simpler terms.

From the beginning of the creative idea, Detective Cat’s draft wasn’t like Professor Boggs’s “Amy,” a religious preaching painting with hidden complex Zen mechanics.

It’s merely a family parent-child painting meant to teach a child who lost a parent how to bravely step out of grief.

The most important piece in this set of drafts is titled “Corpse Burning Furnace.”

It uses flames to encourage Tony to bravely face the suffering within his soul.

From this turning point onwards, the remaining works just describe a continuous process of facing reality and walking out strongly.

Parents are the shadows of their children; children are the spiritual continuations of parents, heirs of the family.

Aunt told Anna before passing.

Whenever you think of the name Ilina, all ancestors and family over the past thousand years are in resonance with you.

Reproduction and procreation are a genetic “magic” leading a family, a surname, and even the human race toward eternal life.

In this respect.

Whether it’s the Confucian worldview of Dongxia, the Catholic or the Puritan worldview of the West, there is no essential difference.

Mr. Tree Sloth directly treated the cat as a mother figure.

Amy will never live again.

Nor will there ever be another cat in the world that can take the place in Tony’s heart of the Scottish Fold cat that accompanied him from his childhood.

However.

As long as past memories remain vivid in his heart, Amy will always be beside you. You are never alone.

You can still boldly and courageously love the world.

Understanding what the work wanted to convey, the remaining plot and design become a matter of course.

Mr. Tree Sloth provided several creative suggestions for Gu Weijing as a reference.

You could create a cat shadow beneath Tony’s feet or let Tony stand in front of a mirror, reflecting Amy in the mirror.

Additionally, selecting a photo by Jade Lake, using the rippling water to reflect the image of the Fold cat could also be very direct.

After pondering, Gu Weijing chose the first painting technique.

Simply because the reflection of waves and mirrors, with various space reflections, is too complex for realism, being one of the most challenging lighting conditions to deal with in realistic oil paintings.

The cat shadow approach is simpler and more direct.

After experiencing a dramatic, roller-coaster-like appreciation process, the audience in the reception room felt somewhat exhausted.

Everyone silently watched the last seven drafts scroll across the screen.

Quietly feeling the precious tranquility and warmth of emotions flowing from Detective Cat’s brush.

Tony at the foot of the Alps, Tony in a Roman coffee shop, Tony on a Jade Lake boat… these years, the old man took his son exploring south and north to relax.

No matter how scenic the surroundings.

On the draft, Tony always gazes hollowly into the distance, blankly staring at the horizon line where the sky meets.

He waits persistently for a gentle Fold cat to emerge from the crowd, meow softly at him, and tenderly lick his ear like a mother.

This cat will never come again.

Yet, on the draft, as long as Tony lowers his head, gazing at his shadow, he finds, regardless of spring, summer, autumn, and winter or elsewhere.

There’s always a cat-shaped shadow quietly lying at his feet.

Each draft of Tony’s appearance is extremely simple and crude. In some drafts, he has even been reduced to a faceless person of blurred light and shadow.

Only the burning cat becomes increasingly dynamic and vibrant.

“The design is truly beautiful, so warm.”

Gesturing sentimentally, Lady Anya gently wiped the corner of her moist eyes with her fingertips and said with a nasal voice akin to a severe cold: “I wrongly blamed Detective Cat; she must be a very loving girl.”

“Do we know what this painting is called? Naming it “Amy” like Professor Boggs is fine.”

“Pandora,” said Dr. Jin.

“Hmm?”

“The name was given by Detective Cat’s manager. Mr. Tree Sloth said, if the draft has a good effect, it can be named ‘Pandora.’”

Pandora.

In Greek Mythology, a woman who opened the box of all worldly sorrows.

Dr. Jin Anqing once wondered inexplicably what kind of wicked humor led to naming a set of drafts intended for autistic children with this title.

Seeing the final few drafts.

He gradually understood Mr. Tree Sloth’s deep meaning.

The Pandora’s box hides all pains and wounds of the world.

In its myth setting, the box contained not only plagues, diseases, and calamities but also friendship, love, and familial bonds that cause hurtful desires.

Zeus, the king of gods, believed true supreme pain is precisely born of love, transformed by life and death.

Thus, “learning to love” – this is the punishment given to humans by the ruler on Mount Olympus.