Study urban sculpture

When studying urban sculpture, we first encounter the following questions: What is sculpture? What is urban sculpture? In the process of research and discussion on remote sculpture, we found that the academic research on sculpture is very backward, and people understand the concept of sculpture and urban sculpture vaguely, with many differences. We have to take the concept of urban sculpture as an important research content of this report.

The general definition of urban sculpture is that urban sculpture refers to outdoor sculpture set in urban public environment, such as urban roads, squares, public green space, public buildings, etc. Urban sculpture is an indispensable and important factor in the modern urban environment and urban landscape. It is an environmental art integrated with the macro and micro environment of the city, and also an important part of the construction of spiritual civilization. As the symbol of spiritual civilization and material civilization, urban sculpture is the soul of a city, which embodies the history and culture of a city, reflects the spiritual outlook and comprehensive strength of the whole city, and artistically sets up a distinctive image for the city with its distinctive cultural characteristics, directly forming a beautiful living space and a good investment and tourism environment.

Urban sculpture is often referred to as "urban sculpture", which refers to the three-dimensional modeling art of modern urban public space. This concept definition is very important. Urban sculpture is a kind of sculpture, which is different from two-dimensional art such as painting; Secondly, this kind of sculpture is an outdoor sculpture located in public space, which is different from indoor or easel sculpture. "Carving" refers to cutting things with some tool. "Plastic" refers to the use of adding, filling or kneading and other means to make a certain object reach a certain shape. Therefore, from the perspective of the concept itself, sculpture includes sculpture and shaping. Some people often narrow the meaning of sculpture to the carving meaning of stone carving, or to the molding meaning of clay cast iron. More people, including some sculpture experts, could not distinguish the conceptual difference between "statue" and "statue", resulting in mixed use.

It should be emphasized that the reason why urban sculpture is urban sculpture is that it is unified with the macro and micro environment of the city. The fundamental difference between urban sculpture and other sculptures is that it is an environmental art. What we should pay attention to is the organic integration of the main body of the sculpture and the environmental background, rather than the separation. Therefore, the concept of urban sculpture must establish its connotation of environmental art. Without the environment or the aesthetic effect of the whole environment, urban sculpture does not exist. At present, there are still many people and sculpture companies who do not understand the significance of urban sculpture for the environment and its mutual echo and overall consistent relationship, and often fall into a misunderstanding in decision-making and creation. Conceptual misunderstanding leads to behavioral misunderstanding, which is one of the main reasons for the poor quality of urban sculpture art.

1. Urban sculpture belongs to the category of public art

The public sphere is a common symbol of English-speaking countries in recent years. According to the German word lffentlichkeit (open and open), it is translated into English. This kind of public space with open and open characteristics and with the participation and recognition of the public is called public space, and public art refers to the artistic creation and corresponding environmental design in this kind of public open space.

The public art of a city plays an important role in the cultural landscape of the city. Therefore, the interaction between the creation of public art and the cultural environment has become an important topic. The form of public art is changeable. It can be a mural recording the beginning and end of events; It can be a monumental sculpture, but it must be subject to the specific human environment and space characteristics to display its unique artistic charm and help establish the overall urban structure. Public art, as the object of visual experience, can strengthen the characteristics of the place. The social and cultural significance it conveys or the information it discloses can trigger resonance and association among environmental users, form a benign interaction between art, the public and the environment, and stimulate the vitality and vitality of the environment.

(1) The connotation of public art

The place where public art "takes place" is an open, open public space with public participation and recognition. The study of public art is the study of public space, and the design of public art is the design of public space. Public art is characterized by openness.

The open package of public art gestates two levels of meaning. One is the place where public art is placed. These public places are often open spaces with endless flow of people, vehicles and wide view. Therefore, the public artwork placed in it must have the characteristics of physical and visual openness, multi-angle viewing method and public intervention. The second is the openness in the acceptance of viewers. It must face and accept the needs of multi-level objects. Public art is not only for public places, but also has some social functions. Open place space is divided into natural open space and artificial open space. In general cities, man-made open spaces are mostly, such as squares, parks, sidewalks, streets, stations, etc. In particular, squares and parks are an important and indispensable open place in the city. They provide space for urban people's outdoor activities and public social activities, as well as areas for rest and communication. The open space has the function of relieving the depression caused by the urban high-density residential environment to meet the most basic space needs of human beings. The design of open space can be considered from two levels in order to build a stable, harmonious and high-quality environmental space. The first level is to maintain a healthy environmental quality, which requires "minimum space". The second level is to create an open space with a sense of belonging, so that everyone can enjoy activities and experience the beauty, season, nature and life of the environment.

① Public Art and Public Space

Public space is an important part of modern urban structure. In the theoretical view of phenomenology, urban space is seen as the aggregation of many meaningful domain circles. Each domain circle is a vital life circle composed of blood, geography, commerce, politics, society, culture and other relations. It is a public gathering area. Public space has its internal, spiritual and visual character orientation. Public art is to form a visual focus that reflects this character in this public area, or a spiritual product with agreed factors of identity and belonging. Although public works of art are completed by artists, they must first be recognized by the spirit of this public area. The cognition of human region, the expression of social culture, the plastic structure in the physical space, the interaction between material and environment, human activities and psychological and emotional factors should all be regarded as the internal motivation and meaning of public art creation. As a media of culture and art in public places, public art embodies the spiritual attributes of the public sphere, which is of great significance.

Public space has specific language requirements, which can be summed up as openness in form, popularity in expression and comprehensiveness in design.

A Formal openness

The formal openness of public art is restricted by the weather, the location and the people. First of all, the work must keep pace with the times, and should have the characteristics and spirit of the times recognized by modern people in both the overall design and the modeling of the work. Secondly, in space, it emphasizes the interaction between the work and the surrounding environment. Public art works are different from simple works on the shelf. They should have an open form in space that is compatible with the environment, and meet the viewing requirements of multiple perspectives and levels. Thirdly, in the relationship between works and people, environmental awareness and publicity are important factors to confirm works. From the perspective of environmental awareness and the publicity of works' aesthetics, the form of works must be open to the public.

B Popularity in performance

Artistic creation includes both inheritance of tradition and personal creativity. The forms that have been recognized and accepted by people in the creation of the agenda from generation to generation, as well as the things that have been transformed into public aesthetic interest in the process of long-term communication, have formed the publicity of artistic works. There is a constant flow of people in the public space. In the face of different social levels, different educational backgrounds, and even people of different nationalities, different religious beliefs, and different countries, the expression language of public art works should emphasize the popular tendency to meet the requirements of publicity. Popularization here refers to the academic tendency to treat the aesthetic mentality of the public as a basic academic subject, to emphasize the publicity of aesthetics, and to emphasize the harmony between the works and the environment and the public. Here, the topic of artists' creativity and publicity has always been a key to grasp and understand the performance scale of public works of art.

C Comprehensive design

The comprehensiveness of design means that the design of public works of art should comprehensively consider such factors as functionality, humanistic themes, environmental views, publicity, environmental protection concepts, materials and so on. Compared with the art exhibition works of artists, the public art works are more restrained in many aspects, and their comprehensive characteristics are also stronger. This comprehensive feature determines that public works of art are not only restricted by the aesthetic aspects of art, but also involve the comprehensive disciplines of social science and natural science such as material science, visual psychology, architecture, environmental color science, optics, folklore, religion, etc. In short, the creation of public art is often the creation of artists in a specific environment, that is, the secondary creation on the basis of a "created" space. The artist's personal style should be displayed on the basis of a comprehensive understanding of a given space. The individual's consistent creativity is meaningful only if it meets the comprehensive requirements of the public space. Public art is fundamentally related to the life of citizens, the historical formation and development of cities, the municipal nature of regions, and the visual structure of the environment. It is essentially the focus of urban spiritual life, the visual manifestation of citizens' character, the living fossil of the spirit of the times and the milestone of cultural development of a city and a region.

② Public Art and Public

Environmental art is a form that can be perceived and recognized. It can not only enable people living in the environment to feel the advantages and disadvantages of its quality and understand the intention of its creator, but also enable people living in it to have spiritual exchanges with people and incorporate it into their daily life. The dialogue between public art and the public, and the interaction between art works and people are the soul of public art creation. Both the scale and image issues should be carried out around this spirit. Healthy and open sculpture works should be set up in natural scenic spots to cultivate tourists' temperament; The shopping center area should be equipped with modern, forward-looking and high-quality art works to fill the buyer's inner world with peace; In front of the municipal building, works representing the urban temperament and image should be set to highlight the spirit of the city; The setting of works of art planted in the street community should focus on the scale of the works, do not cause the anxiety of passers-by, and coordinate the works with the specific environment of the community. In short, public art is not a completely independent work. It denies the way to keep a certain distance from the public, but requires the public to have access to, participate in, and even touch and climb on the work. It should be an art of life.

⑵ Types of public art

The scope of public art is very wide, and the perspective of its classification is different. In terms of art form, it includes sculpture, painting, photography, advertising image, performance, music, gardening and other forms; In terms of artistic functions, it can be divided into public arts such as ornament, memorial, leisure, practicality, amusement and even celebration activities; From the form of display, it can be divided into plane to three-dimensional, from wall to space, from indoor to outdoor to landscape and other art forms; From the range of materials involved, it is even broader. Here, we only choose the humanistic perspective to summarize public art, which is divided into the following four basic types:

① Practical public art: public facilities

The creativity and visual image of public facilities directly affect the planning quality of the overall space. Although most of these facilities are small in size, they are closely related to public life and urban landscape, and faithfully reflect the economic and cultural level of a city. Public facilities also include: convenience facilities, such as street lamps, chairs, ashtrays, trash cans, mailbox, telephone booths, kiosks, newspaper booths, bus shelters, public toilets, etc; Iconic facilities, such as: signs, road signs, bus stop signs, clocks, advertisements, signs, display windows, etc; Safety facilities, such as road fences, bollards, lighting, sidewalks, safety islands, overpasses, underpasses, etc.

② Decorative public art

Decorative public art is an artistic creation in coordination with the established environment. It is the main form of public art. Although the value of the work itself is the main factor, it cannot be separated from the constraints and requirements of the environment. Decorative public art plays a role in establishing the image of the city and improving the cultural level in the framework of the city. The creation of decorative public art should reflect, interpret or strengthen the characteristics of the environment, and establish a consistently lively area, rather than pure decoration and the existence of several isolated works of art. Artists' creation in urban environment should be combined with the given site to develop appropriate themes. The main topics are:

An open theme that arouses reflection and resonance

Any work of public art with vitality has its certain place significance and constant spatial factors. Whether it is a square, street or park, the environment is divided into different spaces, and each space has its own nature, volume, scale and performance characteristics. These characteristics restrict and influence the public art works placed in them. Therefore, in the creation, the relationship between the work and the environment, the scale of the work and the space image are the basic points of the creation concept.

The artist incorporates the perception of the viewer (i.e., those who drive or ride through the place) into the concept of the work, and people can actively participate in the work only under the normal driving condition. Therefore, the artist puts the work and the public in an open and fair dialogue.

B Component display of humanistic creativity, high technology and high technology

Public art has always had an inseparable interactive relationship with its era. Whether the era influences the artistic style or the avant-garde spirit of art drives the trend of the era, it can be said that art reflects the era and the era has produced art. An era is not simply a segment of time. It covers factors such as humanistic spirit, social form, science and technology, geographical environment, natural ecology, and so on. Here we only analyze the co-seismic relationship between public art and the pulse of the era from one side.

C Landscape exhibition garden combined with artistic creation

For example, the renovation of Wangfujing Street in Beijing has set up several groups of bronze statues and sculptures reflecting the life of old Beijing in the bright and modern blocks, so that Wangfujing not only matches the modern commercial atmosphere of Beijing, an international metropolis, but also maintains the historical context of the ancient city of Beijing culture. In the bustling and commercial environment, with the added charm of old Beijing, visitors can experience the style of old Beijing while shopping, It has been widely praised and loved by tourists.

③ Public art that depends on humanistic background

It is the characteristic of this kind of public art to mold public art works according to the local cultural background, living customs and historical characteristics, and to correspond to the environment in a reflective and harmonious way. Among the public arts that exist in the context of humanity, landscape commemorative creation is the main part of such works. Commemorative public art works that display cultural backgrounds are mostly operated by artists. But today, the combination of art and function, and the public cooperation between artists, designers and architects are a new trend in public art creation. The combination of landmark and architectural functions in Shanghai, China, makes the publicity of the works more fully expressed.

④ Public art that depends on natural landscape

In the 21st century, the world has generally cared about everything in nature, and various phenomena caused by the ecological crisis have gradually become the focus of attention. On the one hand, artistic creation reflects the reality of society, on the other hand, it often challenges the society and actively seeks answers. In the past decade, a number of artists have emerged, and their works represent the relationship between human and nature. They use natural conditions or natural materials to create, and these creations are often called "Earth Art"/"Land Art", "Environmental Art". They concentrate the public's consciousness in art, pursue the new concept of cooperation with nature, and use their works to guide people to understand the relationship between human beings and nature and the earth.

Public art creation based on natural landscape should highlight the dependence and integration of works and environment. Through field observation and investigation, based on the association of natural elements, the tacit understanding of materials, the echo of modeling, and the grasp of scale and rhythm, the work is immersed in the natural atmosphere. This kind of creation not only looks forward to the feeling of visual sense, but also includes the expression of the coexistence of environmental concepts and world outlook. Artists use the process of artistic creation to guide people to understand the environment and experience the beauty of nature.

2. Urban sculpture is a space art

(1) Composition of urban space

Space and entity are interdependent and indivisible. If you imagine that the buildings around a beautiful square sink into the ground and lose the square space that supports it, then the buildings and the square lose their significance. There are so many architectural entities in modern cities, but they often lack the sense of space or space. That is to say, only entities without properly handling the relationship between entities and space can not form a good urban space.

Although urban space is changeable, it is basically composed in the following two ways:

A entity encloses and forms space

B entity occupied, forming space

⑵ Classification of urban space

① Roads

The city's railway stations, docks, airports, and highway entrances and exits. This is the place that gives the first impression to outsiders, and it is the place that can initially display the local characteristics and cultural level; The traffic hub in the city, the frequent flow of people and vehicles can expand the influence of sculpture works. However, because people can't stay for a long time and the traffic flow is fleeting, it is not the best place to arrange urban sculpture works. However, it is also possible to place some simple, clear and clear works. Although the works require in-depth consideration, they should not be too rich in detail changes, and the idea should not be too tortuous and implicit. It is suitable for works with strong and distinct forms that can leave a profound impact at a glance.

② Edge

Bridges, riverbanks and waterside in the city are easy to form a beautiful and poetic environment for sculpture works

③ Area

Tourist attractions, scenic spots, parks and rest places in the city are places where people gather in large numbers and have time to appreciate and appreciate art works carefully and deeply; The residential quarters and street green space in the city are the places where people live and relax. The atmosphere is warm and warm, full of rich life atmosphere.

④ Sign

Major buildings in the city, such as the government, parliament building, shopping center, theater, cultural palace, stadium, museum, exhibition center, martyr cemetery, etc., where the flow of people is concentrated, are also places where the sculpture art can exert great influence; The city square, especially the central square, can be called the living room of the city, and it is a place that can fully summarize the appearance of the city.

(3) The essence of urban space

① People's character

The formation of cities is the result of population aggregation, and the development of urbanization is to continuously meet the various needs of people's lives, provide people with survival security, and reflect the people-oriented characteristics. Therefore, people are the main body of the city. The essence of urban space is to serve people and best reflect people's living standards, quality of life and quality of life.

② Physical environment

Urban space is a tangible external space created by means of materialization such as buildings, squares, gardens, roads, etc., which constitutes people's living environment. The rationality and aesthetic efficiency of the function of this environment directly generate people's quality of life and quality.

(4) Design method of urban space

① Scale

The so-called urban spatial scale usually includes the scale relationship between people and entities and space (such as the ratio of building height to the distance between people and buildings); The scale relationship between entities (such as the proportion of buildings and mountains); The scale relationship between space and entity (such as the ratio of square size to surrounding building height), etc. The problem of scale exists everywhere, even the size of the edge of a small flower bed is important to make people feel comfortable or not. The scale of urban space is the number of two or three dimensions required for its function.

Scale affects people's feelings. As the saying goes, "distant relatives are not as good as close neighbors", which shows the influence of distance on people's feelings and behaviors. Feeling is directly related to distance. According to people's physical and psychological reactions, if two people are at a distance of about 1-2 meters, they can have a cordial feeling. We are not willing to chat with close friends at a distance of five or six meters. Two people can see each other's facial expressions about 12 meters apart; 25 meters apart, you can recognize who the other party is; The posture of the other side can still be recognized at a distance of about 130 meters; You can still see each other at a distance of about 1200m. So the shorter the distance, the stronger the intimacy, and the longer the distance, the more estranged, so that each other disappears in the field of vision. Japan's Yoshin Arahara once proposed the use of 20-25m modules in the design of external space. He believes that: "As for the external space, it is clear from the actual walk. Every 20-25cm, or there is a repetitive rhythm, or there is a change in the material, or there is a change in the ground elevation difference, then even in the large space, it can break its monotony, sometimes it will suddenly come to life.... On the side of the city center building like 200-300m, if there is a projection on the monotonous wall, use various methods to bring rhythm to the external space." Our personal experience of several urban spaces also shows that about 20m is a comfortable and intimate scale. Of course, 10m or less will feel more cordial. But if you increase the distance, you will feel alienated and rejected.

② Shape

Urban space must always take on a certain shape, some are regular geometric shapes, some are irregular. Regular shapes are mostly built through conscious geographical design, while irregular spaces are mostly built spontaneously, and some are built through planning and design. Therefore, most of the drawings on the drawing board are regular, which may be attributed to the merit of T-square and triangular board, while many spaces or building entities evolved spontaneously are often not very regular. Regular shapes, such as straight streets, rectangular squares, and square blocks, are conducive to the laying and construction of modern urban engineering pipelines. It makes people clearly feel a rational order. For example, the Forbidden City of Beijing, the central axis of Washington, and so on. Regular space and series are designed and shaped by various means, and the space effect is usually very good. Irregular urban space, if only slightly, does not make people feel irregular. People can clearly feel the irregular shape of the space, just like all irregular composition, can make people feel excited, excited and turbulent. Because its characteristics can not be recognized immediately, it can produce confusion, expectation and thought-provoking. So this kind of space is sometimes very attractive. For example, the Jindu Ancient Street in Jiangxi Province and the Siena Square in Italy are good examples of irregular space.

③ Texture

The texture of urban space has two meanings: first, the texture of the interface and bottom of the space, such as building facades, low walls, bushes and paving; First, it refers to the texture of the whole space series. The texture and texture treatment of a building's surface is an important means of design, as is the case for urban space series.

Due to the development of modern urban traffic and the acceleration of traffic speed, this new factor should be considered in the texture treatment of some urban spaces. For example, when the vehicle is driving on the main road, both the driver and the passengers on the vehicle are watching the city or identifying the place in the process of rapid movement, while people are not easily aware of the subtle changes in the process of rapid movement. Therefore, such cities are required to have large fluctuations in scale, just like the coarser texture processing method used in architecture to adapt to this visual feature. However, when people walk in the urban pedestrian space, the speed is relatively slow, and sometimes they can stop and observe the surrounding scenery. Therefore, the space texture composed of ground pavement, building walls, shop windows, signs, green planting, and architectural ornaments in this type of pedestrian space requires careful processing and appropriate scale to adapt to the visual characteristics of pedestrians.

④ Color

Color is an important means to express the character and environmental atmosphere of urban space and create a good spatial effect. Color processing can also be used as a means to enhance the recognition of space. For example, different color residential groups are used in residential areas to enhance recognition and avoid monotony. Color processing is also an important means to achieve a harmonious and unified effect in space. In a space, if the building color adopts the same tone or the ground pavement color also adopts the same tone, it will help to harmonize and unify the space.

⑤ Underside

The bottom of urban space mainly refers to the ground. People stay, flow or carry out various activities on the bottom. In this "open-air room" without roof, people stay and flow here. Under the normal horizon, the horizontal visual field of the cone is much larger than the vertical visual field. In the vertical field of vision, the downward field of vision is larger than the upward field of vision, about 45 degrees downward and about 30 degrees upward. In addition to looking up at the details of sculpture works, people always associate sculpture with the ground. Therefore, it is crucial to handle the ground well.

The bottom not only provides a place for people to move, but also plays a lot of roles in the composition of space. It can help to limit the space, mark the space, and enhance the recognition. It can also change the sense of scale through the bottom treatment, or make the outdoor space and the entity penetrate each other through the bottom treatment. The rise and fall of the ground and the use of steps and slopes are not only used to divide space, but also important means to create space. Hard materials for ground treatment, such as stone, concrete, ceramics, etc., can have a variety of color, texture, and assembly methods. Proper use of soft ground, such as lawn, flower bed and water surface, can add style. The ground pattern is combined with trees, pools, lamp posts, seats and other facilities to make it orderly and orderly. At present, the ground treatment related to urban sculpture works in China is generally dull and lack of ideas. It is often done by laying cement bricks. Not only does the sculpture stand alone, the environment is boring and disorderly, but it also makes the summer radiation strong, the heat difficult to handle, and the winter wind blowing hard, the cold biting, people do not want to stay. This situation needs to be improved.

⑥ Outdoor facilities

The necessary public facilities in urban life, such as street lamps, seats, station signs, garbage bins, etc., are all the contents that must be involved in urban space design. While meeting the needs of people's daily life, it should also have aesthetic function, form a specific cultural atmosphere, and even become the symbol of a certain region or region. For example, the magnolia lamp used in Tiananmen Square not only has the function of general street lamp, but also its budding shape symbolizes the historical style of the new China just when it was born. It is the unique landscape of Tiananmen Square and has special cultural relics value.

⑦ Sign

City signs can be buildings or building groups with material functions, or entities such as sculptures, arches, memorial columns, etc. that are completely shaped to express the image of the city. The Tiananmen Square in Beijing, the Statue of Peace in New York, and the Eiffel Tower in Paris are all city symbols. The establishment of city signs is people's psychological needs. It condenses people's feelings for the city, reflects the history of the city, the achievements of the times, or the unique excellent geographical environment, It can arouse people's yearning for the city or recall it.

The city sign is often selected at the entrance of the city, or in the downtown area, or in the most beautiful place in the city environment. For the layout of towering city signs, pay special attention to their relationship with the surrounding environment and predict the possible visual effects. If a tall symbol with beautiful shape is surrounded by a group of buildings close to its height, its image will be damaged and it will not show the image as a symbol, just as it is regrettable that supporting role often block the main characters on the stage. Therefore, it is necessary to determine several viewpoints that can guarantee the perfect appreciation of it, and also protect its horizons. The sign shall also be unique. This does not mean that only one landmark can appear in the city, but that the same landmark should not be repeated, which will dilute people's perception of the image of the logo.

⑧ Contour line

The urban contour line is displayed as the spatial form of "edge". It is generally presented as a panoramic view because it is composed of many urban entities, including artificial and natural entities. To carry out controlled construction and create or maintain a good contour, it often requires great efforts or costs.

Many of the contours of modern cities are not satisfactory. For example, in some famous cities, new buildings often destroy the original vivid and beautiful contour lines. For example, at the top of Jingshan Mountain in Beijing, you can enjoy the magnificent outline of the whole Forbidden City, but some parts of it are damaged by the surrounding new buildings. The number of high-rise buildings in modern cities is increasing, and they are important factors that constitute the urban contour. On the one hand, it is necessary to create a new urban contour through the layout of high-rise buildings in the city. At the same time, the shape of high-rise buildings is also important for the urban contour.

⑨ Space program

The environment of some urban sculpture works is not composed of a single space, but of more than one space. This raises the question of spatial hierarchy and sequence. In this case, each space is a movement in the overall sequence symphony. Only on the basis of a complete overall concept can each individual space be well designed, so that the overall context is clearer, the theme is more prominent, and a coherent and complete drama can be arranged, and the disordered elements can be organized into an emotional level and organized environmental space. This is more evident in many art complexes with sculpture layout, especially sculpture as the main body.

In cities, axes are often used to establish spatial order and organize spatial procedures. In addition to connecting and organizing spatial sequence by axis, irregular combination of non-axis can also be used. Chinese ancient gardens use this technique incisively and vividly to create a lot of wonderful landscapes within a short distance, or use natural terrain, or use rockery, stone mounds, flower walls and hedges to separate and enclose, connect, transition and penetrate different spaces, resulting in dramatic emotional and seasonal changes. No matter the design of the whole city or the scope of the urban layout, there needs to be a good spatial procedure, which should meet the requirements of the activity flow in terms of function, and create the envisaged environmental atmosphere in terms of spatial effect.

(5) Material of urban sculpture

Because the city sculpture is placed in the outdoor space, it is required to withstand thousands of years of wind, rain, cold and heat to maintain its artistic charm. This requires the use of permanent materials. The earliest material used in outdoor sculpture is stone. After the discovery of copper and the mastery of smelting technology, it was not only used for making weapons and food utensils, musical instruments, building components, but also used for casting sculpture works.

It can be said that stone and copper are the two main materials used in urban sculpture for thousands of years. For example, the giant pharaohs in ancient Egypt, the stone sculptures in the tomb of Huo Qubing in the Western Han Dynasty, and the giant Buddha in Yungang Grottoes are all stone sculptures. Copper is the earliest metal to be mastered and used by humans. The period from 3000 BC to 500 BC is called the Bronze Age. Bronze is pure copper with a certain proportion of tin and lead. It has good fluidity, hardness and toughness, and the oxide film has a good protective effect. Therefore, it has excellent durability. The ancient Greek bronze statue that sank to the sea floor about 2500 years ago is still intact after surface cleaning. Bronze has a delicate texture, can cast any small ups and downs, has a simple and deep color and a sense of historical vicissitudes after surface oxidation. Therefore, although the casting process is relatively complex, it is still loved by sculptors for thousands of years. The Statue of Liberty in New York, completed more than 100 years ago, is made of 2.5 mm thick pure copper plate

After the industrial revolution, the major development of modern science and technology has provided a wide range of new choices for the materials of urban sculpture art. Steel, stainless steel, aluminum alloy, titanium alloy, concrete, glass fiber, synthetic materials and so on have joined the ranks of urban sculpture materials. The processing means are not limited to engraving, casting and calcination, but also add new process technologies such as forging, molding, welding, riveting, electrolysis, spraying, inflation, which greatly enriched the artistic expression of urban sculpture. It is very important for sculptors to understand and be familiar with the performance and characteristics of various materials. According to the following requirements, the author can comprehensively select the materials to be used in his works.

① The type and nature of the work. For monumental sculptures with major themes, in order to ensure their permanence, of course, glass fiber, film inflatable and other materials should not be used. It is also not suitable to use stainless steel with very bright surface. Bronze or stone are better choices, because it is easy to form a solemn and serious atmosphere. The material selection of those decorative and iconic urban sculptures has a much wider range.

② Effect and artistic treatment of works

The artistic treatment of urban sculpture also restricts the selection of materials. The subtle and delicate texture changes, the metal plate forging process can not be displayed; The smooth and free clay plastic marks cannot be expressed by stone carving; Stainless steel can not achieve the effect of bronze casting that has gone through vicissitudes of life, variegated, vigorous and simple. And the rough and thick stone is hard to achieve by metal materials.

③ The environment of the work

Urban sculpture and environment should be coordinated and unified in terms of topic selection, location and scale, while in terms of material and color, corresponding measures should be taken according to the specific environment. This can ensure that urban sculpture is more eye-catching and prominent in the coordination with the environment. For example, placing a white marble statue in front of the white wall background is not easy to make the work stand out. With the sky as the ideal background, you can better accept works of various materials, whether bronze, stainless steel, granite or marble, and have a good viewing effect.

④ Funding and other factors of works

Due to the limitation of economy and other factors, the use of substitute materials will inevitably make the work look rough and affect the quality and durability of art. On the premise of ensuring the artistic effect of the work, we should seek an appropriate way to solve the contradiction between funds, construction period, materials and processing technology. For example, the oversized Statue of Liberty in the United States has adopted the method of metal plate forging, which not only saves money, but also speeds up the construction progress, and ensures a relatively high artistic quality.

The inherent beauty of the materials of urban sculpture works is also an indispensable factor in the artistic expression of urban sculpture. The author must include it in the design stage of the works to make it an important link to add charm to the works. The selection range and use method of material application are almost endless and constantly developing. Among the achievements of science and technology, many new materials need to be explored by urban sculptors.

3. Urban sculpture ontology

(1) Types of urban sculpture

There are a wide variety of urban sculpture works at all times and in all countries. It can be classified from many angles. But the most common classification is from function:

① Commemorative urban sculpture

The urban sculpture art is most suitable to show and elaborate the events, characters and concepts closely related to social history from the front. Although memorial works do not account for the majority of the large number of urban sculpture works, they are the backbone and representative of urban sculpture art, are indispensable to all countries and times, and are the embodiment and embodiment of history. They commend and eulogize those who have made great contributions and achievements to the country and nation in history, and inscribe and commemorate those events that have great influence in history. It expresses the ideas and thoughts of the ruling class at that time from the connotation, and permeates the breath and pulse of the times. They often occupy an important position. For example, the most important square in the city, or the place related to the objects to be commemorated, but also leave enough space for commemorative public activities. Such works generally have to play a leading role in the environment and play a guiding role in the formation of the environmental atmosphere. Therefore, they need to have a larger scale so that people can see it as soon as they enter the environmental space.

② Thematic urban sculpture

Represent a theme of great social significance, such as peace, freedom, victory, dedication... They also reflect the trend of history and the times, the ideals and aspirations of the people in some aspects, like the commemorative urban sculptures. They often reveal the theme of a particular environment and building in figurative language and by means of symbolism and allegory. They also have rich ideological connotation and relatively large volume. They also need to occupy a prominent and even leading position in the environmental space, and play the role of command and focus.

③ Decorative urban sculpture

The majority of urban sculpture works are decorative works. Such works do not deliberately require specific themes and contents, but mainly play the role of decoration and beautification of the environment. Decorative urban sculptures can have a wide range of themes and contents, a relaxed and lively mood, and a free and diverse style. They should not be the high-pitched march or the deep and broad symphony. They should be like romantic and lyrical light music, with elegant style, implicit and euphemism, and full of interest, gently touching people's heartstrings. Enjoying feelings, cultivating sentiments, and imperceptibly infiltrating the influence of thoughts. Their scale can be large or small, and most of them are subordinate to the environment and architecture, and become embellishments and highlights in the overall environment.

④ Iconic urban sculpture

Many large building complexes are equipped with urban sculptures that highlight the architectural functions, such as the statues of soldiers of the land, sea and air forces and the statues of workers, peasants and soldiers in front of the Chinese People's Revolutionary Museum. These works play an illustrative role and set up image signs. Some of them are implicit, vivid, meaningful, beautiful, clear and understandable, and have become an important part of the urban landscape.

⑤ Exhibition of urban sculpture

This is a unique type of urban sculpture. This method of arranging sculptures outdoors is different from the principles required by general urban sculptures. Instead, all kinds of sculpture works are arranged as exhibition furnishings, so that the public can focus on watching a variety of excellent sculpture works. Others are all works of one author, which are formed by strict overall design around a topic. For example, in the beautiful valley with undulating terrain, thousands of sculptures have made varied arrangements on the lawn, hillside, platform and water surface according to the tour route, making these works of art in the mountains, green fields and flowers.

The layout of the sculpture park should take into account the factors such as the flow of visitors, lighting, background, perspective, etc. The emergence and development of such works is conducive to improving the cultural quality and spiritual civilization of the whole people.

⑥ Practical and functional urban sculpture

Since the middle of the 20th century, there have been some sculptural buildings. Like the Sydney Opera House with white sails, the Indian Bachel Lotus Cathedral with lotus flowers, the atomic ball restaurant of the Belgian Brussels International Exposition with a ten-thousand-fold magnification of the iron molecule model... until the common stalls and bookstands designed as floats in the streets of Europe and the United States, it can be said to be the extension and development of this kind of sculpture - architecture.

⑦ Large-scale art complex dominated by sculpture

In the history of human civilization, ancient artists have used many forms, including architecture, gardens, sculpture, painting, literature and other forms, to create classic artistic complexes such as the Acropolis of Athens, St. Peter's Cathedral, Versailles, and ancient Chinese gardens, so that these human environment spaces convey richer ideological connotation and show stronger artistic charm. However, the new type of large-scale art complex with sculpture as the main body in the exact meaning should be built after the "World War II". For example, the Berlin Soviet Martyrs Cemetery in the early 1950s, the Stalingrad (now Volgograd) campaign large-scale memorial complex in the 1960s, and so on. The overall layout of these works is rigorous and meticulous, and the scene is grand. They mobilize various artistic means, such as sculpture, architecture, gardens, music, painting, cultural relics display, film slides, torch lights, waterscape lights, etc., around the common theme, they play their own unique image language, form a layered sequence space, strengthen the rendering from the visual and auditory perspectives, and comprehensively interweave and affect the various senses of the audience. The multi-level whole process, from perceptual to rational, has been fully developed in breadth and depth, which has led people deeply into the specific artistic conception and mood, and then upgraded Huawei's comprehensive and profound understanding of the event. At the same time, people have experienced a complete aesthetic process. The functional nature of the large art complex with sculpture as the main body is mainly the memorial edification effect. The above functional classification of urban sculpture is only a general distinction from the main aspects. In fact, many excellent urban sculpture works have several functions at the same time. For example, a successful commemorative work must also have a good decorative effect on the surrounding environment, and often become the landmark of the region.

⑵ Aesthetic characteristics of urban sculpture

As a public art and a special variety of urban space art, urban sculpture art has its unique aesthetic characteristics.

① Environmental specificity

This is the primary feature of urban sculpture. The work is created for a specific position and cannot be easily moved. It must be combined with the spatial structure, nature, function, mood and scale of the corresponding specific place, so as to form an organic whole closely with the environment. Admittedly, there are also cases where works are produced first and then the environment is selected. Some are designed at the same time. In any case, both must be considered as a whole.

② Permanence of materials

Because urban sculpture works need to be stored outdoors for a long time, it is decided that the materials used must be hard materials that can withstand wind, rain, cold and heat. The permanence of material is used to carry the permanence of the ideas expressed. While urban sculpture works are built for the contemporary era, on the other hand, they are also objectively made for future generations after thousands of years. They will still exert their artistic appeal in the distant future.

③ The epochal nature of connotation

Because of its relative permanence, urban sculpture is often used to express some major commemorative themes and themes, and to express ideas closely related to social life. Thus, it has a deep impression of the times and has a distinctive modernity. This constitutes a visualized history.

④ The popularity of viewers

Urban sculptures are placed outdoors, and most of them are public spaces. So it is not a salon culture prepared for a particular class, but a popular culture on the street. It faces millions of people of different ages and different cultural levels, regardless of class, nationality, and culture. Therefore, it has a very broad mass character. In order to make the works excite the hearts of the masses, although it is not required to make the masses understand 100%, it should also make the viewers have different feelings.

⑤ The particularity of visual conditions

The specific location of urban sculpture determines the specific sight distance and perspective. Some works can only be viewed from a distance, not from a close distance; Some works are located at a high place and cannot have a head-up view. Different from the relatively stable lighting of indoor works, the lighting conditions of urban sculpture works are much more complex. There are obvious changes in the angle of sunlight throughout the year, as well as in light and shade, day and night, morning, noon and evening, morning and sunset. Urban sculpture works should be exposed to variable light. From far to close, from head up to up, from front to back, from left to right, with the change of perspective, different pictures will unfold during the viewing process.

⑥ Technicality of manufacturing and processing

Due to its large scale and involvement in many fields, the implementation of many large and even huge urban sculpture works is a complex process, far from being able to be completed by the sculptors themselves, but must integrate various engineering and technical forces, which has a close relationship with the development of social productivity, the application of new technologies and new materials. Therefore, urban sculpture can be said to be the integration of art, technology and engineering.

⑦ Aesthetic consideration:

Urban sculpture is a project with large investment and public attention. Therefore, it is bound to be interfered by all aspects. First of all, the investment side will put forward many requirements for the content and form, sometimes even unreasonable and absurd requirements, thus restricting the artist's creation in many ways. This is an eternal problem for the sculpture designers of the remote sculpture company. When encountering opinions and demands from all sides, after careful consideration, on the one hand, we should properly respect the intention of the other party, and on the other hand, we should not be too accommodating. We must take the quality of art as the premise and proceed from the law of art to persuade and improve it. On the one hand, we should guide the improvement of social aesthetic level (including investors), on the other hand, we should not be too advanced, and strive to become a moderately advanced work that takes both sides into consideration. However, if it is really a breakthrough idea and design that cannot be accepted, the author should still have a firm belief and adhere to it.

(3) Aesthetic function of urban sculpture

① Explain the theme of specific environment

The artistic language of architecture and environment is symbolic, general and hazy, while the artistic language of sculpture can be clear and specific. Therefore, it can endow the environment with distinct and precise ideological nature, and use images to highlight the hazy theme of architecture or natural environment. For example, the establishment of the People's Heroes Monument in Tiananmen Square highlights its historical position in modern Chinese history.

② Point out the function and nature of the building or environment

For example, in front of the military museum are statues of soldiers and militiamen of the land, sea and air forces, and around the stadium are statues of athletes. However, illustrative is only the primary level of urban sculpture. Excellent sculpture works should not be limited to illustration of architecture or environment. It is better to imply and metaphor through indirect and implicit ways.

③ Enrich and strengthen the architectural phenomenon

In a specific environment, urban sculpture strengthens or adjusts the architectural composition. Many buildings with symmetrical composition have sculptures on their central axis or pairs of sculptures on both sides, which greatly strengthens the symmetrical pattern of the central axis. Some asymmetrical buildings use sculpture to adjust the composition.

④ Urban sculpture can also receive good visual effects by commanding and organizing the space. It is an effective means to control the environmental space with the vertical lines of urban sculpture in the space of horizontal composition. In some relatively large environmental spaces, you can also use sculpture or relief to combine or divide space, and use openwork to create flowing space. At the end of the vertical space, sculpture is used as the end of the space.

⑤ Urban sculpture often plays a guiding role in the environment to highlight certain parts. The entrance of buildings or environment is often the key point. For example, the German Pavilion of the Barcelona International Exposition, designed by the master of modern architecture Grobius, is a representative work of modern architecture. When you enter the courtyard, you can see a statue of a woman in the pool. Her movement plays a guiding role. People can enter the exhibition hall in the direction of her arm.

⑥ Urban sculpture can also be completely free from the constraints of practical functions, and can be arranged at will. It has strong emotional expression, and often becomes the medium of emotional communication between environment and people. This is true of both ancient and modern buildings. The modern building complex in the new area of De Fontes, on the outskirts of Paris, makes people feel more indifferent. They leave in a hurry after the shift. Some colorful sculptures with strange shapes (some are active sculptures such as water wheel sculptures, windmill sculptures, wind sculptures, etc.) are the means to add emotional color to the environment.

⑦ In terms of shape, color, texture, rhythm, rhythm, light and shadow, urban sculpture can enrich the environment, make the environment active and full of vitality. In the modernist architectural environment, modern sculpture is playing its part on this stage.

⑧ In some large-scale environments, people tend to feel small and bear psychological invisible pressure, while urban sculpture can often become a transition between people and the environment on the scale, so that people can understand the sense of intimacy. Such as decorative works. Most of these works are displayed in gardens, street gardens, surrounding buildings, roadside greenbelts and residential areas. They are different from commemorative works, and their location selection can have great flexibility and should be more colorful. Unfortunately, in recent years, many of the garden sculptures are still placed in the way of axis symmetry, which may be related to the simple use of western traditional methods in the layout design of these gardens, but this kind of sculpture layout is rather stiff after all.