Aesthetic Criticism of Contemporary Negative-Themed Artworks: Exploring Influences on Audiences’ Psychological Stress and Mental Well-being
Yiweirui Zhou, Xin CaiAbstract
Objective
Massive spread of contemporary negative-themed artworks brings hidden psychological pressure to audiences, easily breaks psychological steady state, breeds pessimistic emotional experience and damages long-term public mental health. This paper carries out systematic aesthetic criticism on such works, explores their dual psychological effects on viewers, and looks for effective ways to relieve induced psychological pressure and maintain healthy mental states of audiences.
Subjects and Methods
This study takes ordinary audiences with different art appreciation experiences as research objects. It integrates aesthetic theoretical deduction, comparative text analysis and psychological questionnaire measurement, sorts out the correlation between negative aesthetic stimulation, fluctuating psychological pressure, unstable mental states and individual mental health level, and analyzes the internal psychological action path of negative art.
Results
Excessively dark negative-themed artworks will continuously increase audiences’ psychological pressure, disrupt balanced psychological steady state and cause hidden damage to mental health. Moderate negative aesthetic expression can guide emotional catharsis, ease accumulated inner pressure, adjust unbalanced mental states and realize positive promotion of audiences’ mental health.
Conclusions
Negative-themed art has two-sided influences on audiences’ psychology. Standardized aesthetic criticism can guide rational appreciation, reduce unnecessary psychological pressure brought by extreme negative creation, repair disordered mental states, protect public mental health, and provide reference for healthy creation and dissemination of contemporary artworks.
Acknowledgement
2021 Open Project of Hubei Key Laboratory, Study on the Effects of WeChat-Based Follow-Up Intervention and Health Management on the Quality of Life of Heart Transplant Recipients (2021KFH05).
Corresponding Author
Xin Cai, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430000, China.