The ONE SLIDE.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/78rsselc24mpr3c/ONE%20SLIDE.pps?m

Ripples.

The "Ripples"(1987) by Neil Dawson was commissioned in  for the opening of the Waikato Museum building in Grantham Street. It is a suspended sculpture, comprised of a 6 metre span of carbon fibre reinforced polyester resin, which represents the ripple effects of a falling stone hitting the water. It hangs between the canopy of trees, approximately 20 metres in the air, above the Waikato Museum riverbank. It is built in the terms of an public art.

His work can be talked about in the context of “tromp l’oeil”, which was recognized from the Baroque period, from the French words it means "deceive the eye", which is an art technique using realistic imagery to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects exist in three dimensions. Forced perspective is a comparable illusion in architecture. In this case, Dawson tries to do the opposite that is to make a three-dimensional sculpture look as a two dimensions image.

This connects to the issue of flatness, typically associated with teleological readings of modernist painting. Some of the accounts of postmodernism, such as Frederic Jameson (1987) identified flatness –the modernist trope par excellence – as postmodernism’s distinguishing feature. In an effort to untangle this contradiction, a new genealogy of flatness is proposed.

The work can also be related to Clement Greenbergian’s (1955) modernism between optical flatness and psychological depth. The psychological depth tied to optical flatness in modern art is itself deflated, producing a marriage of optical and psychological flatness. These transformations in the meaning surface and superficiality are traced through the art of Jackson Pollock, Jasper Johns, David Hammons and Kara Walker.

While the texture of the sculpture are similar to the old-fashioned comic strip as subject matter, just like it was drawn by magna paint, which can be associated as Roy Lichtenstein’s pop art (1963-1966), which produces a hard-edged, precise composition that documents while it parodies in a soft manner. 

Song Dong's 36 Calendars.

On 2 Feb, 2013 we went to the ArtisTree in Quarry Bay to visit the first solo exhibition of Beijing-based artist Song Dong. It’s co-presented by Asia Art Archive and the West Kowloon Cultural District’s Mobile M+. 
It’s called “Song Dong: 36 Calendars”.

Song Dong has created the 36 Calendars in the form of hand-drawn, wire-bound annual household wall calendars. He has reviewed his version of history from 1978, when he was 12, until this year. 

The Mayan apocalypse sparks his idea to create “Song Dong: 36 Calendars” as he doesn't believe in the apocalyptic prediction. Instead he takes the meaning of time and history into his own hands by literally rewriting the years. The calendar records Song's personal perspective, as well as social issues, political, and art history.

I myself fancy such a tactile texture of pencil strokes. Sketching is good-natured that make people feel familiar.  The tone of the entire work is very sincere, which builds a comfortable atmosphere for the audiences to look into the history, and also the story of Song's life.Looking through the calenders is just like reading his autobiography. The audiences could easily be sympathetic when seeing his note and sketching towards some significant issues, for instance, the  June Fourth Incident and the death of Steven Jobs. 

I am particularly impressed by some the calenders. One is about Song's father's death on Aug 2002. The video tape represents his last touch with his father. the whole picture is simple, but very heart-stirring. I immediately associated the video tape with the cassette tapes from my father, because it is my father to share his favorite music to me via playing cassette tapes. In our life there maybe some objects means nothing to others but only means a lot to certain individuals. 

Some other sheets of calenders his about the progress of his project: writing diary on stones with water. I write diary so as to recorder my life experience, it makes me wonder the idea of using  water to do this deed, just like he mentioned his father challenged him about the usefulness of writing with water. Although the words disappear seemingly, Song thinks that thee ought to be something remain, perhaps is the clear memories on the experiences, or the feeling after writhing...anyway, it maybe a good way to write daily, as you don't need to worry the your intimate records will be seen by others. 

To be frank, i have never heard about Song Dong before this exhibition, but I have learnt a lot about him just after one exhibition. I think it is an amazing part of art, that you can really step into the artist's world to experience what he/she has experienced. The exhibition started by an collective event on 21 Jan, inviting 432 people to write history together. Each will be given a month of the 432 months of the calendars sketched by Song Dong, and together the participants will add their own memories to the month with images or words. Surprisingly, I found their works very interesting.

This is a good example of participle art, that welcome audience to add their own elements on the artist's work, so that everyone can also become an artist. it definitely can achieve further engagement from the audience. Which is also an important feature of contemporary art: relational aesthetic, that is not onlt create a piece of work,but to create impact on people through interaction.

I enjoy this exhibition a lot that I spent the whole morning in it, probably I am the classmate who leave at last.

Around sound.

On 26 Jan, our class went to the Around sound art festival at Kwun Tong Ferry Pier.

 Actually I think it is my first time to go Kwun Tong Ferry Pier. The venue is a good choice for the performance, although it is desolate that not many people access, the space is sample ad close to nature, so that audience would pay more attention to all the sound and not be distracted.

Matt Cook's works are very interesting , that he makes use of the daily objects, combined them to installations and create special sound, like the little experiments done by kids . His artworks are still in progress, but I think this  concept is already completed and it inspire us to observe more in our daily lives, and think about how the ordinary material can be use in other different ways. 

Other then that, there was performances "Stream" , done by Akio Suzuki (鈐木昭男) and the other female dancers. Akio Suzuki  kept  hammering nails on the wood, to form the sound and the pattern of varying lengths arranged.

Look at the body movements of the dancers, the relationship nail. do not understand. then he used plastic chopsticks to "travel" on them,  produce a special kind of sound in different rhythms and speeds music. The female dancer followed the rhythm of the sound body and made body movements, sometimes dance as a bird,  sometimes dance as the stream...

To be frank, I don't understand what they want to show, but, the performance produce the sound of void, and together withe the echo in the pier, I have a new experience in sound. Nails and woods maybe two kinds of "vulgar" materials, however when we feel them via a new aspect -the sound, I find them mysterious. And it provoke me to start thinking about the possibility of sound.

Another piece of performance of the work related to water and glass bottles. Green glass bottle filled with water on the floor row straight line. The dancers picked up the glass bottles, turning the body, the water laid on the ground and became a piece of "water painting" on the floor. 

I think The whole picture is very elegant and the beam of sunlight  pass thought the water and the bottle made an peaceful and comfortable atmosphere. when Akio Suzuki blowing the mouth of the bottle, I suddenly felt a sense of friendliness: that's what I used to play when I was a kid.

The overall experience reminds me the childhood games I play: making small installation with home materials, taping bowls with chopsticks, blowing the mouth of a bottle like blowing a whistle... those little stuff in life was once my favorite element of sounds. However as we keep growing, world become dull and harsh...in fact I think we somehow are quite skin-deep. When seeing a daily matters, we lose the creativity and just rely on our pair of eyes. Although I don't  know what the original messages were, I think I have found such a sample happiness again, just like a piece of music to my ears.

After that day, when I hear the annoying escalator music in the Festival walk, I miss those sound i heard in the pier, simple but sincere.

Artist: Neil Dawson.

Neil Dawson (New Zealander, b.1948)

Neil Dawson was born in Christchurch 1948, and attended the Canterbury University School of Art from 1966 to 1969, studying sculpture under Tom Taylor and Eric Doudney. He graduated with a Diploma in Fine Arts in 1970, and then attended the National Gallery of Victoria Art School, graduating with a Diploma in Sculpture in 1973. Dawson taught drawing and design at Christchurch Polytechnic from 1975 to 1983, but has worked in more recent years as a full-time sculptor. 

 Dawson’s practice has focused on the production of large-scale, and site-specific, sculptures in New Zealand, Australia, Asia and the United Kingdom. He is best known for his suspended sculptures, which included "Globe" installed for the exhibition Magiciens de la Terre at the Pompidou Centre, Paris in 1989. And the Main Entry Artworks at the Stadium of Ausralia for the 2000 Olympic Games, and installed "Fanfareon" at the Sydney Harbour Bridge for New Year 2004 to 2005. 

The sphere of silvered leaves is at once a symbol of New Zealand, a dream of a perfect ecology, a still point in a turning world, and a masterpiece of public art.

It's also the grandest New Zealand performance yet by this country's premiere sculptural conjuror. Neil was described as  an artist "who sculpts sky, moulds light, lassoes planets, and builds stairways to heaven from neon and know-how...whose fusion of Pop and Minimalist aesthetics have for two decades graced airspace around the globe. "

Other major commissions have included the Bomber Command war memorial sculpture in Canberra, Australia,

Within NZ his major public works include "Chalice" in Cathedral Square, Christchurch, and Ferns in Civic Square, Wellington.

Neil was the recipient of  the Laureate Award  from New Zealand Arts Foundation in 2003. 

The Laureate Award is an investment in excellence across a range of art forms for an artist with prominence and outstanding potential for future growth. The Award recognizes a moment in the artists' career that will allow them to have their next great success.

In 2005 and 2006 Neil completed his first major outdoor works in the United Kingdom with the installation of "Raindrops" and "Wellsphere" in Manchester. 

In  recent years Neil has returned to making smaller scale works.

I chose to look into Neil since i was attracted by his artwork

"Horizon" in 1994 (which is the year when I came to this world).

This  sculpture just seems like a piece of paper in the wind.

I think Dawson really know how to make good use of  vision, illusion, proportion and the dimension of space. This "wrinkled paper" is a flat two-dimensional painting stand up on the hill, but when you look at it closely, it is a three-dimensional  giant sculpture, as high as 4-floor building, with 118 ft long. The material of the sculpture ought to be tough and hard, but the shape of it is curvy and all you can see is such a soft, mild picture. At the first review of my blog I mentioned that I was used to do casual 2D painting or sketching, while his sculptures are always grand together with subtle design, which is very stunning to me.

And I discover that his small scale sculpture are also very impressive, so I would like to more about him and his work.

reference link:

http://www.neildawson.co.nz

http://gibbsfarm.org.nz/dawson.php

http://www.thearts.co.nz/artist_page.php&aid=50

http://www.milfordgalleries.co.nz/dunedin/artist/197-Neil-Dawson

http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2012/08/10/158560857/giant-crumpled-paper-drops-from-the-sky-lands-on-hill-in-new-zealand

http://www.art-newzealand.com/Issues21to30/dawson.htm

Fotanian Open Studios (4).

 614 ELEPHANT HOUSE 象舍 (Rm 614, Block B, Wah Luen Industrial Centre)

I was fascinated by the installations in the Elephant House, “The Root” and “Sunlight”.

Looking at the shadow of trees always makes me the feel peaceful and serene, especially under the warm sunshine in winter. It is awesome to bring something like that in to an indoor studio.

The artworks of the Elephant House stick to nature, human history and the Chinese calligraphy.

Elephant quotes the words of Confucius on the caption of “The Root”, “…Have the Heavens made speeches? The four seasons turn through their changes, bringing forth countless beings. What words have the Heavens spoken?”

Indeed, our nature has its own language, but we may neglect or forget it. Art can be a bridge to reconnect human and the nature.

Elephant hoped to show the audience the shadow of the root drifting over the floor with time. Last year she demonstrated the pictograph character ‘root’ and the ancients’ habit of ‘talking knot’ through another means. She crashed her calligraphic works of the past year to making an installation of tree roots. Later on, she tried to use paper-cutting and photography to capture the shape of the shadow. Of course we know that every paper cuttings are unique in our common sense. However, visualizing the paper provokes more thought, and you really want to observe them in detail.

When you can find shadow, where you can find light. The papers not only represent shapes of the shadows, together with the sunlight.

Another artwork “Sunlight” is an interactive installation, suggesting audience to write down what makes them happy on a piece of ‘sunlight’, and put it in one of the bottles. The concept is really poetic. I think “The Root” actually is a part of “Sunlight” and “Sunlight” will then become a part of “The Root”… that is no way and no need separate them into two individual works.

Fotanian Open Studios (3).

QIÁNG 薔  (Rm 1316, Block B, Wah Luen Industrial Centre)

Qiáng comes from the word "Qiáng Wei", in Chinese is "薔薇", means “ wild rose”. The studio was founded in 2010. They choose this name because wild rose is a kind of beautiful flower endures to grow even in extreme weathers.

 

One of the artists, AMA HUEN Ning displayed her paintings of socket, light bulb and hinge...many kinds of trivial things you could find at home.

I often do sketching on any object I see when I am bored. So I like those paintings very much.

Later I find the story behind her paintings: AMA had given birth to her baby last year and this life- changing statues brought influence to her perspectives as well as her works. She followed her son’s sight to observe the world, discovered from the surroundings which people were supposed to familiar with.

The stuff she drew is just so close to our life, seems ordinary but makes me feel warm and peaceful.

I daily life, we seldom spend time to calm ourselves down and take a look at the things around us. Just like the message from the previous work “Play, Pause Rewind, Home”. When we think about all those small facilities at our home, actually they are playing essential role in our life, to link us with the world.

No matter how the world is changing, they stay there quietly and provide the things we need. Silence but powerful.



People always questions “is this a piece of art?” However, I realized it really doesn't matter. At least, that piece of “thing” has already provoked your thought, perhaps that’s the point.

(to be continued)

Fotanian Open Studios (2).

Then I was attracted by the “Drift .Image”, a work created by Raymond PANG. On that day Raymond was there to explain his work to us. He made an installation according to several images or thought in his mind over the past 3 years: whales, lotus, supernova and his departed sister…He told us that he didn't have a clear plan to link them together at the beginning and he did those work individually so there were wood and cooper sculptures together with pieces of drawings on canvas in this artwork. Later on he tried to combine those drift images, presented them with chains of welded cooper, performed as lotus and foam on the water. People could easily associate it with the scenes that images and thought float in human’s brain float.

 

Though human often have attitudes and experience that are different from each other, on certain ways we share same thoughts or ideas toward objects. Just like we may not have Raymond’s images in our mind, but most of us will understand that the drifting lotus and foam is the representation of his mind. That’s why human makes art to express feelings and it is so interesting that when looking at an object, everyone may come up with certain kinds of meanings. The whale painting was unfinished, but he decided to stop here due to the subsidence of his thought. There is no absolute definition that whether an artwork is finished or not. Especially this art is about one’s changeable mind. He said he might draw out the rest or even color it, but all depends on his feeling. 

 Another work he made was a white crystal marble sculpture of a human and whale. Raymond was keen on whales, and he couldn't explain why. Human just stick to something that we ourselves don’t know the reason. Again, he brought the marble before he planned his work. The whole concept is “To Bend", the human being and whale can live together. I think it is a big feature of sculptures, to observes and take advantage to the material you already have. 

 

Two more works: 




“The Goal” made by Joe LI, an interactive sculpture that you can place the man at anywhere, so as to suit your personal status of the progress of achieving your own goal. The goal can be just on the branches of the trees, or an uncertain model above the sky. Everyone can choose their position and there is no right or wrong. 
 

 

 A world map built with Henry LO’s travel photographs. 

Henry is a special member in We Sculptors, as he doesn't work on 3D creation. He is writer who travelled over the world, uses "the language of photography to spell out love and mankind". I think the idea of the work is to have a self reflection about the meaning of travel rather than choosing photos to represent countries and cities. On the maps Henry told us that used photos in all black to express there ought to be misimpressions and unknowns in every journey or even in our life, and that’s what we should learn to accept. 

(to be continued)

Fotanian Open Studios (1).

On 19 Jan 2013, our class visited the Fotanian Open Studio. There have been many idle industrial buildings after the migration of industries to the Mainland, which provides precious space for local artists to create and display their work. And a group of studios in Fotan open for public on January every year since 2001. But to be frank, I just noticed there is such a programme via the course.  Actually there are more than 100 studios inside 15 industrial centers. Like watching flowers while riding on horseback, we only have time visit a few among the crowd and here are some of the studios which impressed me. 

1611 We sculptors (Rm 1611, Block B, Wah Luen Industrial Centre) 

If you ask me about my own experience on art, I would tell you that I seldom do other things out of drawing on a piece of paper. So to me, using solid materials to create an art definitely is a tough work. The group We sculptors started to station in Fotan since early 2012 and before that they have been doing lots of 3D creation by different materials.






 The very first piece of work I see is a series of 4 installations made with firm cartridges. For me firm cartridge is a kind of ”endangered product “from the last generation, while people started to cherish when it is going to extinct. It gives me a feeling of honest and sincere, comparing with the digital memory we are using nowadays. Using such a solid material, the artist, Jimmy LAU resembles the symbols on the control buttons: “Play, Pause, Rewind, Home”, which also the title of it series. Reflect about our life habit under those bombardments of information, materials and entertainment. Seemingly life is enjoyable under the rapid development of technology, but somehow it is just dazzling and annoying. Looking at these works with the order “Play, Pause, Rewind, Home”, remind us to stop from busying and return to the fundamental point, our original “Home”: family, love, nature…

That is simply meaning of the Chinese title: “玩、停、回、家”. Nevertheless, there is another meaning. Generally speaking the meaning of the Chinese “停” as “stop”, but actually the artist uses the symbol “Pause” but not “Stop”. Also, the symbol “Home” on the control have means the audience ready “to started over again”. Which probably implies this circumstance of “Play” is “non-stop”, or I should say, “Unstoppable”. Time keeps running, we continue to live our lives like that and can never escape from the wheel of age.

(to be continued)

Just started up a blog about my little exploration of Contemporary Art :)