Adventures of the White Owl

Great Wall at Badaling

2009-03-11T09:29:00.000-07:00

I am sorry for such a delay in posting, but I got very frustrated with problems I was having uploading pictures. I don't recommend Beijing in January- freezing!

Llama Temple

2009-01-26T02:07:00.000-08:00

Building work on the YongHeGong Temple started in 1694 during the Qing Dynasty. It originally served as an official residence for court eunuchs. It was then converted into the court of Prince YongZheng (Yin Zhen), a son of emperor KangXi. After YongZheng's ascension to the throne in 1722, half of the building was converted into a lamasery, a monastery for monks of Tibetan Buddhism, while the other half remained an imperial palace. Unfortunately I could only find Chinese batteries around this area, so I ran out of batteries after a few pictures and couldnt take any more, but there were lots of really cool statues, people burning incense everywhere, and maybe a thirty or forty foot tall Buddha carved from one tree, with a plaque outside from Guinness Records (Ive inserted someone else's shot below).

798 Gallery District

2009-01-26T01:48:00.000-08:00

one of many big-eyed cliches

798 Gallery District

2009-01-26T01:34:00.000-08:00

798 is like Beijing's Chelsea, and most people seem to see it as the center of the Chinese art world. There are plenty of complaints about it though, such as the feeling that with the explosion of interest in Chinese artists, it has become over-commercialized (like Chelsea) and of course, the usual complaints about some of the Chinese art itself, which is sometimes not well executed, maybe has a weak concept, or more often than not, is imitating something that someone has noticed is already successful. Unfortunately, I made my trip as many galleries were shutting down for the Chinese New Year Spring Festival, so I dont think I got a fair shake of what's usually on offer.

The area is a a former industrial park, and some of the factories there are still working while retired elements provide interesting scenery.

Leaving the Forbidden City

2009-01-26T01:26:00.000-08:00

Beijing's Forbidden City

2009-01-26T01:16:00.000-08:00

Beijing's Forbidden City

2009-01-21T05:09:00.000-08:00

The old palaces

Beijing's Forbidden City

2009-01-21T00:30:00.000-08:00

The Forbidden City is a massive complex of palaces used by the emperors in old China.

Forbidden City

2009-01-21T00:11:00.000-08:00

Tiananmen Square

2009-01-20T22:16:00.000-08:00

The Mausolem where Mao's body is preserved and on view (I did not go see him)

Taizhou International Wen-Wu School

2008-12-22T12:41:00.000-08:00

I thought the best part of our trip was the visit to this martial-arts school, where an army of children pulled out all the stops to give us this amazing, long performance! I couldn't help feeling that with this kind of discipline, the Chinese are going to be formidable. When I noticed that the little kids there were also learning English, my buddy commented, "That's so they'll be able to give you orders in your own language."

China Academy of Art's Infamous Fan Dance While Wearing Wigs at the Zhejiang Provincial International Student Talent Shows (ZPISTS)

2008-12-16T01:03:00.000-08:00

Enjoy.

Belly Dancing!

2008-12-15T09:20:00.000-08:00

This was probably the most popular performance. I captured the slow part. It might not be chinese dancing, but I think she has been forgiven.

Zhejiang International Student Talent Show Performances

2008-12-15T08:03:00.000-08:00

Linhai and the Great Wall of the South

2008-12-15T06:59:00.000-08:00

I think I may have earlier referred to our pep-rally like performance of the fan-dance as the culmination of that forsaken activity. However, I was lying, because we have continued secretly practicing. The REAL culmination happened Thursday and Friday, at the Zhejiang Provincial International Student Talent Show. It was a BIG DEAL. By BIG DEAL, I mean that they went all out with decor, we had 15 hours of dress rehearsals the day before, necessitating stay in a hotel, then there were the TV crews, etc etc. Intense. I can happily report that we had one of the best performances, and I will post several videos soon, I just need to get them down to size. This weekend, we were rewarded with a trip for our efforts. On Saturday, we visited an amazing Kung Fu school, where children as young as 4, and up through high school entertained us with absolutely amazing martial arts, dances, and Dragon and Lion performances. It was truly awesome, but at the time I had no batteries, so I am waiting on friends' pics to show you guys. The next day, we visited the Great Wall of the South, which dates to the Ming Dynasty, and served as a model for the Great Wall in the North. You can see pictures of a beautiful historic street below, as well. We each had a personal guide from one of the local high schools, mine was named Lithium (or it sounded like that) and she was very sweet and spoke very good English. She was only 16, and hopes to study in America, please wish her luck. Later Sunday, we visited Shen Xianju, or "Residence of the Immortals," a really cool park with 11 waterfalls, home to giant salamanders which I wish I had seen!

Rock Formations at Shen Xianju

2008-12-15T06:38:00.000-08:00

Some artwork from China Academy of Art

2008-12-04T06:46:00.000-08:00

http://www.caa.edu.cn/photos/exhibition/show1/
http://www.caa.edu.cn/photos/news/news182/

Drying Clothes Chinese Style

2008-11-27T00:23:00.000-08:00

Classmates

2008-11-25T04:46:00.000-08:00

We've just lost Shou老师(teacher Shou), since her student teaching is finished., here's my class with her (excuse spelling): [back row] Duan (Vietnam), Dahai (Syria), Megan (Korea/Australia), Katya (Russia), Andre (Russia), Jeff (USA), me (USA), [middle row] Ti (Cambodia), Zidar (Turkmenistan), Eda [in pink] (Croatia), Priscilla (Uganda), Lalei （Iran), Manamee (Japan), Eszter (Hungary), [front row] Sarah (USA), Shou老师 (China), Micky (Japan), [very front] Arianna (Mongolia/Angola)

My Chinese buddy Elephant and I. Many Chinese have crazy names like this, I also know a "Commander" who happens to be a girl! but when you want a more interesting Chinese name, they're always like, Oh no! you can't do that- that's ridiculous! which is pretty funny- they dont even want me to have more than two syllables for a first name or 1 syllable for a family name, yet it is fine for them to be Elephant, or Commander, Dream, or Smacker. The bottom line is that remembering their Chinese names is really really f'ing hard, so Elephant he is!

Folding Bikes

2008-11-25T04:41:00.000-08:00

As you probably know, China has a huge population of bike riders, and you should see some of the stuff they ride, as well as carry around. A lot of them now ride mo-peds, but the other new thing is these folding bikes with the smaller wheels. My bike got stolen a while back so I decided to get one that I could keep in my room. It has six gears and moves surprisingly quickly. It also folds/unfolds in seconds! You can buy really good American made ones (that are actually cheaper there than here!) called Dahons starting at around $200 for one with gears. Cant believe more people havent cottoned on yet.

To make up for recent lazy blogging,

2008-11-25T03:08:00.000-08:00

I present you with excerpts from the Chinese art students' talent show!

M Art Center

2008-11-03T05:48:00.000-08:00

Some traditional Chinese painting, apologies for the glare, but is somewhat unavoidable when there is glass and low light in these quick-shot situations

Around Hangzhou

2008-11-03T05:42:00.000-08:00

Amusing I think. There is a lot of this around. Cant help chuckling.

2008-11-03T05:03:00.000-08:00

The metal you see here is entirely comprised of stainless steel nails, hammered into wood cores.

Shamefully (because I liked his work), I have forgotten this artist's name and I think I wrote it down, but have yet to find on what! Anyway, these are from a series called "Crazy English," when he followed the pioneer of promoting English learning around various events in China, which are amusing to see because off the bat, you assume it is some kind of socialist event! but no! they are being encouraged to "Speak Out in English!"

Day's Best (Or an Indication For You)

2008-11-03T04:38:00.000-08:00

This was my favorite work of the day, a series of photos and the objects themselves, showing the unwrapping of a glass, and what I believe to be the painting of the tissue paper from the packaging while it was still crumpled up... unwrapped, I think it is surprisingly nice.

my photo of the actual glass, and not a photo of a photo

this is the actual paper, and not a photo of it.

Around Moganshan Lu

2008-11-03T04:09:00.000-08:00

More Moganshan Lu

2008-11-03T03:56:00.000-08:00

Some huge galleries in Shanghai! (this is the basement, hence the low ceiling)

Moganshan Lu, Shanghai

2008-11-03T00:25:00.000-08:00

So this weekend, I went to Shanghai again. Honestly considering there is a large art school in Hangzhou, there are surprisingly few contemporary art galleries, I can count two at best. Perhaps this will raise some ire, but when I say contemporary, I am not referring to anything being made now, but art that bears a specific connection to the current times, specifically- so I do exclude traditional painting from "contemporary art" (regardless of the skill exhibited and when its made) unless its meaning or subject matter are tied into something specifically of our time. I might like it, in a purely visual manner, but I tend to think about it more as craft. Anyway, this is not to say there aren't a plethora of galleries in Hangzhou, mostly exhibiting traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy, and of course the ubiquitous and nauseating impressionism that is usually saturated with flowers/autumn leaves/thick paint daubs/french cafes/what have you. And although the China Academy of Art seems to have speakers and guests from the "contemporary" art-world, I can never understand the flyers that are posted around here, so I tend to miss out on a lot of that stuff. In fact I really need to meet some of the people in the "Experimental Art Department" here, since there doesn't seem to be an overground scene I can find. Ok that tangent being said and done, the main area for galleries in Shanghai (basically the Chelsea of Shanghai) is Moganshan Lu. Within this street, there is a large area of converted warehouses that is called M Art Center. There are A LOT of galleries here, ranging from good to bad. Most of the ones in this complex do not allow pictures unfortunately, but maybe that will just spare you seeing some bad artwork. Well some was good. But the Shanghai art scene is pretty interesting, and still developing of course. I did not see much evidence of censorship- there seemed to be a fair amount of stuff referring to communism and nudity (not always together :)) but really it wasn't exactly testing the censors patience either so I dunno. From what I have heard Shanghai's art scene is much more commercial than Beijing's and some notorious features are : lots of paintings of Chinese with big eyes (Zhang Xiaogang), lots of empty references to Mao/communism just as a sort of style statement, etc. Anyway, I've included some pics so make up your own minds.

M Art Center courtyard

Culmination of the fan dance

2008-10-26T01:16:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCc799vuwKg

not the best video, but you can see we didnt do too badly. The audience was enthusiastic. Still working on getting the new pictures on here.

Slacking

2008-10-21T07:01:00.000-07:00

The baubles on this guys' vest simply needed some more exposure.
fruity furniture

An example of the truly monstrous buildings that are going up everywhere in China. There must be thousands of people in this one. Hangzhou isn't all Zen-gardens.
Speaking of Zen, I found this outside the light-market where I went to buy my desk lamp and loved it. Real modern art!

So I have been very busy, the fan dancing has been upped to 3x a week in anticipation of the performance Wednesday. We are far from perfect, but when we rehearsed in front of a partially filled stadium yesterday, it was very encouraging. We had great applause; I think the chinese students just like the foreign students so much we could have been picking our noses and they would have applauded! Still it was really encouraging and made the whole thing much more fun. Chinese class is going well enough, and I have started giving drawing classes on weekends. I am also finishing my Teaching English as a Foreign Language Certification. If any of you are interested in traveling abroad, you can get certified online and its not so expensive, some companies will even provide you with a job abroad, plane ticket included.

On top of all this I have been working out and playing a lot of basketball with the chinese guys. I'm not that bad and they're pretty good, but I am definitely taller here!! Finally I have been hunting art supplies in various odd corners of Hangzhou. Efficiency goes out the window here, and its partly due to communication issues, and partly that things just work differently, but you have to budget half a day sometimes to accomplish a simple task.

I should have more pictures, but I have been bad about carrying my camera so you will miss the expression on my face as I pulled the chicken beak out of my mouth tonight and some of the funny Chinglish signs and Tshirts. I will try to get some more pictures of food, and some gallery pictures in Shanghai. I have been to many galleries here in Hangzhou, but for me it is disappointing that almost all of them have only calligraphy and traditional painting, which is very beautiful, but I think it becomes very repetitive.

Bad Internet

2008-10-16T07:16:00.000-07:00

Apologies to those of you who are still reading this blog, I have been very busy and recently our internet has been infuriatingly spotty. I have been taking a course for TEFL certification (Teaching English as a Foreign Language). It is pretty much required by almost everyone (except in a private tutoring situation) these days, and I really need some extra money. So on top of that, and the infernal and never-ending character memorization, there is also the increasingly long kung-fu practises, leading up to our performance. I have already let you all know how I feel about being made to do this, so I am trying not to get revved up about it again. Here is the actual dance we have been learning:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dID-dQpaLbc

Lin Yutang

2008-10-05T01:27:00.000-07:00

The Golden Week is coming to a close. What a crazy week it was, it was nice to have a break from studying characters, but everything got so busy it was suffocating around here! My plans to do some travelling went by the wayside because it was so busy, you had to wait hours to get on the trains, so I just figured it might be best to explore Hangzhou some more and save the short trips for regular weekends when the whole rest of China isn't trying to pack itself onto the train for holiday. The weather is really nice right now, still warm enough for shorts but not the ridiulous sauna it was when I first arrived. My frustrations with the language are still palpable, but I am able to at least communicate very basic needs and wants now.
I am reading a book titled, "My Country and My People," by Lin Yutang (in English his name would be reversed- Yutang Lin). It was written mid-20th century, and was really lauded globally as the first book by a Chinese author, but written in English, to really attempt to explain the people and culture here. It is truly fascinating, and beautifully written. While the times have certainly changed, the book really explains a lot about how and why things are this way here, and comes from a man who also has a superb understanding of Western culture. Highly recommend.

Friends Exhibtions:

2008-10-05T00:44:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to my great friend Rachel, this promises to be an awesome exhibtion that anyone in the area should try to see:

Rachel Fainter MFA exhibition: "Psychobabble: Regression and the Cognitive Transcendence of Time"October 10th, 7:00-10:00B. Matthews, Savannah, GA

http://rachelfainter.com/home.html

I also highly recommend my friend Susan's exhibition in Portland:

Susan Murrell, "Indication of Oversight"Susan Murrell is exhibiting Instinctive Inquiry, installations and works on paper, at Gallery Homeland. Using "the visual vernacular associated with textbooks and the sciences in order to parody the measurement of creative output," Murrell explores the active, self-reflexive process of creating knowledge.Opening reception • 6-9pm • October 3

http://www.galleryhomeland.org/index.php

and Gregory Forstner, my French buddy, we met in NYC, showing at Triangle and in Munich :

http://www.galeriezink.de/fileadmin/zink/press_releases/forstner_pressrelease_en.pdf
http://hragvartanian.com/2008/09/24/triangle-open-studios/

A Day at the Lake

2008-09-28T07:34:00.000-07:00

So, I am not aspiring to be a traditional painter, let alone a traditional Chinese painter, but sometimes I do enjoy drawing landscapes and architecture. I used to really like doing portraits, but I do not like dealing with getting a model to sit, so anyway. I sat down at Xi Hu (West Lake) this afternoon with the intent of doing a sketch. Another guy sat down beside me on the bench. Before I knew it, there was a huge crowd watching me. And I mean like 20 people! I couldn't even see what I was drawing anymore! I hate to get all ethnographic, but the Chinese are so curious (and no wonder, condsidering their opportunties for foreign travel are usually nonexistent), when I am in the store and need help, the same thing occurs-I end up surrounded by 8 people all trying to decipher what I am saying (which after 20 minutes, they find to be entirely inconsequential and they disperse, muttering under their breath). It is somewhat embarassing, but often I only have to be looking at something and I notice that people come up to also have a look at what it is I am so interested in. This can very good for business! It is funny. So, despite a half-assed drawing, I made a few friends today, who helped me with Chinese and chatted for a long time about all sorts of things. I guess noone has anything to do right now so they just go and sit by the lake. It is nice, and while I was drawing everyone was very quiet, which I really like- Chinese people seem perfectly comfortable to be in company without necessarily having to talk the entire time, which I feel very comfortable with. I find the need to fill silence with chatter very tiring. There was a very somber moment when a girl mentioned that she understood the Hangzhou accent because she is Hangzhouren (from Hangzhou), another guy said he had more problems with it because he was from Sichuan province, and had been here 8 months. The others started saying, "Earthquake, earthquake." The man (who was probably early 20s) said that indeed, he had lived at the quake's epicenter. He had lost his home and family. It was a very awkward moment. I keep thinking about it and of course wish there was something I could have done, but of course there was nothing except to express my condolences. What a heartbreak, and how quickly everyone is expected to simply move on. When the rest of us left, he remained alone at the bench.
Not going to brag about this one.

From my window

2008-09-28T07:13:00.000-07:00

Perhaps I have neglected to tell you that I live above a row of high end car dealersips. These include: Porsche, Ferrari, and Maseratti. Last weekend, they unveiled a new Porsche SUV. The cermony took place almost right under my window, so that hanging the camera out got me these pix, try not to get too excited, I did not meet the gilded performers.

Golden Week next week!

2008-09-26T04:24:00.000-07:00

October 1 is National Day, which is like Independance Day for Americans, celebrating the founding of the People's Republic of China. There seems to be a good chance that we will all be celebrating this one day (j/k-, though possible). Almost the entire country gets a whole week off, and there is an incredible amount of travelling. I expect it to be packed here in Hangzhou, considering its popularity as a tourist destination. My roommate has taken a 30hour train to the tropical climes of the most southern provinces, which makes me jealous, as it looks like paradise, but I have been so busy learning Chinese that I will welcome some time to use for drawing and exploring Hangzhou more. I had not realized that China's Great Canal runs through here, and I look forward to visiting the museum dedicated to it. I think I will also try to make a couple shorter trips, possibly to Suzhou or Nanjing- any recommendations?

Roberta Smith

2008-09-26T04:18:00.001-07:00

Art critic from NYT has article, very much echoes my sentiments about the gimicky abundance of everyday-object-art (to be polite).
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/26/arts/design/26live.html
"Lack of utility and rarefied exquisiteness are seen as the shortest paths to being art. Astounding feats of technical skill result, often accompanied by a weakness for all things trompe l’oeil.
This is not so much art or craft as acrobatics."

Luke Homitsky

2008-09-25T00:22:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, the 16th was Luke's performance at the Grand Theater Gallery, Shanghai. It was a great location, right nextdoor to Shanghai Art Museum, and the opening was very well attended. Luke had judged the main exhibition of younger artists and so presented an award at the ceremony (which was very elaborate, sponsored by the clothing designer Mark Fairwhale). Titled "M-Forever," the exhibition's theme was human life adapting to an aquatic world in the future. Luke adapted his endurance painting accordingly:

Shanghai MOCA, saving the best for last

2008-09-24T23:24:00.000-07:00

Of all the artwork I saw during my weekend in Shanghai, these bonsais were my favorites. They have been cultivated by the artist Shen Shaomin. As you can see, they are a laborious "Living Installation." Each individual bonsai is accompanied by an painstakingly detailed book about the creation and maintence of the tree. When a collector purchases the plant/book pair, he/she has the choice of whether to continue with the shaping, or let it return to growing freely. I really think that these artworks display a beautiful balance of brutality and peace.

Shanghai MOCA: Butterfly Dream

2008-09-23T07:01:00.000-07:00

Chen Shaohua: "Ink Video"

Shanghai MOCA

2008-09-23T06:44:00.000-07:00

Xu Zhongmin's "Cloud No.1"

Shanghai MOCA: Xu Bing

2008-09-22T08:31:00.000-07:00

I know some of you will recognize the name Xu Bing, a Chinese artist who is probably best known for
""A Case Study of Transference," consisting of a performance by two live breeding
pigs. The pigs engage in the performance in an enclosed exhibition area filled
with books with texts in various languages. Unreadable characters are printed
to cover the bodies of the two pigs. The text on the male pig resembles written
English, while the text on the female pig resembles Chinese. During the
performance, the two animals mate inside the exhibition area.
When the performance is staged with live animals, the artist goes to great
pains to select pigs that will be prepared to mate on cue. It has been performed
both inside and outdoors. Xu Bing has exhibited documentation of the
performances as photography, video, and installation pieces at various galleries
around the world."- from http://asuartmuseum.asu.edu/xubing/2006_Catalog.pdf
visit that site for more great info and pics from Xu Bing.
Here in Shanghai MOCA, Bing has created another language mediating artwork, "Book From the Ground," with a sort of board of pictogram-like words with words and symbols separating two computers where users can "chat" through text, which the computer then assimilates into the language and translates if recognized. From my own personal experience creating interactive work that relies on the viewer, I have encountered a lot of difficulties getting viewers to take part, and really operate the interface smoothly, and I think this was a sort of sticking point here, which may or may not have been part of his intention. I doubt it, but the piece was still effective as the language on the board demonstrated what seems to have been already achieved... (?)

Strange multi-media sculpture by Lee Tzu-Hsun
Traditional vs modern issues, current architecture vs. mysticized landscape again showing up in paintings by Wang Mingxian

Interlude

2008-09-22T08:18:00.000-07:00

While I am trying to figure out how to upload video on here, I would like to introduce the world to the new drink I have invented. It is called the Bloody Mao-ry. Unfortunately the color is not as red as it should be. It consists of: a unique melange of juices that I have only encountered here, including (from what I can see in the picture on the bottle) tomatoes, strawberries, and one more as-yet unidentified red fruit. Now, I don't like wussie drinks so its gotta be doctored up with something, and I use the deliciously strange liquor recommended to me by the old lady at the corner store that tastes quite like alcoholic soy sauce. My roommate reckons its meant for cooking. Anyway, could be an aquired taste. Remember, you heard about it here first.

Shanghai MOCA: Butterfly Dream

2008-09-22T05:05:00.000-07:00

I believe this is Wang Mai's "Exploitation of Works of Nature"- if anyone notices any mistakes in my attributions please let me know, I was writing info down on such a small piece of paper, that I hope I dont get artists/titles mixed up.

This is more traditional in the sense that it is representational, but Cao Jingping's "Sunset, The old summer palace in spring," is undeniably beautiful.
detail from above.
Liang Binbin's "Divorce self from reality and act blindly," exemplifies what I noticed as a strong interest of the Chinese artists in using stainless steel. How do you guys feel about the way it has been hung? It was nice that such a huge, heavy object was slightly swaying in the gallery, but it still seemed as though it was not planned as well as the rest of the piece...

Shanghai MOCA: Butterfly Dream

2008-09-21T02:36:00.000-07:00

Turn to Shanghai MOCA. Less people, more light, less quantity, more quality, and NO SUPERFLUOUS LABELS EXPLAINING TENUOUS CONNECTIONS TO AN OVERARCHING THEME THAT IS ALREADY CLICHE. And all of the artists were Chinese, which I thought was impressive, proving that China is perfectly capable of producing a well-rounded exhibition of internationally viable contemporary work. After Luke introduced me to a book about Chinese performance art by Thomas Berghuis (Performance Art in China, (Hong Kong: Timezone 8, December, 2006)), I am more familiar with the constraints of working here... I was surprised to read about how much provacative art had sort of eluded the authorities (then again- this is a benefit of performance- as an event, the its temporal nature means that it can exist without tangible form- its mighty difficult to destroy things that are not physically bound). Anyway, the exhibition lacked the juicy provocation of some western exhibitions, but I actually found this refreshing. No shock-art, and perhaps less "loaded" imagery. Personally, I get bored with the same tired sexual references (It seems to be those that are most overused/"shocking").
These works are by Jeff Da Yu Shi, who really received a lot of space (assuming I have got the right artist for all these images under this post), and worked in various media. The sculptures seem to be sort of anime-Boccioni.

Shanghai Biennale! WRAP-UP

2008-09-20T02:51:00.000-07:00

So as you may have garnered from some of my sharper comments, the Biennale was... ok. It certainly could have been better, but, hey, Shanghai's contemporary art scene is definitely still in its fledgling stages, and these things world wide have a tendency to get over-curated and bull-shittified. Besides that, there was so much there, that there had to be something to satisfy you. Tomorrow I will begin posting some pictures and video (yes, exciting, right!?) from the exhibition right next door at the Shanghai MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art), which at least I thought was much much BETTER!!! For now, I am off to enjoy the Hangzhou nightlife as I am a young and fresh 30 year old male (meaning its my b-day). Dunno if I'll be taking the camera, but if the stories are repeatable, find them here... same time same place! CYA

Shanghai Biennale!

2008-09-20T01:57:00.000-07:00

These beautiful photos by Korean Kim Sangril were accompanied by some ridiculous drivel about 1 dimensional identity. Then again, perhaps my identity is simply too multi-dimensional to understand.

digital painting by Chen Yun (China)
Wish I had gotten the name on this artist, but the series' title, which I really liked, and perhaps expresses some of the exhibitions' theme most poignantly: "Don't Get Left Behind"

Shanghai Biennale!

2008-09-20T01:35:00.000-07:00

Paintings "Missing," and "Traveler," by Liu Ye
The Chinese museum-goers are huge fans of posing in front of paintings, often rubbing right up against them. Security guards were not a noticeable presence.
This hideous thing should bang the migration theme into your head one way or another- movement one way or another. The masses enjoyed getting inside (there was a line, like people expected it to actually take off I think). A fun waste of money I guess. Wonder if there's a collector for it lined up after the exhibition ends. I would pay my entry fee again to see it compacted.

Shangai Biennale!

2008-09-18T22:12:00.004-07:00

I have so many pictures from Shanghai, that it will probably take 2-3 days for me to post them all. But before I leave you today, I wanted to introduce you to my friend Andre, from Moscow. We are not only practising Chinese together, living on the same floor, solving the international crisis surrounding Georgia, and reviewing great old reggae movies together (see the Rockers) but I think we have also found the solution to the problem gripping America right now. Surely you have all now heard about the court case attempting to ban trouser sagging?! What, no, you say? Well, Andre here (who wants to be a male model for some extra cash, and has the looks and style to make it happen) could have defused the whole debacle before the thing ever even hit the courts- the answer (I feel the anticipation)- FAKE SAG PANTS!!!!!! File under things you never needed to know existed if you dare, but chances are they'll soon be catching on like...uh.. like all those other great Russian styles we know and love Stateside yippee!

Shanghai Biennale!

2008-09-18T22:12:00.003-07:00

And who might make an appearnce but the old faithful Lawrence Wiener! Gotta love how on the title card it reads the title, then "language and materials referred to" for media, and naturally the dimensions are variable.

The installation below is by Chinese artist Wang Qingson. Believe it or not they are all made of copper, and cleverly painted Oldenburg-style! Of course the title card had to point out some cliched notions of population movement blahblahblah. I would have rather had some background on the artist, something that was sorely missing from these exhibitions that are supposedly trying to introduce the world to Chinese artists.

Shanghai Biennale: Yue Minjun

2008-09-18T22:12:00.002-07:00

"Colorful Running Dinosaurs" is the title for this monstrosity (pun intended) of an installation by internationally renowned Chinese artist Yue Minjun. Minjun is arguably the best known and most annoying of the recently mega-minted contemporary Chinese artists. Minjun, from Beijing, was one of the few recognizable names (for a foreigner) in the Biennale, and of course, his trademark grinning man's face was being employed as usual. I have to say that his installation was amazing. My photographs really do it no justice. As you came up the stairs and turned into a narrow hall, you were faced with human-headed, life size dinosaurs, ranging from inches to dozens of feet long. The scale of the larger models was incredible, they completely blocked the ones behind from view, so it was surprising that they kept going and going and going- there were very many of even the largest ones. The scale was very effective and combined with the wild colorings inspired wonder and amusement in everyone, I think. I kept trying to figure out how they had gotten them in there- obviously in parts, but they were seemless, leading me to believe that they must have been painted on site. That must have been quite a task in the narrow hallway.

Shanghai Biennale!

2008-09-18T22:12:00.001-07:00

So! I got my camera working again, thank goodness. Dang technological gadgets! Shanghai Biennale was held in the Shanghai Art Museum, right in the middle of town, in People's Square. It took a little while to get in, but there was really a lot to see once inside (maybe too much). Unlike some of the other exhibitions going on, the Biennale featured both Chinese and foreign artists. There was a general theme that was supposed to comment on Shanghai's recent, remarkable development and population growth (the Chinese consider it an immigrant city- though the immigrants are largely from rural areas of China itself). Often the overwrought intellectualizing on the information cards provided tenuous connections that I would rather call BULLSHIT! I hate it when every artwork gets a paragraph of explanation.. we get to know the curators very well this way, though.
Outside the Shanghai Art Museum, I was pleased to see this giant hyperbolic cone!!!!

Inside the cones various levels were living pidgeons!
This is part of an installation that I liked by Tiong Ang (Indonesia/Netherlands) called "Models for (the) People." It included two large drawings of horse's asses, large text reading, "BUY AFRICAN GOODS" (or somesuch), the small sculpture pictured above left, another podium supporting a black leather riding boot, and the video, still-shot below. I thought it addressed the interesting economic relationships between China and Africa, while maintaining some tongue-in-cheek satire with the horses' asses theme which pointed to the inevitable imperialism of it all. Or go figure yourself...

Posts Pending

2008-09-17T21:08:00.000-07:00

Well, I am back in Hangzhou after a great stay in Shanghai with my friend Luke. Of course after taking a complete memory card of pictures, now I cannot get my camera to work, so I will have to delay posting them until I can get that problem sorted out. My chinese is improving. In other news they are forcing us to take an elective Wushu course (which is basically Tai-chi with a fan). I am terrible at it. I have never been good at memorizing and synch-ing dance moves for some reason. I feel like they want me to perform like a monkey or something. I wish it interested me but it just doesn't and I feel like I am wasting my time- I would much prefer to be studying the language or working on my art!! (That's what I came here for right!?). Apparently all us newbies must give some kind of performance in the stadium in December. Its bullshit. Ok now those feelings are off my chest, I should probably try to remain more positive about it- since I do not know what will happen if I simply skip out on the classes. In other news I am trying to recover from some kind of nasty food poisoning that began to affect me as soon as we got to Shanghai. Allways have some kind of toilet tissue with you in China, or at least, as Luke tells me, wear socks. This is not to mention that it is a very good idea to carry disinfectant wipes since most bathrooms here fail to supply any soap. So while I will laud the Chinese on the modernity of their infrastrcuture, which I beginning to see as more advanced than our own, they have loads of room to improve general hygeine. Stomach problems= lost productivity in the end, right?

Shanghai Biennale

2008-09-11T05:47:00.000-07:00

Luke Homitsky (below)

So the Shanghai Biennale is in full swing now, it began Tuesday and runs until November 16 at the Shanghai Art Museum. Like all the Biennales and Fairs these days, it will be surrounded by satellite fairs and exhibitions (SHContemporary at the Shanghai Exhibition Center, Shanghai Art Fair, Shanghai MOCA, etc). One of my friends, a fellow Savannah College of Art and Design MFA Painting alum, Luke Homitsky, lives here in China, and will be involved in some performance oriented work Tuesday evening. If you are interested in going, contact me- this weekend I will be able to give you more details as I am meeting him. I'll be posting pics from Shanghai next week so stay tuned!!!

Luke's website is http://lukehomitsky.com

See www.chinavisual.com for reviews/interviews (in chinese)

Here is a review of one of his endurance painting-performances (in chinese):

http://c.chinavisual.com/2008/04/30/c49412/index.shtml

More pics from West Lake

2008-09-09T05:37:00.000-07:00

General Yue Fei's Temple
View inside the temple

Bike Rides

2008-09-09T05:18:00.001-07:00

So first off, I have sorted out my cafeteria problems, and can happily tell everyone that if you come here, you can have a quite delicious meal for less than a dollar and not the 95RMB as I had feared (turns out that was the amount left on my card--- feel free to call me a name here). I thought I would show you what/where I had for lunch today, very tasty. I may have mentioned earlier that I bought a bike and am having just a magnificent time zooming around town in the mad mad Chinese traffic. Hangzhou's West Lake is one of China's biggest indigenous tourist attractions (by that I mean attraction for Chinese). It is really beautiful. There are something like 15 traditional scenic spots around the lake, which has been shaped and landscaped for hundreds of years now, and each position has an interest name like, "Orioles Singing in the Willows," or "Wind Riffled Lotus Leaves," etc. In fact, there are countless beauty spots, pagodas, temples, famuos residences, foot bridges, and more. On the other side of the lake from the city are these awesome pointy, misty hills, and tea plantations. Longjing tea is supposed to be the best in the world and comes from this area. Anyway, here are more sights from my bike rides. I figure I will get some of these touristy things out of the way as I get to know the area, and then later we will get to know the real insider stuff together.
cafeteria
cool doors
lotus flower (sorry it got kind of hidden)- there are men here who carry baskets that dangle from poles strung across their backs containing strange looking green fruit, which I finally recognized today as lotus- see above on the right side)

New Friends

2008-09-08T00:23:00.000-07:00

A couple of days ago, my new roommate, Rodrigo, returned from Beijing. Last night was his birthday, so a bunch of us went for dinner. Everyone seems really nice, and it was a great chance to practise Chinese and try some new foods, like "petrified egg"- yes it is actually very old, green egg that tastes a little sour, but not bad. You eat it with tofu. Its kind of funny, I thought I was ok at eating with chopsticks before, and now I know I am ok- and just ok. I don't know how people eat things like mushy and crumbly tofu with chopsticks, its pretty hard! Anyway, here we have, clockwise, Matt (Oil Painting/ USA/Taiwan/HongKong), Shaddy (Oil Painting/ Dom. Rep.), me (GBR/USA), Andre (Chinese Language/Russia), Rodrigo (Brasil/Chinese language/ Graphic Design), Kaoli (Chinese Painting/ Japan), Jacob (Chinese Painting USA) (Maname (Japan), Micky (Jap.), Fuji (Jap./Printmaking). Everyone is at different levels of Chinese and study. I have to say that is nice being around people from all over, learning to communicate, partly because you have to be kind of nice- and by that I mean that there is not so much sarcasm or sardonic-ness if that makes sense (?). I will probably be the one who ends up breaking away into a-hole-dom. Well, I think I can be polite enough and just tone down the darker pieces of humor for the foreign appetites, right? Anyway I genuinely like everyone I have met so far, which is awesome and maybe a little surprising even.
Well, this isn't the greatest picture, but anyway, we all know how much I hate to sit there while each person takes a pic of the group with their own camera, so I didn't try to take more than one.

Online!

2008-09-08T00:13:00.000-07:00

I'm online! Things are going better! Here are some pictures from around the beautiful campus here!

Currently at internet cafe getting in touch with the West

2008-09-05T21:14:00.000-07:00

Pictures from Hangzhou (pronounced Hahng-joe)

9/6/08 (Sat morning) (post-posted) Just got up. Having instant coffee in my room. Satisfied with the price if not the taste. If you are a junky, you will suffer through it if it gets you the fix you need. Had a bad dream this morning; I hope it was not an omen. I was playing soccer for my old team, but at my current age. After coming in off the bench, my coach yelled something humiliating at me, and I decided to get in his face and completely embarassed him, somewhat threateningly, and then I just walked off. When I returned the game was over and I saw my dad, who I was meant to leave with. I walked up to him and apologized. He just looked at me and said, “Well you know you are not going to be attending classes now.” I woke up in tears, I havent had a dream about Dad since he died a couple years ago. I need to clear my head, luckily I have a lot of time to do it- I have no formal schedule until Wednesday. So I can stumble around for a few more days without any help.

I will have to post all my new pictures Monday/ Tuesday due to time issues sorry!

Settlin in

2008-09-05T20:54:00.000-07:00

(This is post-posted since I did not have internet yet.) Today and yesterday have been difficult. I got up and went and got some things for the room. Yesterday I arrived in Hangzhou, and was really pleased to see how beautiful it really is. After some bungling trying to find the correct building (no signs- at least none in English to indicate where to go for the international school), I got checked into my room. It is simple, but quite nice, with a big window facing the very popular Nanshan Lu (Road). Jump to today, I was told to go downstairs for a meal card and to register for the internet at 10am. The lady at the desk did not seem to be in the mood for sorting things out through hand gestures, so I had to get help from Moshall, who will be my Chinese teacher starting next week. The experience felt embarassing and awkward when you have to rely on other people for help doing simple things, I hope she did not have too much else to do. Anyway, I was told that I could wait in my room and the man would come by either today or Monday to help me connect to the internet! I was hoping it would just involve a password, but maybe he is going to indoctrinate my computer with some kind of restrictive software. I dont know yet, obviously, my computer is not connected yet. Anyway, I figured I would go to the canteen for brunch. Absolutely no English or Pinyin (phonetic Chinese) was available, so I did the whole point randomly to order thing. I still dont understand what happened down there- I do not think they deducted the money from the card, but I am not sure. And I was shocked to see the price- it looked like 95RMB (about $15)- I still think this could not be right (hopefully it was only 9.5). The main part was a deep fried dish, which I almost cracked my teeth on a few times when I hit the bones (why are there bones in a deep fried item?- is it to intentionally hide them?) Anyway, it was tasty enough, unlike the awful brown squares-on-a-stick thing I had yesterday (I presume some kind of bean curd?-see picture) I felt full, it was raining, and I was hoping the internet guy would show, so I decided to take a nap (I've been waking up at 4/5am). When I got up I went and got a coffee, only to be shocked again that it cost upwards of $6!!! I just dont know how, even in the fanciest places, how they can be charging this much for a bad Americano that takes 15-20 minutes to prepare. I resolved immediately to buy myself a kettle and do the coffee myself at home from now on! Honestly I am very worried about the cost of some things here. My budget will be coming from the Chinese government, and I believe it amounts to about 30RMB/day (5 dollars). Some things are very cheap, but lots of restaurants seem extortionately expensive. You can see from some of the pictures how fancy some places are- I don't know how long it has been like this here, but it seems that most Americans' conceptions of China are way off-base. On the other hand, you can still find things cheap if you are careful and dont mind some entering the scruffier joints. In Shanghai, I was eating delicious fried breads from the stand for just 1 or 2 RMB, and I think this is going to be the way to go. For dinner tonight I had a really nice noodle dish at one of the small unassuming places for only 9RMB ($1.50). They were friendlier there, and helped me to order, humoring my terrible, but as-a-necessity-rapidly-improving Chinese.

More Shanghai Pic.s

2008-09-03T03:57:00.000-07:00

Tea Tasting

2008-09-03T03:29:00.000-07:00

I met some English students from Qingdao today, who took me to a proper Chinese tea-tasting, hosted by a "Teamaster." I sampled several including one ginseng variety, one of dried fruit and flowers, one blackened lychee, one jasmine flavored, and one with a flower that "blossoms" in the hot water. It was fascinating to see the expert steeping and pouring, and to have someone translate the Teamaster's extensive knowledge of the teas' uses, traditions (girls should hold the cup differently, and the small pots are full of symbology), and superstitions (we had to touch the tea god- which looked like a frog, but was pointedly not a frog, but a three legged god, with chinese coins built in that hopefully preclude riches for us). The rituals involved were really quite complex, I hope that some of the good luck actually comes through. My new friends really helped me with my Chinese- when I accidentally left out the 0 when I said 205, which left me with a very offensive term, apparently. There are a couple of numbers in China that double as curses! (36 is also bad!!, but how random is 205 with no zero?!)

Shanghai-ed in Shanghai

2008-09-03T02:59:00.000-07:00

There are some setbacks to getting so much attention here in Shanghai. I was very amused this moring as the old lady walking beside me kept looking up and smiling at me, like I was some kind of friendly giant. On the other hand, being immediately identified as a foreigner means that lots of people associate me with money. Unfortunately, even in China the dollar is not going as far as it probably once was. What really pisses me off however, is that in two separate situations now, I have simply been left the check after visiting a restaurant or coffee-shop at the invitation of a local. This last time particularly stung. The very friendly English teacher just wanted to practise his English, I thought. He takes me to a nice restaurant for coffee. I told him I did not want any snacks, and so paid no notice when he ordered some (I presumed for himself). After coffee, he suggested wine to celebrate our new friendship. OK, I thought, until he said, "Thankyou." "Thankyou? I thought you were paying?" Then he says he'll pay for one thing and I the rest. I told him no, we split it. Then when chen comes, he comes up short. WAY short. And theck check is not so small, either- I have never paid $7 for coffee in America, let alone all the other charges. Gonna have to get smarter and maybe a little meaner quickly here.

Shanghai!

2008-09-03T01:36:00.000-07:00

So I got into Shanghai last night at around 930pm local time, it is an amazingly beautiful, awe-inspiring city at night. All of the skyscrapers are lit up in a heady, fantasy like visual feast of changing neon wonder. I will try to get some pictures tonight. In the meantime, I hope you will all enjoy these.

The White Owl Takes Flight

2008-09-03T00:58:00.000-07:00

Sometime last week, I muddled through my move from Savannah, Georgia (utter chaos- most people would not try to pack for the biggest move of their life in the final 2 hours before leaving home, let alone attempt to pack AND move half their apartment into storage between 8 and 10am), and flew home to see my dearest mum, Lesley in Minnesota before coming to China. I left Minneapolis early September 1, stopping in Chicago, then hopped on a Korean airlines flight to Seoul, and finally connected to Shanghai, from where I am currently writing. The total travel time was somewhere in the vicinity of a full day, and Chi-town->Seoul was about 13 hours. I am now 13 hours ahead of everyone on the east coast (I think). I highly recommend Korean Air- they put every other flight Ive ever had (international and otherwise) to shame. I flew economy and still got 2 full meals (one with wine!) snacks, drinks every hour I think, a personal entertainment center (with a large selection of movies, music, games, etc) complimentary socks and toothbrush, and the stewardesses all looked like they had just come out of some perfect asian doll-factory.

These are the printed instructions I received with my in-flight Bibimbap (Korean dish). You add the steamed rice, curry paste, and sesame oil to a very tasty vegetable medley (see below).

This is the seating for the flight, and below is a shot of Seoul from the airport window (wish I could have looked around!).