2008年3月2日星期日

An-Xiong Qiu's Exhibition:Void and Existence




Nostalgia, a word full of imagination. As the theme of the exhibition is some scenes in the village, it gives me a sense of reminiscence.
An-Xiong Qiu is the artist who creates these artworks, who is familiar with different formats of art creation. This time , his exhibition is titled “Void and Existence,” expressing his own view of changes in human society. The exhibition hall is not very big ,with all his paintings and videos on the walls. But the whole environment is calm enough to make you close to the real life in the creations.
The video called “Nostalgia.Snow” is what I like most among all the artworks. It is about 10minutes long and shows a scene of snow . It is not a heavy snow, so when it falls at a moderate speed , it creates a magnificent effect. It reminds me with the childhood, tranquil but full of surprise! I also appreciate his other realistic videos which describe the scenery of the farm. From my point of view, the scene of the villages is always on static state. But his creations are combined with some moving subjects, a drop of water, a bull eating grass or the falling snow. They maybe represent some moving changes in the peaceful world, sometimes they are easily observed but sometimes not. In his paintings , we may have different ways thinking about the relations between human and nature. For two pictures of the similar theme, one is in warm color ,the other is almost in white and black, they tell us different relations between human and nature. The former is more promising and joyful but the latter is more despairing and hopeless.
On the other hand , some of his paintings on canvas seem to be a little difficult for to understand ,even to get some ideas. Actually, this kind of art is always beyond me.
Fortunately, I get some surprising ideas after seeing the exhibition. The most ordinary life also contains the most profound hint.

2008年2月28日星期四

Visit to the Cultural Propaganda Poster Center


It is the first class I take in the New York University Shanghai Center,amazing and full of joy.
It is also the first time I take a close look at the Chiese propaganda posters from 1949 to 1979.
I have to say that period they illustrated really seems to be a little far away from my present life, even my parents I think. Fortunatly ,my parents were never sent to those remoted areas and had not suffered a lot.
Before, I knew the phrase"Da Zi Bao" but I hadn't completely got the profound ideas. When I see the chinese characters with rad lines , circles, I am deeply impressed.The names ,the slogans and the quoted words seem to be much more aggressive than I had thought. It really provides us with a vivant lesson. In my deep heart, I also had my own opinion on Chairman Mao.So I can easily understand why some artists regard him as a glory figure but others not. Yes, Mr Yang has made the point that what he did is not for politic but for art ,for history. Maybe one day, in our junior school , we can arrange the teenagers to take a look at it. All these posters have witnessed the happiness and bitterness of China. Thanks to those anonymous artists ,who contributed a lot to these precious memories and thanks to Mr Yang, who leaves me with a special impression.
In addition to the his favorite collections, those souvenirs are also worthy seeing .It must have taken Yang quite a long time to collect these posters.You can also find some ID cards of Red Guard there ,which have yellowed with age. And some statue of Chairman Mao made of plastic,distinctly enough to confuse it with jade material or stone.
Maybe it is the start of our art journey, meaningful and interesting. I like it because it arise my spirit. Maybe it's time for me to have a talk with my grand parents.
:-)
If you are interested,log on http://www.shanghaipropogandaart.com/ or visit it with your own eyes , Rm.BOC 868 Hua Shan Rd.Shanghai China.
A pity I was not with my camera,what I can post here is the poster of the center