LIFE IS FUN
Laila Laurel, Norwich.
This is a very interesting work for me since it is perfectly matched with my research. When I looked at this work it makes me think of feminism but it seems like many netizens refused to accept this artwork for the sake of physiological conditions. Those kind of comments are not only from the western countries but also appears in China.
We can see from the words said by Laurel that this work is a "concept". I think the idea of this work is good. The problem is she only considers herself as a woman who infringed on personal space in public by man. The public space belongs to everyone.
If we can temporarily ignore the difference between females and males. The idea of "Anti-manspreading" should be a signal for "please respect everyone's personal space in public" not just males to females but also men to men and women to women.
So I think it is better to ignore the gender difference and taking photos with humans sitting in those chairs.
I think this short video is very interesting. I saw the video on Weibo (similar to facebook) for the first time. What happens to the world when kissing is used as currency?
The video, which was posted on the website on April 23, 2016, includes scenes of same-sex human kissing. We know that the United States made some changes to the same-sex marriage law in June 2015, and I think this video partly reflects the approval of the American people for this change
I want to describe something I'm interested in:
Buy Hot pretzels. It's about a woman and a man. When the guy says "a Hot Pretzel Needs Three kisses" the background music and facial expressions of the actors briefly reveal the viewer's confusion or embarrassment. What follows is an embrace, a brief introduction to how the virtual world works. The second scene is about buying a house, and the paying step is done by two girls and the guy is standing around making some comments. I'm not sure what they're trying to say on the subject, $200,000 rent It will take a total of 55 hours, 33 minutes and 33 seconds (just counting for fun). Since it's just a short video, I don't know if any follow-up payments will involve men.
The next scene was a scene I liked, a busking scene and although I really want to complain that I couldn't quite make out what the performer was singing. When kissing becomes money, people will not be so stingy because kissing is an easy thing to give. The next scene that caught my eye was a very generous tip. I won't go into the rest of the footage.
The world depicted in this short film reminds me of Chinese Datong thought, a Utopian idea of ancient Chinese Confucianism. Everyone is polite and responsible and society is full of harmonious. The kissing in this film, which includes moments of the drug dealer and the stealing of others kisses later on in the film. All solved by kissing.
I've discussed this with a friend before, why we can't live a barter life, where everyone gets what they want, where there is no trade-in money. and the relationships seem to get closer without money. A Chinese scholar also said (I can't remember who). He says he believes verbal credibility is important and represents a sense of trust between people. In Modern Society, everything needs the support of contract and law, which represents the alienation of the relationship between people.
The video is not a work of art placed in a public space. But in the Contemporary Society, our unique network age has this virtual online public space, it spread more widely. It also reminded me that the format of my project could be more diverse.
Ronald Rael, Virginia San Fratello.
The first time I saw the video of this design, I noticed the difference between the two sides of the barrier, the site on the left was very messy and the right site was quite clean and tidy.
I checked into the history of Mexico and the United States, and I found that those two countries are closely intertwined together.
The war is one of the reasons that the two countries are connected(not just geography): the United States needs labours and Mexico needs money. So the United States began to provide jobs and hire cheap Mexican labours. When the hard times were over, they sent back the Mexicans.
The gap between the rich and the poor in the country was one of the root causes of illegal immigration and the Mexican government seemed to turn a blind eye by allowing Mexicans to enter the United States to learn advanced technologies and skills. This kink of illegal immigration brings a burden to the United States. Since most illegal immigrants are unskilled, their salaries are not enough for them to support a family and they need to seek help from the United States government, such as medical care or schooling for their children. On top of that, cheap labour is taking some of the job opportunities away from permanent residents.
With this background in mind, I got some ideas of why the wall was put up. But what kind of real problem can a wall solve? Unlike the Great Wall of China, which was built to defend against foreign enemies. The wall is standing in the way of a group of people who yearn for a better life. I think the energy that this work conveys is positive and upbeat. Although it can not make rapid changes to the status in both countries. At the very least, the work made more people realize that the development of nations is mutually reinforcing. Good communication is the key to solving problems.
The reason I chose this piece is that it fits my research perfectly, using ordinary human behavior (playing seesaw) to make positive changes in communities (more communication). I love the idea of this piece, but I searched a lot and I don't understand why it's pink -- is it just because the color is bright?
Anna Mikhailovskaia, Brooklyn, NY
Her project quiet attracted me, she used body language and composition of the picture to draws my attention, her sitting posture is similar to the Japanese girl's style. What makes it interesting to me is that this picture reminds me of a child facing a wall when they did something wrong, and I guess every child has an essential discipline in their childhood. The difference is, in most cases, we're only facing one wall, and in Anna's video, she's facing two walls and one point where three lines meet with a perfect light behind her.
We can see from the words said by Laurel that this work is a "concept". I think the idea of this work is good. The problem is she only considers herself as a woman who infringed on personal space in public by man. The public space belongs to everyone.
From her point of view, it seems that she wants to show the infinite in the finite. In China, there is a saying, which is a kind of common saying, "I am so ashamed that I can not wait to get into a hole. ". Anna's work is a perfect illustration of the Chinese story. Of course, I don't think she meant it that way. But as a Chinese, I think it's interesting that her work reminds me of that.
Going back to Anna's work itself, I wonder the start point of her work is simply to explore space or it may have another meaning? Behind the lights and contrasting dark corners, is there a possibility of escaping from the world, escaping from the world. The contrast between light and dark on the screen is frightening. Or maybe it's an insecurity about the world, an ego with nowhere to go, trying to find another space to hide. But that kind of space is a terrible temptation, as she said "a black hole".
I like the idea of her work, but personally, I don't enjoy how it makes me feel and how it makes me think. Whether it's the wall-facing kids I mentioned earlier or a different way of looking at the world. During my stud, I always wanted to design something that made people feel happy or make them involved in an interesting design.
1967, China
Since the artists that I chose before were basically based on Western culture, this time I chose a Chinese artist. As a Chinese performance artist, I think He Yunchang's ideas are radical, even crazy for me. I mean few people are willing to lay down their lives for something that no one could understand.
He's done a lot of work, and this time I've chosen one that I can live with. honestly, many of He Yunchang's works I can not accept, like, a rib, a meter of democracy. I can only feel pain and fear in his pictures, and I don't want to look at them again, although I have searched some background knowledge, this feeling still remains in my head.
So I'm not going to add related images to those works.
What puzzled me was why he had to torture himself to show his art. Isn't life hard enough?
One of the pieces I chose was called "golden sunshine"-1999, and it was a work of himself covered in golden paint, hanging from a wall, following the sun and Paint the areas golden and try to use a mirror to send sunlight into the high-walled hut of Anning prison in Kunming.
There is something heroic about this work, which by his own power brings a ray of light to the prisoners in the high walls. He completes the communication between the individual and nature through interaction with nature.
Most of his work requires a strong will. I think that's probably why this emaciated man was able to leave his name in the Chinese art world.
His work is out of reach for me and the feeling is naturally shocking and it always hurts to think about it. I can not bear to continue to understand and search for it. However, it is attracting me.
China，Shanxi，1977.
“The Wolf is coming"Is a well-known fable, it's original moral is to warn people not to lie.
But Liu Ruowang has another interpretation of the story. A Samurai stands in the middle of the wolf, brandishing his sword. I've looked at some of the information on the Internet and most of the comments said that it shows people's sense of urgency about a crisis and when it does come, how people are supposed to react. I think it was one of the interpretations of his work.
China has a very famous book called Wolf Totem, mainly about the 1960s and 1970s when an educated youth in Inner-Mongolia grassland queue-jumping and grassland wolves, nomads codependent story. The author devotes much of the book to write the cooperation of Wolves and their social activities. Back to Liu Ruowang's work, a large group of Wolves stand around a Samurai, is it also in a sense to show the cooperative sense of the wolves.
The other thing that's interesting to me is that when the work is placed in different places, the result is very different.
"The wolf is coming"in the city, which makes me think that this group of sculptures is out of place in such an environment. The appearance of a group of wolves with huge jaws in a modem city seems to have a surrealism feeling. Of course, if artists want to show the imminent crisis, such a modern city even appeared in the "Wolf" is also reasonable.
In addition, I noticed that people would ride on wolves or pose for pictures while visiting and viewing the sculpture. I kind of questioning how public art should be interpreted, like his one, in the hope that people will feel threatened. But the fact that people enjoy riding wolves and taking pictures with wolves seems to forget the wolf’s big mouth and sharp fangs.
MU XIN
Chinese，1927 - 2011.
Art Doesn't let you live like a normal person.
I saw a sentence from Mu Xin, which makes me have a little more understanding to the artist before.
Mu Xin is a famous Chinese painter, writer and poet. Who lived in the United States for 20 years.
In this article, he stated at first that he believed that the study of art should be done step by step, learning the basic of art before understanding and choosing the literature that suits ourselves. He believed that literature is "the necessary weapon and medicine for life".
Then he showed that art and literature can help people learn to live and to be happy. I've read a few of Wang Zengqi's little books and he also shows how much fun life can be, in which he writes about his interesting life in a humorous way. As a reader, I often look at it and laugh. This is probably the joy of sharing the text, I can learn from the text of the knowledge of the author's life and his understanding of life.
Going back to the public art field that I'm studying now, how do I share my life through art, so as to stimulate people's thinking a little bit?
"Art must be sacrificed, " the article said.
For this point, I am sceptical, I do not think that ordinary life is necessarily warm and stable or rich, everyone's life can be poetic. Behind the warm and stable life may also be lonely and monotonous. For the normal person, perhaps the artist's life is more colourful than themselves. For me, the difference between an artist and a normal person isn't that obvious, it's just that people are willing to sacrifice for different goals. Some people would be money, fame or status. And some artists are willing to be leaders in the crowd, leading those who are lost in lust and temptation.
I think most of He Yunchang's works have those effect. In fact, when I think about it, his works have a high degree of compatibility with Chinese culture, starting from ancient Chinese fable stories and taking himself as the main character to reproduce a scene in a fable and try to draw public attention to the subject. His works illustrate the saying that "art will not let you live like a normal person".
The article ends with "let your art educate you", which shows that one can not have everything. "Life, fame and wealth -- life is not like that. " Mu Xin insists that artists must make sacrifices and he believed that art could be shared, while fame and wealth could only be used to show off.
As for the ending part, I think it's hard for me to understand what Mu Xin is trying to say, but I can sense in his writing that he loves art and is willing to die for it. As for me, I might continue to learn how to work with art.
China, Shanghai, b,1980.
I know Yang Yongliang's work is during the Mid Autumn Festival holiday, my friends and I decided to NGV to see the exhibition after lunch. Among the exhibitions on that floor, one of his works is placed on an entry or exit wall. Because all I see along the way are some strong colors and some satirical works. So this work successfully captured my attention in black and white format.
I then looked up his works on the Internet, mostly digital Chinese landscape paintings. This format appeals to me very much. When I first saw the work in NGV, I thought he was simply a landscape painting and I suddenly noticed that there seemed to be a small plane flying through the screen, and the clouds seemed to be floating in the sky. I realized it wasn't just a painting. More like a little video.
I stopped in front of the work for a moment and looked at the details of the work. I think that's what's interesting about this work. It looks like a simple landscape painting, but in fact all the mountains are made up of collages of buildings. (I once wanted to paint a picture of the city is mountain-like buildings.) Interspersed with viaducts. Stepping out of the busy urban area of the frame, I noticed that the frame seemed to be surrounded by low, shabby buildings. Looks like it's being torn down and rebuilt. I wonder if this is a sign of endless urban expansion, endless urbanization. The mountains in the distance are also covered with cranes.
What I like about this work is that it is a record of people's daily lives, even of what they see in daily lives and put all these trivial daily life together, such a work is well worth savoring.