Clamour can melt gold. a contemporary art exhibition displayed in Edouard Malingue Gallery features several artists' artistic interpretation of gold. From literal presentation of gold, the commodification of gold to the political view or the backstory of gold, this exhibition made me realize Gold, is not just a color or a property, it can also represent different things in different perspective.
For this time, since the guide from the exhibition was explaining the artworks' meaning to all of us, though it gives us less time and freedom to interpret the artworks by ourselves, it helped us to understand what the artists were trying to do with their work. One of the artwork i really liked is a work from He XiangYu - "200g gold, 62g protein', an egg carton painted in gold and with only one egg on the side. Without the guide's explanation, i would have no idea what this artwork is trying to say, but after her explanation, i find it so meaningful and it was one of my favorite in the exhibition. She said it was a symbol of the one child policy in China that all the funds (gold in the carton) go and support the egg to cultivate. I like this artwork as it is so simple and it's something we see in everday's lives but it is embedded with so many symbolic meaning and the meaning makes perfect sense to what is presented.
One thing i learned from this exhibition is how the work is placed can affect meaning. First, for artwork placed opposite to each other can create meaning like the work from Alfredo Jaar. He shows the relationship of a static picture of gold mining and a live video of gold mining. This placement of artwork alone can create meaning of how we see things. Also, His Work 'Gold in the morning' which have two lightboxes with color further shows us how space/ presentation of artwork can provoke different thoughts and meaning and how we interpret them. At first, when we just walk in, we would only see the blocked image showing a far angle of people working in the mine. But when we get closer and trying to peek over the blocked image, we see a closed up of some people climbing uphill and the distance is actually much closer. What this work made me think is that how the artist trying to represent an artwork may not be the truth to the whole truth and space can really shape different interpretation. Just like Gold, it may only mean the commodity we buy in jewelry shop, but if we take a different angle to explore more about that, it can mean so much more like the values in different people.
Monday, September 28, 2015
Saturday, September 19, 2015
The impression on Impressionism
Before coming to the class this week, i had no clear understanding of the definition of impressionism. What i had in mind was only a wrong concept that the work of Van Gogh are the epitome of impressionism.
Through viewing different paintings and learning the the characteristic of impressionism, i find impressionism is one of my favorite types of art among the others we have learned in class. I was amazed how the painters can illustrate the movement and the lighting of the river so vividly just by putting different contrast and emphasize on the use on light and color. Although the work of impressionsim doesn't show nay clear detail and appears mostly like different patches of color in a picture,i still find this type of art fascinating as it shapes the way we see the world. For example, if the focus is the river, the trees and people would not have clear detail just like how nowadays when we want to focus on a near object and take a picture to show the focus is the object but not others, the type of picture captured would be having the object in focus while the other background are in blur.
Being amazed by impressionism, i searched for a few more pictures online to appreciate the art. Below is an example i like:
This is an artwork i found online on a blog about impressionism in Paris. The site mentioned Paris was the birthplace of impressionism. What i like about this picture is about the whole color combination of it and how it really illustrates the life in Paris. Impressionism details were used here: doesn't have clear outline or detail, e.g. the people, focus on the light/water/fog/, emphasize on the brush work technique etc. they are all shown in this picture. Using such technique leaves me an impression on a rainy day in Paris and i instantly share a feeling of how wet the floor is just by the element the artist used to create such beautiful picture.
In short, i am really glad to know more about impressionism and it made me appreciate more about these type of artwork in greater detail.
Through viewing different paintings and learning the the characteristic of impressionism, i find impressionism is one of my favorite types of art among the others we have learned in class. I was amazed how the painters can illustrate the movement and the lighting of the river so vividly just by putting different contrast and emphasize on the use on light and color. Although the work of impressionsim doesn't show nay clear detail and appears mostly like different patches of color in a picture,i still find this type of art fascinating as it shapes the way we see the world. For example, if the focus is the river, the trees and people would not have clear detail just like how nowadays when we want to focus on a near object and take a picture to show the focus is the object but not others, the type of picture captured would be having the object in focus while the other background are in blur.
Being amazed by impressionism, i searched for a few more pictures online to appreciate the art. Below is an example i like:
This is an artwork i found online on a blog about impressionism in Paris. The site mentioned Paris was the birthplace of impressionism. What i like about this picture is about the whole color combination of it and how it really illustrates the life in Paris. Impressionism details were used here: doesn't have clear outline or detail, e.g. the people, focus on the light/water/fog/, emphasize on the brush work technique etc. they are all shown in this picture. Using such technique leaves me an impression on a rainy day in Paris and i instantly share a feeling of how wet the floor is just by the element the artist used to create such beautiful picture.
In short, i am really glad to know more about impressionism and it made me appreciate more about these type of artwork in greater detail.
Friday, September 11, 2015
ONE - Walking in the Dreams
Having my first experience to truly have a look on modern contemporary art and really think about it made me possess a whole new perspective on contemporary art. I used to not understand those art installation we see on the street or in some exhibition as they are often big and not beautiful like the drawings in the 18th century that may tell you about a person or some background information about that period and so i often just walk past them without thinking. Recently, i had the opportunity to visit an exhibition in the Hong Kong Heritage Museum called Walking in the Dreams which features various contemporary art installation revolving around the topic - dreams.
I always was that kind of people who would not look at the introduction of an exhibition before we go in. Yet, our teacher from the class spent some time to discuss the introduction with us before we began our visit. This not only made me understand what the exhibition is about, it also made me think about what dreams mean to us. Dreams could be the door to subconscious, dreams may be the door to access the real you and thus dreams, the topic of the exhibition, may be something that reveals who the artists truly are or where they want to go. This thinking process and discussion about the introduction made me wonder what each artist 'dreams' would be.
A few of the installations really captivated my mind. One of them is called 'Don't blame the Moon'. Before reading the caption, i tried to understand the art work by myself. What i saw was a pile of old toys on the floor surrounded by a toy train track. On the wall there is a video projection featuring clips on different children saying what they want to be when they grow up. My initial thought about this art is: the artist may want to express that sometimes you have to insist on your childhood dreams and just like the children in the video saying what they want to be when they grow up, it shouldn't be supressed when you grow up and when the culture tells you what a good job is like in Hong Kong, most people would think being a business worker or a lawyer is the best. I thought the artist wanted to show how we should just believe in our dreams like she became an artist. After having my own interpretation, i looked at the caption and realized the symbol of different children from different culture/ethnicity are standing in front of a different culture background place and somehow it made a stronger point about not being afraid of established norms or culture. It made me understand more about the artwork and think more deeply about what the message the artist wants to convey. With the help of the teacher, i also was able to understand more. As the title have the word Moon, not only each clip is wiped out in a moon shape, it also means pureness and how the old toys' symbol reflects, just like the moon's reflection, is reflected in the video. This made me understand how to decode an artwork, thinking about how the message relates to me and i surely had fun working out its message just like a detective.
The whole experience of visiting the museum made me more appreciative and think about the art installations. Unlike paintings, some contemporary art allows you to go inside and experience and find out the message by yourself. I think this special characteristic is what made contemporary art so interesting, that it allows you to think and allows you to relate.
I always was that kind of people who would not look at the introduction of an exhibition before we go in. Yet, our teacher from the class spent some time to discuss the introduction with us before we began our visit. This not only made me understand what the exhibition is about, it also made me think about what dreams mean to us. Dreams could be the door to subconscious, dreams may be the door to access the real you and thus dreams, the topic of the exhibition, may be something that reveals who the artists truly are or where they want to go. This thinking process and discussion about the introduction made me wonder what each artist 'dreams' would be.
A few of the installations really captivated my mind. One of them is called 'Don't blame the Moon'. Before reading the caption, i tried to understand the art work by myself. What i saw was a pile of old toys on the floor surrounded by a toy train track. On the wall there is a video projection featuring clips on different children saying what they want to be when they grow up. My initial thought about this art is: the artist may want to express that sometimes you have to insist on your childhood dreams and just like the children in the video saying what they want to be when they grow up, it shouldn't be supressed when you grow up and when the culture tells you what a good job is like in Hong Kong, most people would think being a business worker or a lawyer is the best. I thought the artist wanted to show how we should just believe in our dreams like she became an artist. After having my own interpretation, i looked at the caption and realized the symbol of different children from different culture/ethnicity are standing in front of a different culture background place and somehow it made a stronger point about not being afraid of established norms or culture. It made me understand more about the artwork and think more deeply about what the message the artist wants to convey. With the help of the teacher, i also was able to understand more. As the title have the word Moon, not only each clip is wiped out in a moon shape, it also means pureness and how the old toys' symbol reflects, just like the moon's reflection, is reflected in the video. This made me understand how to decode an artwork, thinking about how the message relates to me and i surely had fun working out its message just like a detective.
The whole experience of visiting the museum made me more appreciative and think about the art installations. Unlike paintings, some contemporary art allows you to go inside and experience and find out the message by yourself. I think this special characteristic is what made contemporary art so interesting, that it allows you to think and allows you to relate.
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