This week in our lecture, not only were we able to present our own finding about an artist we are interested in, we also got a chance to listen to other's presentation and broaden our horizon of understanding different arts all around the world. There are two examples of work that impressed me the most as they both leave an impact on the society in different degrees.
The first one is a Hong Kong calligraphy/graffiti artist who is well-known as the king of Kowloon. His work are just Chinese words written in a box-shape like characters telling his own story like where he lives and how he is the king of Kowloon. I am impressed by this art as it tells the history of a person living in Hong Kong over a period. It is unlike any sculpture we found in the museum that only tells a particular time's history but his work also told his family and ascendants' history and most important of all, it is deeply rooted in Hong Kong daily live and is close to Hong Kong citizens that they can reminisce their days in the past as well by just looking at his work.
Another work I liked is the mirror installation in Chicago. it is said that the mirror installation features people in Chicago smiling at each other in the park as fountains and it changes over time to feature more and more people. Apart from that, children and their families can also play in the pool inside the art installation. I think this type of installation is able to engage with the public and I think this is what makes the art successful in that it can provide people a chance to take part in the art as well as having a fun time with art.
All in all, I think what makes an art so good is not only just about its aesthetic value, but how well it is to connect with the general public, engage public's participation and as an entertainment for people to relax in their leisure time.
Thursday, November 26, 2015
Thursday, November 12, 2015
Performance art = crazy?
In this week's lecture, we were taught the concept of performance art. Beforehand, I thought performing art is equal to dancing and drama etc. However, through the lecture, I was able to distinguish the difference between performing art and performance. Performance is different than performing art in that it is not dance, drama or music and it doesn't have a clear storyline like performing art does. Performance is an art type that acts as a criticism to visual art and as a protest against high art and go back to daily life.
From all the examples shown in the lecture, most of the performance art to me was quite extreme and doesn't really have a "beauty" to them unlike paintings genre such as the surrealist or conceptual art. One of the examples left me questioning is about a guy decided to live in a closed environment like a jail for a year and had to capture his every hour's movement. Although it is understood that he wants to convey the message about "back to basic in the daily life", I think he can just propose the idea and write down all the details or just draw the pictures instead of putting himself into experiencing, or simply showing the performance in a day or two. It seems kind of crazy to me cause he is sacrificing his time and it is not a short period of time at all. As such, I think instead of committing to the whole period of time, I think he should live his life and not waste his time so he can create more art pieces as in the end, I think most people only care about the message the art brings but not the whole process.
In short, in my opinion, I think although performance art has its own value, yet, I think artists may just propose their idea and try them out as a demonstration but not committing the whole life or 16 hours sitting there without doing anything.
From all the examples shown in the lecture, most of the performance art to me was quite extreme and doesn't really have a "beauty" to them unlike paintings genre such as the surrealist or conceptual art. One of the examples left me questioning is about a guy decided to live in a closed environment like a jail for a year and had to capture his every hour's movement. Although it is understood that he wants to convey the message about "back to basic in the daily life", I think he can just propose the idea and write down all the details or just draw the pictures instead of putting himself into experiencing, or simply showing the performance in a day or two. It seems kind of crazy to me cause he is sacrificing his time and it is not a short period of time at all. As such, I think instead of committing to the whole period of time, I think he should live his life and not waste his time so he can create more art pieces as in the end, I think most people only care about the message the art brings but not the whole process.
In short, in my opinion, I think although performance art has its own value, yet, I think artists may just propose their idea and try them out as a demonstration but not committing the whole life or 16 hours sitting there without doing anything.
Thursday, November 5, 2015
can the theme be conveyed?
A luxury we cannot afford, a contemporary art exhibition in Quarray Bay is said to present the different luxury Singaporean in different time period such as the 1950s and 60s the o 2000s desires. The curator first introduced to us the exhibition can be viewed in 4 main categories which are, public housing, censorship, the relationship between Hong Kong and Singapore and speculative future. Yet, while the artwork is very informative and artistic in a contemporary sense, I find the artwork speaks more of the Singaporean life than the luxury they are aiming for in different time period and does not really echo with all the 4 categories.
While some of the artwork really caught my eye and can convey some of the theme of the exhibition, like The Epic Poem of Malaya Project by Ho Tzu Nyen, puzzles of the pictures are distributed to the visitors and asked them to come back to complete the work showing a group of students listening to the man stating his design of a new state and decolonized Malaysia. I find this work not only can invites public participation, it also works well with the theme of the luxury of Singaporean in the early period and is about their speculative future. Or the artwork called After the Fire and Void Deck,showcases the public housing condition of Singapore and Deleted scene echoes with the theme of censorship, yet, other artworks in the exhibition doesn't really go with the same themes and the four categories to me.
Other artwork I find them not really relating to the topic or category of the exhibition, I find them can be viewed more as "the Singaporean life". For example, the carpets placed in front of the entrances conveys more idea about the Singaporean life than "the luxury they are looking for" or any aspect of the four categories mention. Other than that, the promotion video encouraging people to migrate to Singapore also doesn't seem to match with the theme and any part of the four categories but simply about the life of Singaporean.
As such, although each artwork encompasses so much information about Singapore, I find the topic or title can be changed as not all of the artwork can quite echo with the topic as discussed.
While some of the artwork really caught my eye and can convey some of the theme of the exhibition, like The Epic Poem of Malaya Project by Ho Tzu Nyen, puzzles of the pictures are distributed to the visitors and asked them to come back to complete the work showing a group of students listening to the man stating his design of a new state and decolonized Malaysia. I find this work not only can invites public participation, it also works well with the theme of the luxury of Singaporean in the early period and is about their speculative future. Or the artwork called After the Fire and Void Deck,showcases the public housing condition of Singapore and Deleted scene echoes with the theme of censorship, yet, other artworks in the exhibition doesn't really go with the same themes and the four categories to me.
Other artwork I find them not really relating to the topic or category of the exhibition, I find them can be viewed more as "the Singaporean life". For example, the carpets placed in front of the entrances conveys more idea about the Singaporean life than "the luxury they are looking for" or any aspect of the four categories mention. Other than that, the promotion video encouraging people to migrate to Singapore also doesn't seem to match with the theme and any part of the four categories but simply about the life of Singaporean.
As such, although each artwork encompasses so much information about Singapore, I find the topic or title can be changed as not all of the artwork can quite echo with the topic as discussed.
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