Visit 5 -Asian Hotel Art Fair

I think that the visit is marvelous! When I knew that the fair was held in a hotel, I was wonder why it was not held in the museum which can provide an better environment and suitable place to display artwork. However, the art fair held in a 5-star hotel was very great as well. It is a very special experience! 

The art fair displayed countless different types of artworks, including paintings, figures and so on. The artworks below are which I liked the most.

  

The above artwork is in fact not a figure but a painting! When I first saw it, I even cannot believe it! It seems like there is really a towel and a scissors. The paintings is extremely realistic as it really seems like to be 3-D. When I looked the artwork in detail, I found that it is the shadow, the rustiness on the scissors made the artwork so realistic.

The above artwork is a figure. I think these two old men are very cute. Besides, they did not wear any trousers and were in fact placed beside the bathtub. It seems that the font one is in fact bathing while the other one has just removed his trousers and ready to bath. It reminds me that whether the artwork itself is beautiful is important, but where it place is essential as well. If they are matched, seems like the artwork above, it will give a better impression or add a bonus marks.

The artwork above is a figure connected with electric. These artwork is very detailed. If we look it in detail, we can find that even the houses are in different size and layers. Every 30 seconds, the window of the house will be lighted up and star sill be lighted after 30 seconds.  Later, the light of all the star and the window will be switched off. This makes a cycle. Light and electric can be one of the media in the artwork and this can make the artwork more attractive and capture the audience's attention more easier than artwork like paintings.

The above artwork has a story behind in fact. According to the staff's introduction, when the artist was still small, his grandma bought him a bird, just like the artwork. However, later, his grandma died and the bird was taken care by the artist. The artist miss his grandma a lot and therefore made the bird like the right artwork. Later he think that one bird is too lonely, just like when he was small, and therefore he made the left artwork.

  

The above artwork make use of the newspaper. His idea is to capture all the news that he impressed the most over those years. Some news were happy to him, then he drawn his face with a happy smile on it. If some news were unhappy to him, like illnesses were broken out, then he drawn a sad face on it. The artist form this habit for over ten years and he made them a collection. I think this artwork is very impressed to me because I think that the importance of artwork is to share the artist's feeling with the audience and this artist can do it! He expressed his feelings towards different things happened in the world directly to the audience. It's a great artwork.

The above artwork is called Self-defense. This is the artwork that I loved the most. It is a 3D artwork showing a girl that is holding her legs. The girl is in the right corner of the artwork and there is nothing else. By the 3D shadows, it seems that the girl is so upset and therefore, she hide herself and protect herself. What make the artwork most special to me is that it is not a painting in fact. The girl is showed by the shadows which are actually made by some 3D materials that I have never seen to be the materials of an artworks. Besides, the 3D materials made me feel that the nude girl is full of scar and therefore she need to protect herself. No one can approach her as it seems that anyone approaches her will be hurt by the thorn on her body as I think the 3D materials seems to be those thorn that hurt her and people around her.
In fact, the 3D materials help the artwork a lot to become more powerful to express what the artist want to --- self defense. It reminds me that the choice of materials are of utmost important for artworks as it will directly affect the whole picture and the feelings that give the audience. Strong feeling of being hurt and desire for protection, I love this artwork the most!

In conclusion, I think this experience was so great, as I can see many different kinds of the artworks that are made from artists that are from all over the world. And I think I am so lucky that I can even have a chance to chat with the artist and staff. Through exchanging ideas, the messages of the artwork can be passed to others. Through the artwork, we can read the artist's mind. It's so great!

Visit 4 - Osage Gallery

On the same day, 26 January, I also visited the Osage Gallery. The theme was not sound again but what I am familiar with, paintings.

The paintings below are the most impressed artwork for me. It seems that the artist used the same way to paint these artworks -- making up from many similar shapes. Besides, the artist also use not more than 10 different color, and the color are in contrast. These make the paintings so attractive and beautiful. I really love this kinds of artwork so much!

The artist displayed five paintings which are in the same style. I am not sure about the theme, but the paintings gave me the perception that the theme is flower and tree. I love this kinds of paintings as it leaves space for people to think about it and the artist won't limit the imagination of the audience.

Besides, I also think that the artwork below are impressive. In fact, I think that the drawing of facial features, hands and legs are the most difficult to be beautiful and realistic. However, the hands with gloves drawn by the artist are so beautiful and realistic. Besides, it gave me the feeling that these hands are female's hands as they are so soft, especially the red one. Once I come across gloves, I will think of housework which is duty and hard work. However, this time, I never think of housework. Therefore, I think that the paintings are more likely to be three hands with color, but not gloves.

Visit 3 - Around Sound Festival

I have visited the Around Sound Festival on 26 January. It is an new experience to me as artwork that I usually touched are paintings, photographs and so on. Sound performance with dance is interesting and good!

When we entered the pier, we immediately hear some sound which is generated by the stuffs below.

They are made of different materials like cables, electronic. Frankly, I just think that the sound generated by all these together at the same time are so noisy. Despite this, I also think that it is so creative to create these.

The first performance is made by continuing nailing nails on the wood. I found that Akio Suzuki made use of different nails, and he nailed them on the wood with different level of force. After all the nailing for a very long time, Hiromi came out and started dancing while the man generated the sound by the nails. Originally, I think that it is quite boring to watch Akio Suzuki nailed the wood, however, Hiromi's dance together with the sound made by Akio Suzuki made the performance more interesting and meaningful.

Although I am not sure about the theme of the performance, it seems that I experience how a girl strive to work and enjoy life under such a great pressure. It is because at the beginning when Akio Suzuki was still nailing, Hiromi did not dance, rather she just sat down and lie down, and it seems that a girl did not want to do anything. However, later she dance with the sound and that seems that she has already find a way to live with the pressure. The performance made people full of strengthen!

The second performance was made use of water and bottles. They poured water into bottles and also poured water in the bottles on the ground. Some bottles were full of water and on the other hands, there were also some bottles that got little. This generated different sound and it is very interesting.

On the other hands, I think the visit was held at the Kwun Tong pier is quite a good idea. It is because it is not a crowded place, so there are no noise around. With the pleasant environment and sea wind, it is a good place to enjoy the sound performance, although the sea wind make me feel headache! HAHA!

Visit 2 - Andy Warhol 15 Minutes Eternal

I have visited the Andy Warhol 15 Minutes Eternal on 27th March, 2013 at the Hong Kong Museum of Art. It was organized by Andy Warhol Museum in collaboration with the Hong Kong Museum of Art

The exhibition displayed over 400 pieces of photographs, film production, sculptures and large-format paintings, as well as rarely seen selected archival materials. It also displayed a variety of personal items that he collected during his visit to Hong Kong in 1982.

The artwork of Warhol can be divided into four period - Life in New York in 1950s, The Factory Years in 1960s, Exposures and Fame in 1970s and the Memento Mori in 1980s. The artwork of The Factory Year impressed me the most. In this period, he turned from successful illustrator to pop culture material for subject matter. I think it is really creative and interesting. There are two artwork impressed me a lot!

The Campbell's Soup Can series.

More than dozens of Campbell's Soup Can with the same size and same color are displayed in parallel. In fact, before I visit the Andy Warhol Exhibition, I have a perception that the theme of most artworks are scenery, religious, self-portrait, but no one will make these "meaningless" stuffs. I am wondering what is the meaning to display countless cans with same color and style. However, when I saw those cans with the great quantity but the same style and color, I was shocked and amazed. How marvelous it is!

                             

 Marilyn Monroe

Another famous artwork - Marilyn Monroe. He was inspired by another artist Fauves to use non-representational color and representational form to convey different sensations. Therefore, he applied the idea to the portrait of Marilyn Monroe above, using the controls to adjust the colors.  When I am doing research on this artwork, I find a link http://www.webexhibits.org/colorart/marilyns.html which enables me to adjust different color on the artwork Marilyn Monroe. This makes me feel interest on adjusting color. When different non-representational color are combined in an artwork, color are match. It is so funny.
The exhibition also provide us a chance to take a photo with this color mode and we can also adjust color by ourselves.

 "Pop art is for everyone." This is what Warhol said before. From the theme of his artwork, those common stuffs that everyone knows, he infused a totally different angel of see artwork into me.
If pop art is for everyone, I think that this exhibition is an eternal for Andy Warhol as his attitude and thought towards artwork has changed my perception.

Transition by Allan Linder

"Transitions" by Allan Linder

"Allan Linder created Transitions as an experiment to explore an idea over a period of ten years." stated by the artist's statement. The painting is actually composed of sixty smaller canvases, and then assembled aesthetically into smaller groups of six. Those groups of six canvases are then joined together to form the whole.

I think the painting is very interesting. I am impressed by the sixty paintings with same size but different themes. Once I know that the artwork was spent ten years to complete, it makes me introspect that what happens to someone in a ten year span? Yes, all these like relationship, depression, the natural world are captured by the artist. Despite the difference of themes, color and style,, it does not give me any compatible feeling. According to Allan Linder, "I used every conceivable technique I knows in the creation of this artwork. I painted one group of six canvases entirely with his fingers, and another with only the tube of paint as a tool, and yet another without touching the canvas directly with his hands." After knowing the ways of painting, the differences make the painting more attractive, interesting and meaningful as it is not only a painting, but "an experiment to explore an idea" as well.

What inspire Allan Linder to draw this painting is fusion. He imagined he was standing in front of an atomic explosion and he keep looking at it. After that, what come to his imagination are atom splitting, the release of energy, the expansion and finally nuclear test. The idea of splitting an atom made him think about the return to his very roots, or fabric of his existence, becoming almost elemental in nature. Therefore, the artwork begins with something like the theory of our own universe. The narrative and graphic style of vivid imagery reaches an apogee somewhere in the middle with a grand finale at the end. By different stages of implied emotions, symbolism, and perspicuous use of color, all the paintings combined incorporate the same energy of the first six, and finally make people intoxicated in the paintings, one by one.

Reference:
http://www.allanlinder.com/
http://www.saatchionline.com/art/Painting-Mixed-Media-Transitions/10184/1387360/view
(“ Fusion. I imagined what it would be like if I could stand in front of an atomic explosion, and witness an atom splitting without closing my eyes.” He said. “If I could be unaffected by the blast and just watch the changes that would occur, I imagined that the tremendous release of energy would make this space electric and grow to great size, and then just as it expands, suddenly it folds in on itself creating this immense vacuum and ultimately an enormous release of energy which we have all seen in those old black and white films from the nuclear tests of the 1950’s.”)

Favourite Artist ---- Allan Linder

Allan Linder is the artist that I am interested in. He is an American artist living in New York, He is a painter, sculptor, illustrator and writer. He uses a variety of media, but mostly acrylic paint on canvas.

 

 

Allan Linder was born in California in 1966 and has begun drawing and painting when he was five. Linder attended more than eight elementary schools around America when he was young. Between 1979 and 1995 he painted as Allan Shaw (Shaw was the name of his stepfather).In the 1980s, Linder was immersed in the art scene, and the growing rave scene in Los Angeles. In 2000 Linder settled in New York and has exhibited at the “Artists' Gallery” in Chelsea.
Linder has exhibited internationally in São Paulo, Brazil; Hamburg, Germany; Paris, France, and Barcelona, Spain. His work is held in private collections throughout the US and internationally.

The reason I would like to write about this artist is that his artwork is so impressed by me. In fact, I am impressed by some of his artwork that are quite nebulous and hazy. I love these kinds of his artwork more than the artworks which are drew and painted in high resolution as the nebulous artworks leave some space for me to develop my creativity and imagination that I can put myself and my story into the stories. As I think artwork is attractive is due to the communication with the artists, I am looking forward to have some kinds of communication with Linder when I read more about his artworks.

"The Sound of Progress", 2004

"Right Here", 2006

Visit 1 - Fotanian Open Studio visit

When I first hear artwork visit, what I come first in my mind is beauty and creative but failure to understand as well. Therefore, the Fotanian Open Studio visit on 19th January was just my first time to have a artwork visit (in spite of my interest on it) and "communication" with the artists through their artwork.

Although my perception of artwork is failure to understand the work, to my surprise, there are still quite a number of pieces of artwork are so impressive.

"Mutation" by Wendy Wu

It is of my very great impression that I found that this artwork "Mutation" is so resonated me. The artist of this piece of artwork, Wendy said that this was telling the story that a snack is transformed into a giraffe by removing the colorful skin. I am so impressed because it really suits me. Being a Catholic, I think people are so nice and "perfect" when they are born because we are just the "artwork" of God. However, because of difficulties of life, competition among people especially in our career, disappointment and even hurt from our beloved, we seems to understand more about the rules of our society and the world. Therefore, for the sake for self-protection, we may finally abandon our principles of life and become "less perfect" or even bad. I think that the colorful skin here means our self-protection and our masks.

We protect ourselves by playing the rules of game of the world which are so "beautiful" that everyone loved but false. It seems that everyday people are pretending---they say beautiful things, they cannot accept what they originally are but are pretending what everyone love (beautiful skin). However, what is important in this artwork is the removal of the colorful skin and become the one who we actually are, even it is not attractive. I think that it impressed me a lot because people in the University nowadays works very hard to wear these colorful skin while I, myself, am working hard to remove all my masks and find the real one of myself and establish my values of being kind and nice, being a good guys (becoming the giraffe.) I really love this piece of artwork because it share my lonely hardworking as it reflects my feeling because of the only one snack transform into giraffe and the feeling of lonely of the background color.

Another pieces of artwork is so impressed as well.

 "Who am I" by Chris Lau.

It is well known that Hong Kong people are so hardworking. However, these years, people works so hard that they do not have leisure, families, social life or even health. When asking myself who am I, my answer is that I am a Year 2 Computer Science students to be graduated soon and I have to work in IT industry in the future because it the career path is good, the salary is also attractive. However, to think deeply, all these are not actually who am I. All these value are taught by our society. "You must be graduated from the University." "You have to plan your career which gives you money" and so on. The situation can also be applied in the case of National Education which aims to strictly to teach the value of communism to our Hong Kong children--- to be a Chinese who are proud of the country no matter what the country did, but not to be a Chinese who have critical thinking.
As reflected by the artwork, the yellow one which is in the center is made of plastic means that they are not yet affected by those value. However, we can also see that the bottom of the centered one is not only plastic but also yellow paper, I think that they have already been slightly affected by the people that are surrounding it. I think the artist try to remind us to ask ourselves who am I so as to shock us that sometimes we do not actually know who I am and what we are doing; and remind us to always examinate ourselves. I agree with it so much because if I do not always examinate myself, I will surrendered to the rules of the world, as mentioned in the artwork "Mutation".

During the lesson, teacher said that artwork was originally made for religions and rich people.

However, I believe the reasons why artwork nowadays is still attractive is the communication with the artists. This kind of communication through artwork can share feeling like lonely, happiness, scare, and sometimes, it can also be the medicine of our sores and worries. At least, the lonely of transforming into a giraffe is lessened a lot!

What marvelous artwork!