Loteria!!!

Detail of Death by Tupperware (2005) by Daniela Edburg

Although I love going to the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, sometimes their way of presenting the permanent collection baffles me. The curation seems a bit arbitrary or disconnected to the actual premise of the artwork on view. Since their collection is really impressive, this seems to be a lost opportunity to educate museum visitors as to the actual context or intent of the works displayed.

For instance, their current exhibition is LOTERIA: An Interpretation of MOLAA's Permanent Collection, in which various artworks have been selected to represent certain cards from the game, Loteria, a Mexican game of chance, like Bingo. This is an interesting approach; after all, if one can build a show around landscapes, still life, portraiture, or era, then why not organize based on game iconography? The problem is that the works have no inherent connection to gaming or game symbolism.

Nevertheless, the art in this exhibit is really good. Yeah, the curatorial approach seems scattershot, but the end result is enjoyable. Although organized as representing Loteria cards, this conceptual framework doesn't detract from appreciation of the pieces themselves. And, to be honest, this arrangement is no more arbitrary than setting them up on the wall in accordance with date of production or the letter of the artist's last name.

Detail of Citzij (2006) by Veronica Riedel

So, if there's no harm, then there's no foul. It doesn't really matter if a work is arranged as representative of The Crown or The Drunk or The Moon. As long as the art is accessible, then the curation has done its job.

Del Amo

Lucky Strike Bowling at the Del Amo Mall

I went to take a stroll at the Del Amo Mall. The location was once the world's largest mall, a shopping center of unequaled magnificence. The decades have taken their toll, but it's still a nice place to shop. Way better than some heartless big box discount store like Walmart or Target.

When I was a teen, back in the mid-80s, this was a major hang out. Chilling at the Orange Julius by the theater or hanging out at the food court, I spent countless hours. Seeing how it's changed over the years, I feel very nostalgic.

Oh well, I'm happy to have an internet and online shopping, but I can't help but feel like a distinct experience of consumerist culture has been lost over the years.

I have many fond memories of the old B. Dalton and Walden bookstores. I miss them. . . And, you kids, get off of my lawn!!! ;-)

Colored fountain at the Del Amo Mall, near the AMC Theaters

Enjoy!!!

Love for Landscapes

View of the Pacific Ocean from the Getty Villa in Malibu

When I started this blog, I was taking photos of buildings or art works or landscapes merely to provide an interesting view to go alongside my writing. My view of photography was that it was simply an accompaniment, a decoration. Moreover, I see myself more as a writer than as a photographer.

Fifteen months later, I've taken thousands of photos. And I'm starting to really get into it. I'm no longer looking for images that will complement, but, rather, images that will command. Now, I've got a whole lot to learn about taking pictures before I can call myself a "photographer" but I feel like I'm on the right path, perceiving the pictorial potentialities in my environment.

I figured that I would share a few landscape photos that I've taken over the past month. Yeah, they're not fine art, but I'm fond of them. ;-)

Afternoon view of Los Angeles county from Rocketship Park in Torrance

I'm looking forward to developing my technique. In a world so rich with beautiful and interesting sights, it seems a shame to let such images pass by unrecorded, left to fade away in the viewer's memory. Hopefully, I can capture some of these lovely visions, saving them here at Paideia to be appreciated by all those random "web surfers" that find their way to this humble blog.

With Tremulous Cadence Slow

Detail of Afternoon Stroll (2010) by Dale Johnson, on exhibit at dnj Gallery

A standard impression of the Los Angeles beaches is that they are constantly sun-drenched, bright and busy places where scantily clad young women play volleyball and children build sandcastles. Well, such scenes definitely do exist, but, more often than not, the beaches of the South Bay area have a heavy marine layer that doesn't burn off until after midmorning. Rather than "beach babes", you're more likely to find elderly walkers, perhaps accompanied by their dog.

And it's quiet. Except for the sounds of the seabirds and the alternating roar and hiss of the waves coming in and rushing out, there are only the noises that are brought with you, beit music on an iPod or conversation with a friend. It can be a lonely and sublime experience.

That's what I feel when viewing Dale Johnson's work in "By the Sea", on view at dnj Gallery until July 21. These hazy images of desolate shores, lonely walkers, and grey skies, they capture the timeless and vast atmosphere of the seaside.

Detail of Lab and Longboard (2011) by Dale Johnson

The flat and muted scenes have a sense of authenticity to them. They capture those long moments at the shore in which there is no flashy focus upon human activity, no sandcastles, no young women frolicking upon the sand, no surfers catching waves. There are only shades moving through the dark grey of the marine layer.

You Want It. You Need It.

Detail of Surplus II by Michael Krebs


Currently on exhibit at dnj Gallery is "Surplus" by Michael Krebs, a critique of consumerist corporate social influence and the commodification of desire, in which iconic images of war and armed strife are reimagined within a banal "market" context.

To be honest, I'm of mixed feelings about the appropriation of such imagery for this premise. Although the image of a girl screaming and running down a toy store aisle lined with packaged plastic dolls, fleeing as though in mortal danger, conveys both an absurdly humorous feeling and a creepy consideration of how children are indoctrinated into consumerist mindsets, the fact that it is a reflection, a tableau malsain of Nick Ut's iconic image of a Vietnamese girl fleeing from a napalm bombing, leaves me a bit uncomfortable. And perhaps that is the intention; perhaps it raises the question of how materialist values harm the individuals of a society.

I suppose it comes down to envy and banality. War is instigated by envy on a societal scale and implemented by the most basic and brutish and banal methods of coercion. Likewise, consumerist society is predicated on envy, "keeping up with the Jones" or constantly buying the newest model merely to preserve a social standing, never satisfied when others have "more" or "better" without making a raise or call, even if that which is desired is banal mass marketed trash, empty pablum.

Detail of Surplus I by Michael Krebs

In the end, both result in destruction. In war, the devastation is measured in lives and suffering. In consumerism, it is in wasted resources and misguided lives, a painful opportunity cost squandered on mounds of rubbish.

Muffled Under Dark Blankets of Night

Detail of Ghost on Santa Monica Pier (2011) by Helen K. Garber

"Encaustic Noir" is an exhibition of works by Helen K. Garber, on display at dnj Gallery. Although it keeps with her traditional theme of neo-noir cityscape, this body of work adds a unique twist; the images are all layered in beeswax, enveloped into an encaustic depth along with various mixed media, such as book pages and twine.

With her haunting noir imagery as the compositional focus, the layers of wax add a sense of distance, both in space and in time. Like the accumulated tarnish of years gone by, dulling memory to hazy impressions, so too does the wax blur the photographic image, turning places and people into shades. However, there is an odd sense of perseverance to these works, an enduring echo of life. Generally, photography captures an image, freezing the moment eternally unchanging in time, but these works are not frozen, instead are caught in an eternal process of fading away, receding endlessly into obscurement.

The mixed media additions, the twine, book pages, and wooden panel, add to this sense of obsolescence. They speak of a distant place, disjointed from the here and now, lost like a restless specter from a world that was or might have been.

Detail of Bike Path Fog II (2011) by Helen K. Garber

"Encaustic Noir" is on exhibit at dnj Gallery until February 25, 2012. Helen K. Garber will discuss her work on February 11 at 4:30 pm at the gallery.

Unveiling of the Present

Detail of The Trees Pt. Reyes, CA October, 2011 by Danielle Nelson Mourning

Introspection, self-reflection, the conscious consideration of personal identity requires the perceiver to discern the essential qualities of the subject, as distinct from external elements. Given how influential environmental factors are in the shaping of our Self, how does one delineate the essential from the accidental? How can you isolate your Actual Person from your Experienced Person?

The philosophy of consciousness has filled up many tomes over the centuries, with countless arguments and nuanced doctrines. But, where words seem ever inadequate, sometimes images convey ineffable observations about self-identity. Danielle Nelson Mourning takes up the challenge in her exhibit "Ordinary Time" at Taylor De Cordoba Gallery.

These self-portraits form a stark series that captures the subject with intense authenticity. These blunt expressions of Self are granted context by photos depicting places or objects, things that may have shaped but are not of the subject.

The Reckoning (2011) by Danielle Nelson Mourning, mirrored glass

There is always a temptation to make the Self into an Other, a reflection in the mirror, so as to put it under analysis. But this is a mental fabrication, an illusionary construct. Only by an immediate and unfiltered awareness can the Self be perceived.

Do these photographs attain that realization? I don't know; only the artist can answer this question. However, I do feel that these images are pared down to the essentials, striking in their raw accessibility.

Pacific Standard Time: Weekly Update #5

Pacific Standard Time logo

Although my health has improved significantly, the wreckage of two days lost to illness has created a backlog of tasks and social obligations, crowding out most of my art appreciation time. I still managed to fit in a rich set of activities, but not to my customary "aesthete grade" desires.

I didn't see any new exhibits, but I did attend a couple of lectures. The Norton Simon Museum had two Pacific Standard Time events. First, I attended a spotlight talk on Claes Oldenburg's Fire Plug Souvenir- "Chicago August 1968" and the fireplug motif as expressed in his lithographed Notes 1968. It was an interesting contrast between Oldenburg's more familiar light-hearted "pop" pieces and his deceptively critical political/social works.

Then, I attended a lecture on Dennis Hopper's photograph, "Double Standard" (1961), given by Prof. Damon M. Willick of Loyola Marymount University. Using the photo as a jumping point, the lecture was a reading of the various trends salient in the Los Angeles art scene during the era of the photograph and of the ensuing decade. It was a broad examination, encompassing everything from LA car culture to emergent minority voices to the fetishization of image and surface content. It was a good intro talk for those new to the topic of Los Angeles art.

Double Standard (1961) by Dennis Hopper


Finally, I was able to attend a panel discussion, "High Voltage: The Watts Legacy", at the Hammer Museum. The panel was moderated by Dr. Darnell Hunt. The panelists were artists, John Outterbridge and Andrew Zermeno, and collector, Stan Sanders. It was an engaging conversation, bringing up topics of art as political speech, the art establishment's fluctuating level of acceptance for African-American artists, and the transformational role that the Watts Riots played in spurring artistic creativity.

So, focusing more on activities than viewings was a good change of pace. No doubt, I'll be back to my solitary gallery pacing next week, but I had a good time at these events. I'm very grateful to live in a civilization where experts are readily available to impart insight and information.

Operation Teacup (Tower Easter Week Clean-Up) (1965) by Milton Martinez

Here are the Pacific Standard Time exhibits that I attended:

Hammer Museum

"Now Dig This! Art and Black Los Angeles 1960-1980"

Norton Simon Museum

"Proof: The Rise of Printmaking in Southern California"










Enjoy!!!

Desconocido

Roosevelt High School Walkouts (1970) by Oscar Castillo

I've written about the Pacific Standard Time event plenty of times over the past few weeks, but I don't believe that I have clearly articulated its premise. Its purpose is to document the artists and aesthetic movements that flourished in the Los Angeles area from 1945 to 1980. This is a critically important task because many of the participants of the events under review are getting up in age. Opportunities to record this firsthand testimony are diminishing with each passing year.

And that's why I'm so happy to see Oscar Castillo's photographs on display in "Icons of the Invisible" at UCLA's Fowler Museum. Creating a visual record of the wild days of the Chicano movement, Castillo utilized a photojournalist style in witnessing the lives and environs of Los Angeles' Latino community, a large population that was overlooked and disenfranchised by the various civic institutions, be it political or economic or artistic. In spite of its size and history as an integral part of the city, Latinos were "invisible" to mainstream society, relegated to the barrio.

Refusing to let these people slip away into a forgotten past, Castillo captured the moment through his camera, furnishing evidence of the turbulent era, a time when the downtrodden Chicano culture refused to quietly abide the cruelties of society, defiant even in the face of overt police brutality. With evocative imagery and uncompromising verity, Castillo's photography testifies to the struggle for respect and recognition.

Chicana at Gage Ave. and Whittier Blvd., East Los Angeles (1972) by Oscar Castillo

Sadly, these photographs have become "invisible" themselves, known only to students of the era or enthusiasts of urban cultural photojournalism. "Icons of the Invisible" brings these images back into view, allowing us to give witness to the moment, perhaps recognizing foreshadowing and prophecies of the current state of Latino society in Southern California.

We Are All Made of Stars

Memory Gospel by Moby


Kopeikin Gallery is currently showing "Destroyed," an exhibit of photography by the electronica musician, Moby. I'm usually hesitant to view art produced by celebrities, but Moby has always struck me as having an engaging and comprehensive aesthetic foundation. Moreover, the premise of the work, a study of the dynamic expressiveness of crowds at a concert, stuck me as an interesting concept. It's the type of photography that really can only be done by a popular musician like Moby.

So I went to check it out. At first, I just walked around the gallery casually observing the images, seeing if anything jumped out at me. Eh, it was certainly a fun set of photos but nothing really packed a punch. Then, I did the deeper examination, scrutinizing each piece for composition, color, and distinctness. Hmm, it was impressive documentation with a good eye for image crafting, but it still didn't "wow" me. Then I did another gallery stroll but with my improved familiarity of the photos. Now, the unique energy of each shot shouted out at me.

Detail of Sunspot by Moby


The images have a strong tension between the Universalized and the Individualized. Yes, each photograph depicts a crowd, but each crowd has its own unique expressive vibe. And each crowd is composed of discrete individuals reacting to the specific focus of the camera. Yet, the individuality of the person is overwhelmed by the group identity and energy of the crowd. The particular becomes accumulated into an aggregate composite identity.

Between the Blocks and Buildings

Build Boom Bust (2011) by Brian Cooper

The Torrance Art Museum is currently showing Cities: Visionary Places, curated by Camilla Boemio and featuring a wide variety of artist. The premise is based upon the exploration of the Urban Streetscape as a source of aesthetic inspiration, be it from the Beautiful, the Banal, or the Sublime. The works range in style and form including video works alongside paintings and photography. I found it to be an interesting collection.

My favorite piece on exhibit is Jeremy Kidd's Ruby City 1, which offers upon a dream-like image of nocturnal downtown Los Angeles. The photo seems to portray a twisting space, imbued by a subtle crimson light. Without the presence of people within the weird urban scene, it has a haunting presence.

Detail of Ruby City 1 (2008) by Jeremy Kidd

I had recently seen some of Jeremy Kidd's work at the Leslie Sacks Contemporary show, Perception, in late June. His work really challenges the viewer's conceptions of spatial arrangement. They seem to lose their stability; the cityscape becomes "ungrounded."

But there are many other interesting pieces in this show.

Wrapped in Plastic

Blimp (2007) by Anne Veraldi


While I was visiting Bergamot Station last Saturday, I was able to catch an opening at dnj Gallery of Anne Veraldi's Plastic Rose series. In essence, it's a photographic series of toys wrapped in plastic bags. The plastic works as an obscurement device, a filter, through which the details of the subject are muted, resulting in a dream-like image that provokes uncertainty in the viewer as to the actual nature of the subject. Is it a real blimp or a toy? With the detail made vague, the answer is not immediately obvious.

Moreover, the use of toys as the subject of the photos evokes a sense of childhood fantasies. With the ambiguity of the subject's nature, the childlike ability to imagine a toy as the actuality that it represents is recreated in the viewer. It's a skill that most adults have left behind as they've matured beyond the desire to play "make believe" with toy vehicles, dolls, or soldiers. Therefore, the reactivation of this cognitive ability provokes both a sense of amusement and of nostalgia from the viewer.

It's a simple concept, but it elicits a deceptively complex emotional response.

Rider (2007) by Anne Veraldi


The plastic serves as a filter, but it also functions as the space in which the subjects exist. It suggests the terrain features, environmental effects, and spatial reality of the subject's imaginary world. Additionally, the color and texture of the plastic inspire certain moods or "atmospheres" of emotion.

By the Book

Seeing Through Feeling (2011) by Andrew Uchin

I'm an avid reader, but I'm not big on books. I'm talking about the physical chunk of papers with ink patterns printed upon them. For most of my life, I've had to endure the presence of these dead tree constructions to get at that which I totally adore, the information conveyed on their printed pages. If you ask me to list some interesting novels, or histories, or philosophical texts, I could go on and on with recommendations. If you ask me to list my favorite book, I can answer that immediately. It's the one that most recently left my shelves.

Yeah, that's heresy for most of you book people, but I have a thing against clutter. Book in use are great, but books laying around are fire hazards and vermin hideaways. I haytz 'em!!!

Yet, I can see how people can fall in love with the physical object. Andrew Uchin's exhibit "The Reader Series" at dnj Gallery captures the romance of the bibliophile. These photos convey the human interaction with the book, through markings, deterioration, or the design of the text upon the page. There is a rich history to these books. Perhaps they were beloved sources of tales for the children. Perhaps they were veterans of the library shelves. Or perhaps, like a courier's steed, they carried the reader across the survey of Elizabethan literature.



Modern Library (2011) by Andrew Uchin


These weird inanimate objects that have a special ability to talk to those who can understand, they have poignant tales to tell. And it is not merely that which is printed upon their pages.

Architecture Strange Yet Familiar

Storm Crown Mechanism (2009) by David Trautrimas

At Bergamot Station, dnj Gallery is holding a group show featuring a number of artists that they represent, including Michael Eastman, Cynthia Grieg, Annie Seaton, and Bill Sosin. I can write at length about these excellent photographers, but today I feel like writing about David Trautrimas' futuristic architectural structures from his Spyfrost Project (2010), a few of which are on display in this show.

Trautrimas' works are based around household appliances imagined as architecture, specifically inspired by a techno-thriller Cold War militaristic aesthetic. Photographing numerous images of these vintage consumer goods and their component parts, Trautrimas reassembles them into fantastic military structures. They look like something out of a wild '50s era espionage comic book. Is the structure above a secret Soviet "Weather Control" facility or a mishmash of refrigerator parts? And how about this image?



Terra Thermal Inducer (2009) by David Trautrimas


Yeah, through the magic of a creative imagination and expert photomanipulation, Trautrimas has created a retro-futuristic Cold War environment out of the detritus of consumerist culture. The metal and chrome from the "House of the Future" has been reworked into military structures that never were. Yet, they feel so authentic. I can imagine a "Thermal Inducer" hidden in the Siberian wilderness.

Under the Moons of Mars

Bellona by Nicholas Kahn and Richard Selesnick

I have long been a fan of planetary romances. The idea of ancient alien civilizations upon distant planets has captured my imagination. I've often considered writing within the genre, but I worry that I'd end up writing some imitative tripe, a Barsoom rip-off. To a degree, the entire subgenre can be described as a reiteration upon the themes that Edgar Rice Burroughs set forth in the novel A Princess of Mars.

A good planetary romance explores the concept of "civilization" by constructing alien societies and assessing them through a narrative with which the reader can closely identify. So ideas, such as decadence, patriotism, isolationism or exploitation, are integral elements of the subgenre. Yet, while these ideas play across the narrative, it is under an atmospheric mood of loneliness and yearning. The narrator is a "stranger in a strange land".

And it is the ability to capture this mood that I find so compelling in the Kopeikin Gallery's exhibit "Mars: Adrift on the Hourglass Sea. Desolation and the Sublime on a Distant Planet" by Nicholas Kahn and Richard Selesnick.



Earthrise by Nicholas Kahn and Richard Selesnick

Sweet Music Soft and Mellow

Denise Donatelli performing at LACMA

Every summer, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) hosts a series of Friday jazz concerts, in partnership with our local jazz station , KKJZ 88.1 FM. To celebrate the birth date of Duke Ellington, I figured that I'd catch a live performance. Being a member of LACMA and interested in a few shows currently on exhibit, I made the trip out to the Miracle Mile.

The concert was held at the Grand Entrance. Seating was iffy, but I got a good location. Sound was passable, although the audience was full of chatterboxes. Y'know, just because it's free doesn't mean it has no value!!! The band performed two sets with a brief intermission between.

This was the first time that I have seen Denise Donatelli perform live. I don't know if this was the right venue for her. She has a warm and gentle voice and her movements are sensuous and smooth. I think she must be fantastic in a club venue, but, in the LACMA entryway, the nuances of her performance are lost in the hubbub. Nevertheless, a diamond in the ruff is still a diamond. It was a good show.

Her performance of "Don't Explain" was especially good, bringing out the pain and futility of the words with a gentle subtly. Most performances try to out-soul or out-anguish Billie Holiday, but that's a losing strategy. Donatelli instead delivers the words with a sense of comfort, smooth as honey, but there is an "aftertaste" of pain in her words. Fantastic artistry.

Since I was at LACMA, I decided to look at a few of their current exhibits. So, before and after the concert, I went scrambling around the campus looking at art. The first show that I got to see was Elizabeth Taylor in Iran.

This was a series of thirty-two photos taken in 1976 by Firooz Zahedi in pre-revolution Iran. Apparently, the original negatives were lost and these few photos were produced off a contact sheet. An interesting little show, it disproved my belief that no woman can look sexy in a chador. Of course, few women are a hot hot hot as Liz Taylor. ;-)

Here's a vid:

The second show that I visited was David Smith: Cubes and Anarchy.

Star Cage by David Smith (1950)

I'm not a big fan of Smith's work. However, this is a very interesting exhibit which has me reassessing these works. First, it shows the geometric continuity underlying Smith's aesthetic development. Second, the exhibit layout provides an easy reference between works, which enhances the viewers capacity to recognize and appreciate design nuances. Finally, with over 100 works to view, the sheer scale of the exhibit allows the viewer to get a lasting feel for Smith's artistic vision. It's a very worthwhile show, even if you're not into the subject matter.

Finally, this one took me by surprise. The Magna Carta is in Los Angeles?!!

Yeah, on loan from the Bodleian, it's in town for only a short visit (April 26 to May 5) in celebration of BritWeek. Hmm. . . Anyways, I was happy that I caught a viewing of it. This one was from 1217. I think that I've seen the 1225 version on one of my trips to the UK. Pretty cool.

Of course, I can't visit LACMA with paying a visit to Michael and Bubbles. ;-)

Michael Jackson and Bubbles by Jeff Koons (1988)

Here's a link to LACMA.

Here's Denise Donatelli's website.

Here's the Wikipedia page to David Smith.

And the Magna Carta's Wikipedia page is here.

Enjoy!!!

Precarious Transition from Girl to Woman

Cover art by Rudy Nappi (1962)

Recently, I've been interested in the use of tableaux in artistic expressions, as demonstrated in my posts on Luigi Ontani's AmenHammerAmeno and the Getty's exhibit on Photography from the New China. A bit of serendipity arrived in my inbox in the form of a message from dnj gallery about the availability of some photographs by Holly Andres. These photos are from her series "Sparrow Lane" which happens to be a work of narrative tableaux. Hurray!!!

The premise is the exploration of emergent experiences of adulthood as a woman from the starting point of childhood as a girl. Andres utilizes the imagery of Nancy Drew to draw connotative values to work. Just as Nancy bravely confronts the mysteries before her, so too do these young women investigate the secrets of adult femininity. Just as Nancy's surrounding carry a sense of menace, likewise the girls of Sparrow Lane transgress into a "forbidden" realm. There is definitely a foreboding mood to these images.

Here are a couple images:

Outside the Forbidden Bedroom by Holly Andres

The Ruby Ring by Holly Andres

These are images that could be drawn straight off of a Nancy Drew cover, but the sexual subtext is unmistakable. I appreciate the nuances of the images. For instance in the "Forbidden Bedroom", I like how the older girl has her hand upon the younger girl's shoulder, as if she's having second thoughts about seeing what's inside yet her facial expression displays a clear focus in the mystery before her. Likewise, the placement of the older girl kneeling at the base of the stairs holding a symbol of passion, while the younger girl looks down upon her with an expression of surprise, implies the attainment of adult knowledge but without full comprehension.

Yeah, I could go on and on about the Sparrow Lane series, discussing color, costume, symbolism and placement. But I recommend checking it out for yourself.

Here's a vid in which Holly Andres discusses the series:

Here's a link to Holly Andres' website.

And here's a link to the Nancy Drew Wikipedia page and her official website.

Enjoy!!!

A Brook Without a Source

New Women by Wang Qingsong (2000)

The Getty Museum had a Photography exhibit, "Photography from the New China," that caught my interest. The primary theme that I took away from the show was that of cultural and historic reassessment.  It brought to mind the Chinese proverb "I dreamed a thousand new paths. . . I woke and walked my old one." Some of the photos spoke directly to this quote.

For instance, the tableaux works by Wang Qingsong are reinterpretations of classical paintings, but with symbols of modern consumerism and materialism, in which the Golden Arches of McDonald's is the equivalent of an Imperial banner and tawdry modern attire replaces the elegant fashions of the courtly ladies. Yet, although these images have significant difference in value, is the underlying action any different? The mighty lord over and forced their will upon the weak, whether it is a Ming Emperor or an American corporation. A courtesan performs the same function regardless of her clothing and hairstyle. So, do these images speak of a new path or continuing down the old one?

I Am Chairman Mao's Red Guard by Hai Bo (2000)

In contrast, the works of Hai Bo do indicate a rejection of the old path. In his series "They", he presents a set of diptychs in which a photograph from the era of the Cultural Revolution is contrasted with a contemporary photo, using the same sitters. In group photos, when a subject has died, there is an empty space where that subject would have been. This contrast between the rigid and colorless Maoist world and soft, timeworn modern world do indicate significant, even painful, change. For Hai Bo's subjects, it may be true that the underlying realities of power and function are essentially unchanged, as indicated in Wang Qingsong's work, but, for the individual, life forces us down new paths.

Standard Pose by Qiu Zhijie (1997)

Finally, the works of Qiu Zhijie brings us to a synthesis of these styles. Creating tableaux of modern Chinese works posed in the style of Maoist propaganda posters with similar coloration to Cultural Revolution photos, we are presented with an ambiguous statement regarding the new vs. old paths. Obviously, these are parody pieces. But what is being parodied? It it a spoof on the old ways by displaying the modern Chinese as so totally incongruous with the Maoist style? Or is it a spoof on the modern Chinese identity that for all of its superficial change is still following along the old path?

In any case, there was much to consider at this show. Other artists on display include Rong Rong, Liu Zheng, Song Yongping, and Zhang Huan. Sadly, the show closes today. Again, I'm more of a closer than an opener. Sorry, amigos. Maybe some fantastic Pipa music will compensate?

By the way, I selected a performance by Wu Man because she is dealing with a similar quandary as that presented in this webpost. She even curated a musical festival entitled "Ancient Paths, Modern Voices." Good stuff!!!

Here's a link to the Getty website.

Here's Qui Zhijie's Wikipedia page.

And here's Wu Man's Wikipedia page and official website.

Enjoy!!!