Richard Diebenkorn. Oldie but a goodie.

Whenever I really like something these days, It is either really contemporary, or from the 60's or earlier. This Diebenkorn caught my eye the other day - I had never seen this one before - and I figured I would throw up a couple images to remind myself of all the terrific, straightforward, and kinda passe yet undeniably interesting, art he has pumped out.

Albuquerque, 1951
Oil on canvas, 40 x 50 in. (101.6 x 127 cm)
Purchase, Washington Gallery of Modern Art Collection, 1968.



and representative of his best-known work...
Cityscape I (Landscape No. 1)
1963
Oil on canvas
60 1/4 x 50 1/2 in
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Qiu Zhijie. An artist I'd like to learn more about

An Asian Studies conference is coming up in Colorado. I am presenting on the changing definition of appropriation, and how Asian artists are, in their own way, modifying notions of cultural appropriation through their art. With all the political baggage that goes along with Chinese artists, though, I am having a hard time finding Chinese artists that comfortably fit in with what I am going to talk about. Basically, I am looking for artists who demonstrate a proficient understanding of Eastern and Western art and culture, and use that understanding to enrich their art. Understandin Chinese art and artists is complicated by Tianamen Square/ dissidents/ anti-academic/ communism/ etc. Someone may consider themselves Chinese, but have not exhibited or lived in Chinese since getting the boot in 1989. Are they making Chinese art?
This does not seem to be an issue with most, just some of the most publicized "Chinese artists". With Qiu Zhijie, it is not an issue. I hope to fit him in, but he does not seem to have what I am looking for. All the same, his work is worth a gander.

Allegory (one of three, may also be referred to as Bridge. from artists' website (see link above). This does not typify his work, though, so do not stop here.

Nothing should be simple, right? Here is a video of Qui at work. It is in Spanish, and he speaks Mandrin. He does give english a go in the middle there, though.

Kim Joon. tats 'n ass

Tattoos mean different things to different people. Who's sporting tattoos in North America? Everybody, it seems. WW2 vets of the Atlantic campaign have those faded blue anchors: their ship name and number blurred beyond recognition. Thirty-somethings, and younger seem to have had a thing for twisty, abstract lines, celtic flourishes, and intertwining barbed wire-type designs. The men have them around their all-too-often soft arms, while the ladies bare the rear runway peeking out just above the low beltline. Then there are the individuals who really saw tattoos as art - faces mix into romantic landscapes, meet up with animals of all sorts, the names of lost loved-ones (with dates like a living memorial) and people they admire. A friend of mine recently got flowers under each of her arms, filling up the little space left that has not been inked, her face and hands aside. basically, for a few generations, tattoos have been visible and commonplace. The fringe, the rebels, the outsiders, the hard-core fight society through new forms of body art (new to my culture, anyway) - scarring, branding, plastic bumps and ridges inserted under the skin. For body "high art", search for Orlan. IF you get grossed out easy, have a garbage can at the ready. She goes to some crazy lengths when she uses her own physical body as a canvas.

To sum up... Western culture has a history with tattoos.
Asia, on the other hand, has a much different history. When you see a person with a far-out ink job in Korea, it means a completely different thing than it does here. Tattoos in Korea (likely most of asia) mean gangster. And there is nothing typically subtle about gangster tattoos. Typically multicoloured figures and animals swirl all down the back, letting everyone know that the bearer is not the type of dude that should be messed with. If a korean gangster movie is to be believed, the pain control associated with spending hundreds of hours getting inked makes elaborate tattoos a badge of honour of sorts. "Normal" people simply don't get tattoos. Bad boys and other such rebels? maybe. Is this changing? of course it is, but it have decades to do before it is even close to mainstream

With that in mind, the work of Kim Joon seems quite a trip. How different the interpretation of his work must be to those of his homeland. Do Koreans even see it as a tattoo; something that is under the skin and permanent, or are they immediately seeing it as a covering - a costume of a different culture?
Tattoos to us, if I may speak for North Americans, are permanent things. They are a part of you - they make up or express parts of an identity. There is no going back from a tattoo - even if someone does got one of those new removal procedures, ther is still a remnant of that old person (like if a friend loses, or more frequently, gains a lot of weight. You cannot help but recall what once was there. It is still there, in a way). The idea of inking the name of a lost relative or friend onto the body takes on such a profound meaning if you think about it in this way: they may be gone, but their trace still exists. They have left an indelible mark, personified in ink.

Henna, i would say, is more common in South Korea. A week of rebellion right after freshman exams - Cool! Suntanning has only in the last couple of years become ACCEPTABLE in Korea, as has the bikini. Dark or blemished skin was left behind when Korea became the first class nation it has become. Peasants and country folk get tanned, civilized people do not. Or something like that.

With all that in mind, i associate the advertising angle in some of Kim's works with looking at his own culture for inspiration. Going back to the comment I made about koreans seeing tattoos as skins or layers (a gangster outfit), rather than a true identity, this could be seen as, as we in the West use tattoos to present elements of ourselves to others, Koreans do this through other means - one of the most popular being fashion.


party-prada
c-print
120cm x 120cm (cm)
2007


bird land-swarovski
90cm x90cm c-print 2008
All the images are taken fromKim Joon's website, where yo ucan also find lots more images.

Li Wei

For ten years, the art world has been going nuts for "Chinese art". As a result, demand has soared, leading to the pool of genius becoming rather thinned with third-rate individuals from China looking to cash in on the lucrative market. Li Wei is not one of the hoard: he creates snazzy, interesting, and fun art that has some substance behind the playful veneer. Most iteresting to me is his awareness of Western art principles and art history, and his use of such information in his work.


Let's slide off-topic for a bit

A question I always toy with is, What makes a work of art specific to a place or people or whatever? This unsettlingly, leads to an ever-increasing range of further questions..
Just what the hell is Chinese art, or Western art, or Islamic art? What makes Chinese art different from other forms of art?
In this day and age, of interconnectivity, of a global village, of an internatinal art scene, is there such a thing as appropriation? Just what am I entitled to call my own, my identity? Am I able to add to this personal identity through education and experience?

The artists being looked at this week hopefully address these questions through their art. Comments will be placed, seemingly out-of-place, demonstrating how these works of art answer the questions listed above. This blog is not so much for others, but more as a visual diary of what is feeding my papers, and inspiring my art production.


Back to Li Wei.
Believe it or not, Li Wei asserts that the images he produces are executed without the aid of digital mainpuation: he uses mirrors and wires to hide his tricks. It seems that every article makes a big deal out of this - the fact that he doesn't use photoshop. If someone can tell me why this is important, please let me know.
The images themsleves are wonderful. A lot of contemporary art produced in China comes off as grand, hard, either very soft or very sharp. Lots of people. Cai Guo-Qiang drawing with gunpowder. Gu Dexin with rotting fruit and vaginas in the back of heads. Song Dong licking everything. Cao Fei's ambitious factory workers. This follows in that vein, without the grandiose-(and obvious)-in-your-face-ness found in the works of Sui Jianguo and, the granddaddy of them all, Wang Guangyi.

Li Wei's works often offer up someting legible to both an Eastern and a Western audience. The link to kung-fu-type movies is easily discernable. the "tricks" are accomplished using camera tricks and wires, giving the individuals who appear in the images the grace and poise of superhuman powers. Have you noticed that difference before, between hollywood and HK movies? There is nothing graceful to be found in the abilities of the Hulk or Spiderman: they still possess a weight that allows our mind to better buy in to the fakery. Superpowers of the East, if I may call it that, extend to balance and weight and focus, allowing for such a picuture as that directly above.

So, the top picture.. .. to what are you relating it? Yves Kline's jump from a second story window, maybe? Has 9/11 ruined your eyes, and all you see are world trade center jumpers? Do you see a perceive a population drunk on the vertigo of a society growing at an unbelievable pace, sometimes stumbling, sometimes stumbling to their deaths?
"My artistic language is universal and deals with themes about contemporary politics and society using symbols understood by everyone in every part of the world." says Li Wei, as quoted from the dailymail.co.uk

Other elements of the work also put it on the fence, as to which tradition it is following. The works are a mix of both performance and photography. This blurring of medium is traditionally found in Western works, though have become quite commonly found in the employ of Chinese artists who use video (think of Xu Zhen, and his fake expedition to Everset. In fact, think of all his video work, which is very performance-driven).

These images seem amateur and grand at the same time, and offer a lighthearted and understandable look at Chinese society of the early 21st century.



Li Wei's homepage