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luni, 5 septembrie 2011

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei wins fans in Los Angeles

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Dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei closes the door to his studio after speaking to the media in Beijing June 23, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/David Gray

By Jordan Riefe

LOS ANGELES | Fri Sep 2, 2011 5:42pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei is living a heavily restricted life in Beijing after being released from detention earlier this year, but his work is speaking volumes to people in the second-largest U.S. city.

Ai's touring installation, "Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads," opened two weeks ago at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and has been introducing people here to the work of a man about whom, until recently, they may have only read about in headlines telling of his recent detention in China.

The work is a series of 12 massive, 800 lb. bronze heads depicting the animals of the Chinese Zodiac. Standing among them on the museum's sunny North Piazza, people have been posing for photos standing next to the figures, leaning against them, and taking in the surface with their fingertips.

"I think he's questioning everybody, the entire idea of possession and of cultural permission and of nationalism," Franklin Sirmans, a curator at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) told Reuters about the installation.

"You see little kids going up to it and interacting with it in a way that is not necessarily about the same thing you or I might be interested in," Sirmans said. "Of course there are many other layers that come to mind as you learn more about the history behind the objects."

The installation is based on a series of sculptures carved by Giuseppe Castiglione, an 18th century Milanese artist and court painter to Ching Dynasty Emperor Kangxi. The original figures encircled a fountain in the Yuanming Yuan garden outside Beijing.

During the Second Opium War in 1860, the sculptures were looted by French and British troops. Of the original twelve figures only seven are known to exist, including two belonging to Yves St. Laurent which turned up at a 2009 auction.

ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDLY

At the time, the Chinese government protested the sale, claiming the sculptures for China as a point of national pride. But Ai was among the first to ask whether they were even Chinese art, as they were made by Italian hands.

"It's interesting that the Chinese government used that (the auction) to take attention off of what is really happening domestically and sort of instill a sense of patriotism," said Stephanie Kwai of the Guggenheim Museum in New York.

She wasn't the only one to notice.

With "Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads" Ai chooses the zodiac, a symbol of fate and destiny, to sculpt with his own hands as if to say he and he alone will shape his future -- not a government or ruler.

The internationally renowned artist has taken to Twitter in recent years, freely criticizing the Chinese government on various subjects ranging from the lax response to the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan to the Beijing Olympics.

For comments like those he was arrested in April this year and charged with tax evasion. When released in June after more than 80 days, he was sent home under heavy restrictions. He cannot be interviewed by journalists, meet foreigners, use the Internet or interact with rights advocates for a year.

Still, Ai has refused to stay completely silent. Just this week, he wrote a commentary that was published on the website of Newsweek magazine in which he called Beijing, "a city of violence." He criticized the Chinese government for rampant corruption and its policies toward migrant workers.

Fortunately his work can do a lot of his talking for him, in Los Angeles, and beyond. "Zodiac" will travel to Houston, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C. where each new context will likely bestow new meaning on its audience.

(Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

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vineri, 2 septembrie 2011

New works by Japanese artist Foujita found

TOKYO | Wed Aug 31, 2011 5:44am EDT

TOKYO (Reuters) - Nearly 40 previously unknown works by Japanese artist Leonard Foujita, who made a name for himself in pre-World War Two Paris and was an acquaintance of Picasso and Matisse, have been discovered by a Japanese museum.

Combining Japanese ink techniques with Western-style painting, Foujita -- a noted cat lover -- became especially known for his paintings of naked women and cats.

The Pola Museum of Art in Hakone, a mountain resort town just west of Tokyo, said the 37 pieces were part of a gift from a private collector within Japan but declined to name their nationality.

"These were completely unknown before, so we were quite surprised by the gift," said Yurika Hirata, a museum spokeswoman.

"It was previously thought that Paris was the main site of Foujita's work in his later years, but notes on the back mention that some were painted in other countries. It tells us new things about what he did."

The pieces are oil paintings on thick paper mounted on fibreboard and painted between 1956 to 1958.

Some appear to have religious themes, while others show children doing various kinds of work such as house cleaning or frying eggs and may be related to Foujita's "Little Artisans" series of paintings.

Foujita, born Tsuguharu Fujita in 1886, graduated from what is now the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music at the age of 24 and moved to Paris three years later.

Taking a studio in Montparnasse, he met artists such as Modigliani and is said to have studied dance with Isadora Duncan. His paintings, which initially sold well, drew comment for the milk white color of the skin of the women he portrayed.

After a stint working and traveling in South America, Foujita returned to Japan in the 1930s, where he produced propaganda art for the military. He eventually returned to France, where he converted to Catholicism and died in 1968.

The new pieces will go on display from Sept 6.

(Reporting by Elaine Lies, editing by Paul Casciato)

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joi, 11 august 2011

Trash becomes treasure for one Thai artist

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BANGKOK | Wed Aug 10, 2011 1:37pm EDT

BANGKOK (Reuters) - From custom-built motorcycles to statues of Yoda, one Thai artist is building works of art using scrap metal from Bangkok's garbage heaps, recycling trash to create his very own treasure.

A former woodcarver, Rungroja Saengwongpaisarn began working with metal in 1996 at the request of a patron, soon fusing his passion for conservation with his art and creating a distinctive style.

"It's using metal that was discarded. We are giving the material a new life by using it to create art," the 54-year-old Rungroja said.

Where some see junk, he sees raw material, salvaging discarded car parts and household goods such as woks with his team everyday. The items are then used to craft statues, models and even robots.

An ancient Asian warrior snarls on one side of his gallery, which also contains a toothy dinosaur, elephants and a pensive Yoda.

Recycling has paid off for the sculptor, whose works range in price from $60 to $40,000 and can take anywhere from 3 days to up to one year to complete. One of the more challenging pieces was a three-meter (yard) high robot that weighed about 450 kg (990 pounds).

Finding parts that match his vision can be a challenge.

"The difficult thing is to make the scale of each model, like this one," Rungroja said, displaying a small motorcycle.

"The face of the model is quite meticulous... Different models will require different types of details."

His latest work, a motorcycle dubbed "Pre-Alien," is the third motorcycle he's built. Each takes him about three months to complete and sold his last one to a Japanese collector for more than $10,000.

Rungroja expects "Pre-Alien" to sell for more than $15,000. The motorcycle weighs about 180 kg and can hit speeds of up to 100 kilometres an hour -- not bad for a pile of junk.

(Reporting by Noppawan Bunluesilp; editing by Elaine Lies)

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vineri, 3 iunie 2011

Detained artist Ai headlines Beijing art show with blank wall

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Fei Xiaosheng, an organizer of the Third Incidental Art Festival gestures in front of the wall left blank in support of detained artist-activist Ai Weiwei, during the opening ceremony in Beijing June 1, 2011. Organisers of an art show in the Chinese capital have left an empty space on a gallery wall for detained artist-activist Ai Weiwei in a rare gesture of open defiance over the case. The exhibition comes at an especially sensitive time, as China braces for Saturday's 22nd anniversary of the government's deadly mobilization of the military to clear pro-democracy protests focused on Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Credit: Reuters/Petar Kujundzic

By Michael Martina

BEIJING | Wed Jun 1, 2011 10:33am EDT

BEIJING (Reuters) - Organizers of an art show in the Chinese capital have left an empty space on a gallery wall for detained artist-activist Ai Weiwei in a rare gesture of open defiance of the authorities.

A small tag with Ai's name adorns a blank wall among 19 other artists' work at an annual photography show that opened Wednesday, almost two months after police seized Ai Weiwei at Beijing's airport, igniting an international outcry.

The organizers' gesture of support for China's most politically controversial artist is a rare public display from mainland China's artistic community, which has largely stayed silent about Ai's detention.

"We feel regret because his voice can't be heard," said Lin Bing, a photographer who helped organize the show at the gallery CCD300, in Beijing's Caochangdi art area.

"It has made us think about when an artist loses the possibility of expressing himself."

Shi Yong, the owner of the gallery, said the exhibition was normal and legal, but Lin said he received phone calls from the police bureau after the show opened asking him to come in for a discussion. Organizers could not be reached by phone later.

China's state media and foreign ministry have said Ai is being investigated for tax avoidance and related charges. His family have said they have not been formally told about such charges and reject them as smears intended to silence him.

Ai had supported the Incidental Art Festival -- now in its third year -- and exhibited art at past shows, said Lin. If it were not for the "special situation," he said, his work would have been included again.

Chinese police told state media last month that a company Ai controlled, The Beijing Fake Cultural Development Ltd., had evaded a "huge amount" of taxes and destroyed accounting documents.

But family members and supporters say the outspoken 53-year-old artist is a victim of a crackdown on political dissent.

Beijing's alarm about dissent intensified after overseas Chinese websites in February spread calls for protests across China inspired by the "Jasmine Revolution" of anti-authoritarian uprisings across the Arab world.

Ai's career encompasses protests for artistic freedom in 1979, provocative works in the 1990s and a role in designing the Bird's Nest stadium for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The exhibition comes at an especially sensitive time, as China braces for Saturday's 22nd anniversary of the government's deadly mobilization of the military to clear pro-democracy protests focused on Tiananmen Square in 1989.

One man with the surname Xie who came to see the exhibition took a photo in front of the white wall with Ai's name tag.

"He doesn't have his freedom, but his honor is being defended," he said, pointing to the wall.

Ai's wife Lu Qing told Reuters that after almost 60 days since his detention she has still not been notified by authorities regarding his charges and has been able to meet with him only once to discuss his health.

"There was no way to have a piece of his work hung for the show, but I think the fact that there is a blank wall in its place gives his voice extra force," she said of the exhibition.

(Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)