Qian Xue'er Gao Dan Qi Town
Swedish Pop art sculptor Klaas Oldenburg recently died at his Manhattan home at the age of 93. He is widely known for his "soft sculptures" that make everyday objects such as cherries and umbrellas enormous, creating a series of publicly commissioned sculptures.
In China, Xu Beihong's disciple, Liu Boshu, former president of the National Academy of Painting of China, died in Beijing last week at the age of 87 due to illness. In Beijing and Shanghai, Swedish photographer Eric Johnson presented a surrealist photography exhibition, and German artist Angela Greza presented "The Drama of Paper". The Paper's Art Review 'Art of the Week' reports on the hot art events and characters of the week.
American | Pop Art Sculptor Klaas Oldenburg
He died at the age of 93 and was known for his giant object sculptures
Swedish Pop Art Sculptor Klaas Odenberg (1929-2022)
On July 18, Swedish pop art sculptor Claes Oldenburg died at the age of 93 from complications caused by a fall at his Manhattan home. Known for his "soft sculptures" that mammoth everyday objects such as cherries and umbrellas, Oldenburg has created a series of famous publicly commissioned sculptures that have been exhibited at the Guggenheim Museum in New York and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Klaas Oldenburg and his wife Kussye van Bruggen 1988 Spoon Bridge and Cherry
Born in Stockholm in 1929, Oldenburg moved to Chicago with his family in 1936. After studying art and literature at Yale, Oldenburg moved to San Francisco, where he made a living by illustrating pesticide advertisements. He came to New York in 1956 and became fascinated by the various elements of street life. After painting for a few years, inspired by the art of incidental (Happenings), he became interested in works that required the viewer to engage in a certain way, as well as dreams and the unconscious. In 1961, Oldenburg created The Store, a rented storefront on New York's Lower East Side with plaster replicas, a model cash register and advertised business cards. With the help of his wife at the time, Patty Mucha, Oldenburg made several refinements to the piece over the next few years, adding giant fabric sculptures such as ice cream tubes and cakes.
The concept of giant objects became the focus of Oldenburg's career for the next 60+odd years. Like other pop art movement artists, Oldenburg used the vulgar objects of consumer life as his subject, but his choices were more deliberate, favoring objects that were closely related to people, such as bathtubs, printers, fans, etc.
In 1970, Oldenburg met art historian Kusje van Brugan after his divorce, and the two married in 1977 and worked together for more than 30 years. They continue to expand and explore the enormous potential of everyday objects, working together to plan and install monumental sculptures around the world. (Text/Qian Xue'er)
Shanghai | German artist Angela Greza
Solo exhibition "Space Tearing" constructs "The Drama of Paper"
Angela Greza
Recently, German artist Angela Glajcar's first Chinese mainland solo exhibition "Torn Space" was held at Bluerider ART Shanghai Bund, presenting the artist's iconic sculptures in the medium of paper, including large-scale suspended works created for the exhibition, as well as four new works in series.
Angra Greza solo exhibition "Space Tears" exhibition site, 2022, Bluerider ART Shanghai Bund
Born in 1970, Angela Greza was mentored by the renowned British sculptor Tim Scott, working on steel, wood and other materials in the early days, and in recent years has focused on using paper as a unique material for sculpture. Gleza calls herself the "writer of space," tearing paper with her hands to construct forms, giving this typical two-dimensional medium a new three-dimensional look. Using special paper, Gleza creates straight and sharp edges, geometric blocks and extended spaces, making the shape rhythmic and varied, resulting in a dramatic viewing effect.
In this exhibition, Gleiza created several large-scale suspension works in particular for the seven-meter-high space. Also on display are new works from four series: "Conballare", "Montcanus", "Terforation" and "Torn Portrait". Among them, the "box series" uses Wenzhou leather paper. Wenzhou leather paper uses mulberry bark as raw material, the paper is tough, and one side is smooth and the other side is rough. Due to the special paper grain, it can create a unique texture effect, and has a sense of quaint and broken mystery.
The exhibition space of Gleza paper sculpture is not limited to conventional art venues such as art museums, but also presented in public spaces with special significance such as churches and memorials, changing the way viewers view these spaces, although non-religious sculptures, they can lead to wonderful visual experiences and new perspectives. At the same time, paper, as a material, reflects the light and color in the environment, and curls due to temperature and humidity, with a temporary change, organically combined with space. Andreas Beitin, a German art historian and director of the Wolfsburg Museum of Art, points out that Gleiza proposes the opposite aspect of the subject of human existence: dynamic and static, beautiful and destructive, light and heavy, rhythm and quiet. (Finishing/Qian Xueer)
Liu Boshu, a painter | Beijing and former president of the National Academy of Painting of China
He died at the age of 87 and was good at drawing horses
Liu Boshu (1935-2022)
In the early morning of July 19, the painter Liu Boshu died of illness in Beijing at the age of 87.
Liu Boshu, born in November 1935, is a native of Yongchang, Jiangxi. He is good at Chinese painting. When he was a teenager, he held a personal exhibition, and at the age of 16, he was admitted to the painting department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts and studied under Xu Beihong. He graduated from the central academy of fine arts in 1955. He has successively served as the deputy director and vice president of the Chinese Painting Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, and the president and researcher of the National Academy of Painting of China. He is an advisor to the China Artists Association, a member of the Ministry of Culture's senior professional title review committee, and a member of the 8th and 9th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. The work "Set Horse" was selected for the World Youth Festival Art Exhibition. His works include "Three Horse Diagrams" and "Rushing Rush". Many works have been selected for domestic and international art exhibitions, and have been collected by art galleries, museums, memorial halls, exhibition halls and other museums at home and abroad.
Liu Boshu "Eight Juntu" color on paper
As a disciple of Xu Beihong, Liu Boshu has profound skills in drawing, sketching, and traditional brush and ink in Chinese painting. He is good at painting horses, and the modern spirit of the horses in his pen is dashing, unrestrained and dynamic, with a pioneering and enterprising spirit, which not only gives the horse personality as the disposition, but also has an elegant style, rigidity and strength.
Yang Xiaoyang, vice chairman of the China Artists Association, said in a condolence telegram: "Mr. Liu Boshu is a titan in the Chinese art world and a highly respected artistic predecessor at home and abroad. Mr. Bo Shu in his early years with genius artistic talent by the attention of Master Xu Beihong, under the guidance of Mr. Xu Beihong, academic inheritance of mantle, in his life's artistic creation, constantly explore, not only with Mr. Xu Beihong's artistic style, but also creatively express their own views and insights, the formation of a personalized artistic style, has a wide range of influence and reputation in the Chinese art industry. (Finishing/Hatamachi)
Beijing | photographer Eric Johnson
Surrealist photography exhibition presenting "Fantasyland"
Eric Johnson
Swedish visual artist and surrealist photographer Eric Johnson's first Chinese exhibition "Wonderland - Erik Johansson Surrealist Photography Exhibition" was presented at the Today Art Museum in Beijing on July 22.
Eric Johnson photography
The artist selected 80 representative surrealist artworks for China's first exhibition, most of which used photography and post-production techniques as a means of creation to construct a fantastic creative vision. For example, the staff who hug the huge moon and specialize in providing full moon services for people, the white-collar workers in the office who are trying to escape with paper airplanes, the people who cut the clouds... Johnson's witty humor contains a critique and challenge to reality—"I am inspired by the common things around me and the 'if... What would happen to 'thoughts'. In Johnson's view, all works are to some extent his "portraits", reflecting his life, ideas, plans, and creating landscapes that do not exist in the real world.
The exhibition consists of seven chapters, namely "The Beginning of a Dream", "The World in My Eyes", "Memory Relegation", "Private Territory", "The Future Can Be Expected", "Tribute to the Artist" and "Concluding Remarks". Each chapter is decorated with a different theme color in the area of the exhibition hall, and the colorful scenes create a surrealist fantasy romance.
Liu Shuhuifen, deputy director of Today Art Museum, commented: "Rich imagination and strong detail are the core elements of Erik Johansson's work, and he 'makes the impossible possible' in each work. We sincerely hope that everyone will challenge their imaginations, feel the wonderful creativity of photographers, and experience the fantasy fairy tales in the adult world. (Text/Gao Dan)
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