Imaginary: Resisting the Real Times
Venue: OCAT Center for Contemporary Art, Shanghai
Exhibition period: April 8 - June 10, 2018
Ticket Price: Free
Comments: Compared with the previous ".com/.cn" exhibition, the new media exhibition "Imaginary and Unpredictable: Resisting the Real Era" with images as the main body has higher ornamental and thinking value. What is the boundary between the real and the virtual, and what role does the image play in shaping the world as they perceive it?
Rating: Three and a half stars
Not long ago, an exhibition of immersive video, sound installations and photographic works, "The Unpredictable: The Real Era of Resistance to Reality", opened at OCAT Shanghai. The content of the exhibition focuses to a large extent on the people who "live" on the Internet - the digital native generation, and the protagonists of the works are often played by children and teenagers, and the seemingly interesting games they participate in and dominate all touch on the so-called "boundary" problem.
In the video work Cambeck (2001), four young boys, facing the sea in Angola, Africa, "sit" in a car made of bunkers and play. They mimic the way adults speak, talking about the "good life" in The United States. The children of families forced to leave their homes because of war, poverty and unemployment hope to leave the slums and move around the world in a four-walled house and in a luxury car. The boys' innocent, innocent conversations stand in stark contrast to the real life they live in.
Bineld Hussein, Cambeck (screenshot), 2011, HD video, 2 minutes and 30 seconds, works and pictures courtesy of the artist
In the short film "Live Games" (2008), it is seen that violence has penetrated into the daily visual culture with the spread of the Internet, and even "infected" innocent children's games. In the short film, a group of children play hide-and-seek in the forest, and in an instant, the children in the game suffer a real and fierce ambush and fall to the ground; another film shows a classic comic book character standing in the school cafeteria of a digital image simulation after the 1999 shooting massacre in a high school, silently reading messages and comments on the tragedy on the Internet; the image just exhibited at the 14th Documenta exhibition in Kassel, Germany, in 2017, reproduced an Internet café shooting incident, the audience can through the data, Information about the case learns about the past, as well as social issues that have been covered up.
In fact, the exhibition, titled "Imaginary and Unpredictable," does not deliberately distinguish between those ambiguous boundaries or discuss the effects of boundaries in the process of people's perception of the world. It is more about observing the social, political and personal experiences of the present moment through different levels of "reality". This new definition of the complex "truth" creates definitions of "human", "social" and "normal". The perception of the real world by the generation born and raised in the digital media world derives mostly from the Internet, and perhaps this topic can show unique value in the context of the exhibition's discussion. (Text/Lu Sijia)
Bonnie Rogers, Screenshot of the work "Reciting Poems with Guslynne Membran in the Columbine Restaurant", 2014, animated film, 19 minutes 30 seconds, works and pictures courtesy of the artist
Return to Reinvention: Buddell and his sculptural art
Venue: Art Museum of Tsinghua University
Comments: During the Republic of China period, when Western modernism was introduced, it was still concerned with classical feelings; now the Art Museum of Tsinghua University has re-examined the works created by Buddell's return to ancient Greco-Roman mythology through the exhibition, the context is different, and the mood is not the same.
Rating: Four stars
Although his reputation is hard to match that of his teacher Rodin, Buddell's sculptural art is also well-known at home and abroad. As a high-level cooperation project, this exhibition is presented in the huge first-floor exhibition hall of the Art Museum of Tsinghua University, which is grand and elegantly decorated, and it is conceivable that the exhibition cost is not cheap. The exhibition uses gray and white as the design background, which sets off the texture of the bronze sculpture, which is coordinated and low-key.
At the entrance, there is a circular booth with Budder's iconic work Hercules the Archer (1906-09) as the opening and title of the exhibition; this entrance is also an exit, and when you walk through all the exhibition halls and return here, look at the same sculpture on the circular booth, feel different, and feel its boldness and appeal. The block shape of the human muscles and the texture of the stones highlight the hero's courage, and the hand is enlarged with a special treatment, although it is not commensurate with the head, but it is also full of strength.
Hercules the Archer, 1906-1909
Impressively, the exhibition provides a comprehensive account of Boudle's creative process – through manuscripts, watercolors, photographs, sculptural models, and bronze poured works completed by sculpture – all of which are sourced from the Boudell Museum, showing the solidity of its collation. This also really adds a lot of three-dimensional touch to the "monotony" of the sculpture exhibition. In a studio photo, we can distinguish between a small model of Hercules the Archer and Apollo with a Cubist-style pedestal.
Model for Hercules the Archer
Buddell's studio
At the entrance to the exhibition hall there is a simple chronology of Boudell. Throughout the exhibition, except for the first module, "The Origin of Buddell's Creation", which is a general description, the other six units are all records of specific works and their creative processes, that is, through individual cases (female sculptures and ancient Greek figure themes) to express Buddell's inheritance of "ancient style" and the innovation of personality, and to put him in the artistic high position of perfectly blending classical and modern. Among them, the heroic theme is full of majestic power and sublime beauty, while the female themes such as "Fruit" and "Pallas" have a gentle and gentle side; in addition, the women represented in "Penelope" are mopping the floor in robes, strong lower limbs, and a heavy plump beauty.
The exhibition hall scene and the back of "Penheroper", © Tsinghua University Art Museum
A story related to China's art circles: Liu Haisu traveled in Europe in 1929, and was shocked when he learned of Budell's death in Paris with Fu Lei and Zhang Xian; the latter people went along and attended the funeral held in Budell's studio to pay respects to the remains of the master. In addition to recording the funeral scene, Liu Haisu did not forget to praise his sculptures, pointing out that he was "detached from the tendency to be architectural", avoiding the "ills of impressionism withering" that Rodin's other students had complicited, which was precisely because Buddell was able to communicate "the trembling of modern art and the sanctity of Aegean culture", combining "the greatness of the Renaissance with the calmness of Olympia". Obviously, on the breakthrough of artistic modernity, Liu Haisu feels exactly Buder's classical feelings - and this is closely related to Liu Haisu's pursuit of classical Chinese art at this stage.
During the Republic of China period, when Western modernism was introduced, it was still concerned with classical feelings; now the Art Museum of Tsinghua University has "re-examined the works created by Buddell returning to ancient Greco-Roman mythology" through the exhibition, the context is different, and the mood is not the same. (Text/Lamb)
Monet with architecture
Venue: National Gallery
Tickets: £20-22
Comments: Reveals Monet's deep soul and shows that his love of nature is not just about escaping reality. In an era when industrialization was increasingly infiltrated and the concern for humanity and emotions was becoming less and less concerned, he expressed a desire for human survival and a call for the return of humanity.
Rating: Five stars
The retrospective "Monet and Architecture" is the first exhibition in the UK in nearly two decades where all of Monet's paintings are exhibited, and the first exhibition to interpret Monet's works from an architectural perspective. At first glance, the exhibition seems to provide a new opportunity for the viewer to once again bathe the public in the incomparable light and shadow of Monet's paintings. However, unlike past exhibitions of Monet's works, this retrospective of "Monet and Architecture" may really allow you to see Monet's serious and deep side. Painted in 1867, the mottled silver-gray clouds on the canvas still seem so vivid even today – including it, the retrospective "Monet and Architecture" features a total of 78 paintings, divided into three parts: "Rural Landscapes", "Modern Cities" and "Mysterious Ruins", and the time span of the works includes Monet's Venetian series of paintings from the mid-1860s to 1912, many of which are breathtaking.
Monet, The Coal Handler, 1875
In the 19th century, architecture was given a moral force. In a rapidly industrializing world, old architecture has regained its attention. Surviving medieval buildings– such as the Church of Valengeville, built in the 13th century– are seen as valuable remnants of the history of groups destroyed by capitalism. John Ruskin, the British art critic and social activist of the time, believed that this medieval cultural revival movement had a clear anti-capitalist connotation. In France, this ethos of expressing the anti-capitalist spirit by reviving medieval architecture was reflected in the famous architect Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc's passionate and imaginative restoration of the medieval landmark Notre Dame cathedral, and the new medieval building, the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, which began construction in 1875.
Monet, Church of Valengeville, 1882
The warm, dreamy and solemn brushstrokes of the Painting of the Church of Vallgueville are the first major clues in this exhibition, from which we can glimpse the convergence of Monet's and John Ruskin's views: they both dream of a medieval era that is close to socialism, and on the ancient churches and dilapidated masonry, there are still faint glimpses of the lost paradise. And after wandering through Monet's tender fantasies of old towns, bridges and churches, all of a sudden, we come to Paris, full of modernity – and the second clue emerges.
Monet, along with some of his like-minded Impressionists, held their first exhibition in 1874 in celebration of modern middle-class urban life. However, the retrospective "Monet and Architecture" shows a very different Monet, a Monet who is deeply concerned about the industrialized world and is extremely shocked by the social injustices caused by industrialization. Leaving aside the superficial praise of the quirky metropolis, Paris seems like a nightmare in Monet's 1873 painting Rue Capsinai—street lamps emitting a harsh and grim light above the bustling crowds, crowds of people dressed in black wandering in confusion like insects, and on a balcony high up there, two hat-wearers look at it all with cold eyes.
Monet, Via Capsinai, 1873
In addition to this, this stunning and unexpected exhibition will present some of Monet's greatest works to further illustrate Monet's critical attitude towards capitalism. Monet's group of paintings of the Gothic façade of rouen Cathedral, created in the early 1890s, can be said to be a series of wonders that make people imagine endlessly. Viewed from considerable distance, the paintings exude an eerie atmosphere and look like Victorian photographs, giving the impression that they were inspired by a tan postcard with the theme of this stately building. As you look as close as you can, this illusion is shattered by the dull, rough, abstract, and wild colors on the canvas.
Monet, Rouen Cathedral, 1894
The retrospective "Monet and Architecture" reveals Monet's deep soul, showing that his love of nature is not just about escaping reality. In an era when industrialization was increasingly infiltrated and the concern for humanity and emotions was becoming less and less concerned, he expressed a desire for human survival and a call for the return of humanity. (Editor/Zhang Yilin)