One of the translators took Gotz, Husam and I to Hot Pot dinner, she wanted us to meet her class mates. It was the end to a great day after we had seen our sculptures placed in the new high-Tech development Park. We had a wonderful evening and the wonderful company of these lovely ladies. They showed the three of us the techniques used in preparing tasty HotPot and returned us back to the hotel safe and sound.
Aragorn Read, the artist from the British Virgin Is. created a 3 meter steel ball that he cut patterns into. It was loaded with wood and set a blaze on the night of the full moon (the night before we left for Beijing) this a ritual he does at his home, with much smaller sculptures...that is until now!! This was really fantastic to be apart of, it brought the group together in a night of singing, dancing and general bohemian fun. A truly beautiful work of art when glowing with the flame inside. Thanks Aragorn, for sharing this with us all...it was incredible!!
There always something, just when you think you have finished, so I grabbed the brushes and back to work. I really want to finish because in the morning I and six other artists are headed to Beijing for 4 days of fun and seeing the sights (my second time), I'll be the tour guide for some of the group. On our list of to do, 798 Art district, Great Wall, Forbidden City and Summer Palace (I've not seen). We booked the hotel, The Beijing Traditional Hotel in the old Hutong district near the Forbidden City, a nice place. We are taking the high speed train which will take 6 hours hitting speeds of 250 km per hour...should be fun.
This Exhibit Hall was a spectacular sight with dynamic exhibits of futuristic advances in nano technology, bio-technology and all other types of technology. The Exhibit was staffed with tall, sleek model-like women with form-fitting business skirts all delivering their presentations with the latest developments using laser pointers identifying various locations on the High Technology Development Zone and Sculpture Park. The Park is where my sculpture will eventually be exhibited. Everything was extremely impressive. Then I had to use the rest-room, and what a slap back to reality. I mean, the old style traditional Chinese toilet, a hole in the ground, and of course no toilet tissue to be found. Talk about juxtapositioning.
You can check the earlier post to see the "Fish Fountain" being sculpted. What you see are glass pebbles epoxied to the surface and then a grout (white) in between.
Eagle Ray above Ice Cream Cone Dive Site. Beautiful Nudibranch (Phyllidiella annulata) Soft Coral Spotted eel Fan Coral-The flash lighting the front fan brightly pops the color. Seven weeks in China had kept me out of the beautiful water here in Saipan, a place which has some of the worlds most incredible dive spots. The ocean really puts on a spectacular show when you light it up with the flash of a camera. I love the lush texture that the underwater world contains, it is just so rich...visually. There are few things that you can do that totally allow a person to move in a truly 3-D way in this wonderful world we live in. As a three Dimensional artist, experiencing movement underwater, total 3-D directional movement, really engages your senses. Bubbles fall up, your not bound to a flat plane...fish rarely swim up-side down...but you can, it's just so cool. Here are some of the photos I've taken in the last month.
Model of the Sculpture Park that is on display in the Park Museum (foreground right) The park is packed with half of Changchun-Wasai!!! Ryan saying goodbye to his sculpture...get a room. Tamara and Marko from Belgrade Serbia and his stone sculpture. Twins in China 9/07/08 Sunday
The Conference was held at the Hotel and had a full schedule of guest speakers who came from all corners of the globe. The speakers from visiting countries tended to touch on non-controversial topics, like the positive direction of pubic art or historical background on the organizations they were representing. Although meaty historically, they seemed to stop sort of addressing the current trends and dodged addressing problems, solutions or what might be a means to resolving them. The Chinese speakers on the other hand tackled more relevant topics specific to China, identifying specific problems they face while trying to place sculpture in public spaces. One topic engage was directed toward a problem recognized, politicians who try to ingratiate themselves in the public eye by placing junk sculpture in road medians and intersections, highly visible locations. Many of these sculptures were nothing more than giant 3-D logos of companies who support these politicians. I thought this to be very gutsy of these professors and as far as I know, none were hauled away and certainly none were stopped from speaking their minds on the subjects. This was so unlike what I expected and really quite the reverse, those visiting, walked on eggs so to speak, and those supposedly repressed speaking openly. China is truly opening it’s doors and minds.
The day became really fun at lunch when Ryan and I saw Marko’s pictures of the Sculpture Park during his morning visit. It was filled with people, the masses had turned out for a Sunday at the park. Conference-shmonference, we were going to the park and meet the people of China. We piled in the taxi with our interpreters…it was unfreakingbelievable when we arrived, it was packed, standing room only (ok, but you could not run through the crowds). This was the most people we had ever seen in the park at one time, now we understood why the sidewalks were so big. After taking some pictures, I stood between the “twins” and smiled for the camera, shaking hands with thousands of friendly people, all wanting a picture…with the artist. It was truly fun, Chun Hua had to explain the “meaning” many times and really earned her keep that day. (she took the pics…Movie too) Closing Dinner and party to come!
Hey, who put that Rodin in front of the Wonenberg!! Movie during the Opening Ceremony (spin around)
Stop action Movie
The Twins!!! (Totem-Standing Together) 9/06/08 Saturday 6 a.m. I caught a taxi to the sculpture studio. The sun had already been up for two hours and glowed like an orange orb in the morning sky. I had to see if the sculpture had been moved to the park site, the last time I had seen it was at 3:00 yesterday, and the opening of the conference was at 9 o’clock just three hours away…I was obsessing the whole night, would they place them properly, were they clean, where were they placed in the park for the conference opening??? So many questions and there would not be much time if changes needed to be made. I also had another mission to attend to, a gift for Chun Hua.
I arrived at the park studio, and just as I suspected, men were working, the headman directing as they moved the large granite name stones for each of the artists sculptures…the men looked beat. He smiled, and he knew exactly why I was there, and so off we went to the exhibit site for my inspection. He sensed my angst I’m sure. Much to my surprise the twins were place very well, 1 meter apart and at right angel to each other…so he had been paying attention to me when I explained the arrangement, and Chun Hua had, with her usual expertise, translated my instructions to the letter. I thanked him and he dropped me back at the studio so I could walk to the light rail. I needed a bite to eat and there was an eatery (can you tell me the name of the place from the photo?) next to a Wall-mart about 5 blocks down the tracks. It was 6:45 and the store didn’t open until 8:00 so I had some time to kill, even after I ate. Those little moments that you spend sitting and observing people are fun, the walking of dogs (some great breeds) which is a resent thing, because Chinese incomes are larger, pet care isn’t cheap in a big city. I did some stop action video (just playing) and time flew by as the people did in the video. I got some help calling the hotel to inform them I would not be on the bus, and would meet them at the main gate of the sculpture park. I thought it went well…later, I find out …it didn’t.
“Welcome to wall-mart” it’s the same everywhere, I knew I would find the item I was looking for, I had drawn a quick sketch of it on a napkin to show the clerks…success!!
I arrive with/on the gift at the main gate of the Changchun Sculpture Park and there were thousands of people gathering and lining up for the entry into the park. The bus from the hotel with all the artists had not arrived yet (they were looking for me) but they were now en route, the interpreters are there and they saw me approach on the main road. Remember back in early August Chun Hua had her bicycle stolen… I rode by the crowd of interpreters, waving at them, Chun Hua turned around in disbelief. “Barry what are you doing riding a bicycle what are you doing? (she was clueless) I said “I’m riding YOUR bicycle” by the look on her face and the tears welling in her eyes (she figured it out). See pictures above.
It just keeps getting better…inside a band is playing and the twins look good surrounded by spectators. We were seated in the front row, and received scroll certificates and doves flew as the conference was declared open.
Above are photos of the opening of the International Sculpture Conference it was huge.
Sadog Tasi (area), Saipan (Island), Northern Mariana Islands
I teach visual arts at Northern Marianas College on the beautiful island of Saipan , and create art works in my home studio in Sadog Tasi. I have been selected in a juried international competition to represent the Northern Mariana Islands and create four of my sculptures for the 9th, 11th and 12th annual Changchun China International Sculpture Symposium. This blog is in journal format, my observations, reflections and thoughts... most resent at the top.
