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Saturday, July 28, 2012

G.R. N'Namdi Gallery Internship

This is my last day working in the G.R. N'Namdi Gallery. I still remember the cold Christmas morning when I walked into the gallery with resume and portfolio in hand; I had been turned down by so many galleries just because I was a high school student. I was expecting another careless "just put your resume there and we will get back to you later".

However, I received a big smile and a warm hand from Isra, the gallery assistant, and ended up talking with an African American photographer on the cultural roots of minority art for more than an hour. "We will strongly recommend you to our director." Isra told me before I left.

Winter in Chicago was freezing cold, but this little hope was enough to warm up my heart.

Then it was the actual interview in April. Leather jacket, high heels, resume in hand, I was ready to go. The interview went smoothly and I got the acceptance letter after the weekend.

Now I've been working here for six weeks. Due to the grand opening of the new location in Miami, everything here in Chicago was a little slow. Nice pace for a relaxing summer job though :D

It was challenging but exciting to write the business report for the gallery website renovation; reorganizing the inventory gave me the chance to familiarize with different artists' work, and it was a lot of heavy labor. Working with the other interns on the upcoming show in the past several days was the best! It was so much fun organizing our own show from screwing nails to arranging the artworks.

May the warm and lively theme of this exhibition prolong the vibrant beauty of Chicago's summer!

Summer in Chicago was so much fun! I enjoyed cheering with the crowd in the colorful Pride Parade, being the only Asian among thousands of African Americans in the Gospel Music Festival, cooking for myself everyday like a professional housewife, having hot pot with some Chinese students from UChicago, crawling on the glass floor on top of the Willis Tower, seeing beautiful jellies with Kara in the Aquarium......

Good bye Chicago, good bye America, see you in the fall!





Homemade rice cake soup!



First day of work!

Group picture of all the interns. Love you, guys!!



Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Streams of Thoughts 5: What is Classic


I have been working in the G.R. N'Namdi Gallery in Chicago as an intern for more than a month now. 

Since I started working in the gallery I began to ponder seriously about modern art and its value. I began to ask myself a question: What is classic?

Two weeks ago my host family parents visited me in Chicago. During the brief tour I gave them in the gallery, I showed them a huge abstract piece on the wall which is worth at least a quarter of a million. “If they expose the painting under those spotlight, the painting is gonna be damaged, right?” My host family dad asked; then he answered himself, “well, maybe they never intended to keep the painting for centuries.”

My father’s boss has several modern Chinese paintings that are supposed to be worth ten, twenty thousand Yuan; he went to an auction in Spring trying to sell them but ended up bring them all back. “There were these modern black ink paintings that started with bottom prices of millions of Yuan but no one wants to buy them. Instead some of the old masterpieces were quite popular.” He told my father afterwards.

It seems the trends in the art markets in China and the States are similar: some modern abstract paintings have ridiculously high prices and no market.

It helps us to decipher the reasons behind this interesting phenomenon if we look at the past two centuries of art history. After the camera was invented in 19th Century, art lost its important function of recording. Since the Impressionism, artists have emphasized more and more subjectivity and linked art with personal experiences and feelings. Nowadays if you read abstract artists’ statement, you are most likely to find a sentence such as, “reflect the artist’s personal struggles and generate different reactions with each individual.”

This reminds me of those reading tests I had in Chinese elementary school. A typical question would be, “why does the author say that the curtain is blue?” And the teacher would expect you to write, “the curtain is blue because it reflects the author’s gloomy mood.” Once in a while “an author of justice” will step out and defend the poor elementary school kids, “The curtain is blue because the curtain in my room IS blue.” Of course when you give people a blank paper they would fill this paper with their own crazy imagination. The gesture of handing over a blank paper may be philosophical, but does the paper itself worth millions of dollars? It seems now that a good abstract artist should be a good writer first.

A classic touches human spirit without deliberate explanation. Everyone who reads Shakespeare’s plays knows their power. Everyone who sees Michelangelo’s wall paintings in the Sistine Chapel understands their beauty. We find ourselves small and powerless in the mere present of giants.

A classic is non-reproducible. After the Industrial Revolution and the invention of assembly line, massive production has permeated every aspect of our life, including art. Daniel Buren put up colorful stripes in over 130 subway stations in Paris just to catch the headline of the newspaper and claimed it as art; it’s not art. Or at least it’s a form of art which should be called “entertainment” or “pattern design”. These are patterns that anyone can easily produce. Massive production can never be classic.

A classic creates awe instead of noisy cheers. It generates a sense of holiness and never shows off. Masterpieces never lower themselves to try to please the audience. They always possess a sense of calmness, grace and confidence. Marilyn Monroe is regarded as one of the sexiest actress of all time yet she was wearing a white dress and not showing any body parts excessively when she took everyone’s breath away. The difference between the countless pop singers now and Michael Jackson is that, while singers like Usher and Rihanna bring cheers and screams from the teenager crowd with their shocking lyrics, Michael Jackson also wrote songs such as Heal the World and Man in the Mirror to make the world silent with awe.  

A classic lasts or reappears over time. Apple Company has been using the Unibody design for Mac since 2008. The appearance of MacBook Pro hasn’t been changed for almost 4 years. I love a quote from the chief designer of Mac, Jonathan Ive, “It’s very easy to be different, but very difficult to be better.” When we are celebrating on the uniqueness, the difference of each one of us, why don’t we ask ourselves this question, “how much of my uniqueness makes me a better person?”
 
Art is human creation therefore it reflects the spirit of the current society. While I recognize that it takes time for true masterpieces to develop and be recognized and there are definitely masters in our generation, the current society is too unsettled and noisy for great art to be produced. Everything is busy growing and developing. We don’t have patience. Just like communication, the traditional face-to-face conversations touch us and bond us more than the cold, simple chatting on Facebook because we take time to organize our thoughts, to study the subtle gestures, and to look into each other’s eyes. True masterpieces require the audience to sit down, to settle, to feel and think.

I’ve been thinking about this topic for a long time and I’m glad that I have the chance to organize my thoughts and took the last several days to compose this article. This is one of the most difficult articles I’ve ever written, and I hope it triggers some thoughts from you too.

Above are just my current thoughts on the modern art and classics. Art is a huge concept and I still have  much to learn.

I'm going back to China this Sunday. Since this blog site is blocked in China, I won't be able to post new articles. I will return to the States at the end of September, and I hope you all enjoy the beautiful summer!

Sunday, June 3, 2012

New Painting

I did this painting during the weekend and I was surprised that the final work came out so nicely! I have never really learned painting before. I had a drawing teacher and learned sketching since third grade; however, I only formally learned painting for two months then I stopped drawing because of too much schoolwork in middle school.

After painting four sculpture heads, I could not wait to make a painting and test out my painting skills.  This painting is based on a picture of a male model. I loved that picture because of the dramatic contrast of the colors and the the wild Indian tribal style. 

The sketching part went very smoothly, but I could not gather enough courage to paint the first stroke for a long time. I was so anxious about what was going to turn out.

The painting process was full of excitement and frustration at the same time. I was constantly making mistakes and got really upset with the wrong colors (especially when painting the neck); however, I stepped back to view my work periodically and I was amazed to find out that the color blending actually worked pretty well.

I'm very proud of the final result, and I'm going to frame this painting and use it to decorate my room in UChicago next fall. I hope you enjoy this painting!







Sunday, May 20, 2012

 During the last three weeks of May, Cranbrook has a special program called Senior May during which seniors do full time internships within or outside school. While most boarders find jobs to watch kids at Science Institute and Brookside Kindergarten, I decided to try something different.

I have been working in the school's Financial Office for a week. I thought work was going to be much more relaxing than studying, but it turned out that I was wrong. I stuffed 350 envelops like a robot and created an email newsletter on my first day; the next day I learned Prezi, a computer presentation software; then I spent the next two days teaching my boss how to use Prezi and importing numbers on Excel budget sheets. My overall impression of work is that work is more repetitive and less brainwork than studying, but I'm definitely enjoying my internship.

I love to listen to Mr. Godfryd (my boss :D) talk about accounting and financing, meeting all the "secret people" at school, and having lunch with a bunch of Admission Officers.

As I mentioned, Prezi is a computer software which is far cooler and much more eye-catching than traditional Power Point. I learned it in one day and it's very easy to work with. So here is one of the presentations I made for Mr. Godfryd on a class lecture about credit. 

I want to share this cool tool with you and I hope you don't get dizzy! ;D


Thursday, May 17, 2012

Final Project: Shocked

After finishing all the APs and adjusting into my new job in the Cranbrook financial office, I finally find sometime to talk about my final sculpture project: Shocked.

This sculpture is made of paper clay, and is modeled by my bear hands and some simple tools for details. The part that I'm most proud of is actually the coloring. To many people's surprise, the coloring process was complete within one day, and I painted 7 hours straight in my room under the dim lamp without taking a break. There were moments when I wasn't sure if the color was right because of the insufficient light source, but it turned out to be very realistic and it looks great.

Although I always claim to be an artist ;D, I have this character that totally goes to the opposite of what people normally see in artists: my productivity. People tends to think that artists are often in this slow, meditating mode. For me, however, I might spend months meditating and thinking philosophical questions, but once I commit to one project, if time allows, I would  maybe work 12 hours a day to get it finished in an insane speed.

This is how I work. I love the intensity of working and it takes me into ecstasy.

As I said in an early post, this sculpture deals with the shock and anxiety that people experience so frequently and unnecessarily during our daily life. It is true that no time is a perfect time; however, we have to recognize the present of various unsolved social problems, such as racism, terrorism, and feel the need to make a change.









I was worried about painting the gray hair, but I developed a special technique and it turns out pretty good!



All my four sculpture heads are on display in the hallway of our academic building, and they are participating in an art competition called Thistles, in which every art department at Cranbrook recommend one candidate.




When we put the sculptures together, you can see how my sculptures have evolved during the past two years. The first one, Media, was with good thoughts but not necessarily goos skills. That was the first time I touched clay and a genderless stony face was all I could make.

My second sculpture, Behind the Mask, was on a whole new level. With the experience of my previous  head, I finished the mask side in 3 hours. It was the futuristic side that made this sculpture special. Before I carved, I had no idea what it would turn out; after I finished it, I still don't have any idea how I made this. If you look closely at the details on the metal side, you will understand how much courage I needed to carry on such an ambitious project. It is still the "Mission Impossible" even as I look at it now, but it was a great experience to challenge myself and explore my talent, ruthlessly.



"Mom, it hurts!" is a little bit different. It looked more like a movie setting instead of a head sculpture, and my inspiration came from a real story during the earthquake in China instead of some abstract philosophical thinking of my own. This was my first try of distorted facial expression; many people were scared when they see the sculpture and that means I succeeded!

I was quite surprised to find out that Shocked was the one that stood out among all these sculptures after we put them together. I assumed that Behind the Mask would undoubtedly be the shining star because it is so colorful and has cool Chinese element it in. However, Shocked caught my eyes because of it's super realistic appearance. I had to keep Shocked in my room for the weekend after I finished it, and you can imagine how "shocked" I would be if I ever got up at night......

I'm glad to see all my works together, and I already miss my Sculpture class now.

Please remember to check my blog this weekend, there will be a couple new posts.


BONUS:

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We are both SHOCKED :D




Saturday, May 5, 2012

The Last Sculpture Before College: Shocked



I spent more than 6 hours painting this sculpture today instead of studying for my 3 APs. What a hard-working student I am! :D

Here is the sculpture. I will talk more about it next weekend when I have time. Enjoy!





Saturday, April 7, 2012

Becoming A Phoenix

I am the first person in my family to study abroad and the first generation to attend college; when I bid farewell to my grandfather, he told me to become "a golden phoenix flying out of a cottage," to achieve greatness regardless of my initial poverty. 
Phoenix means good fortune, auspiciousness, and of course, power in Chinese. In ancient China, people used dragon to represent the emperor and the phoenix to represent the queen. In a more general sense, phoenix means a kind of rebirth (just like the American meaning), rising to a higher stage, and prosperity. 
Mysteriously, I do have some weird with the phoenix. My animal sign is rooster, and when I was little, a friend of my mom corrected me when I told her that I'm a rooster, "No, you should say that you are a phoenix," she turned to my mom, "Your daughter is a phoenix."
Since then my whole family started to use "phoenix" to encourage me to make progress. While I was doing my college application, my parents were searching for a phoenix jewelry as a gift for my future acceptance in college. However, I was the one who actually got that phoenix necklace by accidence.
I was hanging out in my favorite store, Michael's, one day and I saw a metal phoenix pendant which I immediately fell in love with. I found a ribbon to go along with it and bought it simply because I thought the gesture of the phoenix was very hopeful and it just had this indescribable power to grab me. 
So here is the phoenix necklace. After composing it, I found it looks awfully like an Olympic metal, which I totally did not think of when I chose that white ribbon. 
I put this necklace away and decided to wear it the day after I came back from Spring Break, which happened to be the date I got all my college results. The phoenix necklace became a symbol for my striving for perfection in senior year; I wanted to wear it proudly on April 2nd, and to declare my rebirth just like a phoenix rising from ashes. 
I did it. And oddly enough, University of Chicago, the college that I'm so honored to be accepted, uses phoenix as its symbol, too! Sometimes I wonder if it is really my "fate" to attend UChicago......
Anyway, these mysterious connections I have with phoenix drive me crazy and I can't stop thinking about it. :D I hope you like my necklace!


April 2nd!!!!! I have been waiting for this day for two months!