5-minute presentation

Rich and poor in Hong Kong

This is the third exhibition I have been recently. This exhibition is different from the past exhibitions I have been to. The major difference is about the social problems involved. As a civilian living in Hong Kong who loves art, this exhibition about poverty really impressed me. Poverty is a global issue affecting both mature and developing societies.In Hong Kong, poverty is on the rise and is increasingly seen as a serious economic, social, and political problem in what is one of the world’s dynamic urban economic and cultural centres. The WYNG Masters Award for Photography (WMA) is a non-profit project initiated to spark public awareness and to support interest in important and socially relevant issues to Hong Kong. WMA’s mission is to stimulate discussion and to encourage the development of social responsibility in Hong Kong by employing the medium of photography to explore such subjects. And this exhibition showed all the work which earned the award.

These are the decorations representing old-fashioned Hong Kong while I am walking in.

These are some installation art created by students regarding rich and poor.

After walking past all the decorations and installation art, I arrived to the area showing photos. Different photographers have participated and the themes they chose are varied. The messages they all try to present are heavy since it is not an easy problem that can be solved sooner or later. After visiting this exhibition, I reflected a lot. Life can be easy or harsh and it isn't a fair game. Someone is born rich and someone is born poor. If nothing is done to stop the vicious cycle of rich and poor, then the gap between people from different walks of life will be widened. In this case, the society will not be harmonious. It is hoped that art can continue to play its role to affect people in a good way.

Andy Warhol-15 minutes eternal

The second visit I would like to write my review on is the exhibition of Andy Warhol. I feel very excited before going to the exhibition since I personally like Andy Warhol very much. I have read the background information and story about his life before. I think he defines Pop Art and has introduced Art to many people's life due to the daily-life materials he used.

This is a well-known artwork from Warhol. He used campbell's cans to do pop art. Campbell is a famous food brand and he chooses to use things from everyday life to do art work. I think it is an important element to Pop Art.

Marylyn Monroe was a legend at that Warhol's time. Andy Warhol has published different portraits of her. Different colour combinations present different feelings. The funniest thing is the emotions of Marylyn Monroe seem to be well-presented through various combinations of colors.

These are two of Andy Warhol's polaroid films. He does not only draw, but also takes photos to record his life.

After visiting this exhibition, I find art is actually everywhere. Andy Warhol has defined and show what pop art is. It exists in our everyday life. He even used his finger to draw. Through watching the video showing in the silver factory, i have known better about his drawing process and his paintings will surely live eternally.

Yayoi Kusama: Mirror Room

Yayoi Kusama Studio Infinity Mirrored Room
Filled with the Brilliance of Life 2011

A dizzying effect is created with the aid of the dots on the mirror. This creates a feeling that the dots appear to go on and on into infinity.The walls and ceiling of the room are mirrored, and the floor features a shallow pool of water. Visitors walk through the room on a walkway made of mirrored tiles. Hanging from the ceiling are hundreds of small, round LED lights that flash on and off in different colour configurations. The pinpricks of light in the otherwise darkened room appear to reflect endlessly in the mirrors, giving the viewer the experience of being in an apparently endless space, broken only by points of light in the darkness.

The Infinity Mirror Rooms can be seen as the expression of Kusama’s interest in infinite, endless vision, something that can also be seen in the ‘all-over’ quality of her earlier work in painting, sculpture and installation.  The nets covering Kusama’s Infinity Net paintings repeat across the surface of the paintings, suggesting an endless lattice. The scale of the largest of these paintings is visible in an offcut measuring almost ten metres wide. Even in the early 1960s when she first exhibited these works Kusama was keen that they should overwhelm the viewer’s visual field. 



Reference link:http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/blogs/kusama-and-infinity

Yayoi Kusama

Yayoi Kusama is a well-known Japanese contemporary artist, who is completely obsessed with dots. Started to paint using polka dots and nets as motifs at around age ten ,and created fantastic paintings in watercolors, pastels and oils.Throughout her career she has worked in a wide variety of media, including painting, collage, sculpture, performance art and environmental installations, most of which exhibit her thematic interest in psychedelic colors, repetition and pattern. A precursor of the pop art, minimalist and feminist art movements, Kusama influenced contemporaries such as Andy Warhol and Claes Oldenburg. Although largely forgotten after departing the New York art scene in the early 1970s, Kusama is now acknowledged as one of the most important living artists to come out of Japan, and an important voice of the avant-garde.

One of her galleries.

In 2000, Kusama won The Education Minister’s Art Encouragement Prize and Foreign-Minister’s Commendations. Her solo exhibition that started at Le Consortium in France in the same year traveled to Maison de la culture du Japon, Paris, KUNSTHALLEN BRANDTS ÆDEFABRIK, Denmark, Les Abattoirs, Toulouse, KUNSTHALLE Wien, Art Sonje Center, Seoul.She has received the Asahi Prize in 2001, the Medal with Dark Navy Blue Ribbon in 2002, the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Officier), and the Nagano Governor Prize (for the contribution in encouragement of art and culture) in 2003. In 2004, Her solo exhibition “KUSAMATRIX” started at Mori Museum in Tokyo. This exhibition drew visitors totaling 520,000 people. In the same year,another solo exhibition started at The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo  In 2005, it traveled to The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Contemporary Art Museum, Kumamoto, Matsumoto City Museum of Art.She has also received the 2006 National Lifetime Achievement Awards, the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Losette and The Praemium Imperiale -Painting- in 2006.In 2008, Documentary film, (near equal) series, the fifth. [ Yayoi Kusama, I adore myself.] was released.
 The followings are a  few of her paintings or installation art.

References:
http://www.yayoi-kusama.jp/e/biography/index.html
http://www.nittygrittynow.com/yayoi-kusama-i-love-me/
http://fuckyeahacidpatterns.tumblr.com/page/492
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yayoi_Kusama

Contemporary Art visit (I)

Today's visit was mainly divided into two parts. The first exhibition we have been to is "Around Sound" located in Kwun Tong Ferry Pier, which is also a part of the art festival and retreat. There are artists from all over the world staying in Hong Kong so as to actively participate in the festival. Personally, i find this cross-border cooperation really meaningful. Exchanging ideas with people from all walks of life is vital as an indirect way to boost creativity. With the great diversity of the artwork exhibited, the impact of the festival can be greatly enhanced wholly. Being an international city, i think hong kong can take this as an advantage for the art industry.
The first stop for the visit is the site-specific installation made by Matt Cook.

He loves improvisation. He said he will keep making the devices during the exhibition till the point he thinks his work has finished. By then, he will leave the devices here making different voices.

Matt is demonstrating how to connect his devices to the battery in order to sound.

Some of the loudspeakers Matt gathered.

These are two devices he made.

THese are the tools Matt used for his creation. By observing what he used, I can understand more about his working progress.

One of the devices Matt made is resembling the sound of fan.

Distorted fan. I was wondering what does it mean. What sound will it produce?

There are sound produced everywhere in the pier and some of them are natural sound such as the sound of wind or sea wave while some of them are humanly produced. This speaker could be a significant example. With the presence of all these sounds, I can imagine the old days and prosperity of the old Kwun Tong pier.

The second stop of the visit is located on the second floor. The corresponding artist, Akio Suzuki came from Japan. He is responsible for two performing arts and below are some photos taken. The process of completing his art work is part of the artwork. This is the performance arranged for the festival. While Akio is completing his artwork, I was deeply impressed by his facial expression and the communication between the lady. Personally, I don't like talking much to my friends  because words can form lies easily while communicating without words is more powerful.
Maybe this is why inspiring paintings, artworks, or even songs can surpass the time constraints. Back to   Akio's work, the way the sound triggers the movement of the lady is interesting to me too. It seems to me they are trying tell a story or present an ideology yet due to my limited knowledge towards sound art, I can only depend on my imaginations. The vigor of the sound produced by Akio and the movement of the lady are in tunes. They are communicating with a means that cannot be seen but can only be felt. It inspires me. Sometimes when I am creating my own art work, I purposely add some symbolic elements into it so that others can understand what am I doing more easily. Nonetheless, I find it unnecessary now. What others perceive is not important since art is about imagination. Owing to my limitations to sound art, I have larger room for imaginations. There are always good or bad sides.

The materials Akio used.

The second part of the visit is held in the osage gallery. I am pleased to enjoy artwork from Magdalen Wong and Ng Sai Kit. Personally, I find Magdalen's work more impressive.  Her work is titled as A Flight of Fantasy. Some commercials are hidden in her work and i think it is really funny. She shows her imagination about her fantasy in this diverse world.

I think the idea is innovative. Magdalen has put a TV playing a particular famous commercial upside-down. The audience can only guess the content by looking down on the reflected shadow.

Personally, I like the feelings of drawing with water color. How the painting looks like depends on the flow of water. This is my favorite painting in this exhibition. Hand has many representations. In this painting, I see hope but I am not sure about why blue is chosen to be the theme color. The frame os circular and it kind of fits the painting very well. 

From my perspective, it looks like spilled milk.

This screen is showing a video clip about natural landscape.