Reviews
Art
Smashing pottery
Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts Professor Ma Yuan stunned his peers by smashing several valuable pieces of ancient Chinese pottery then using the powder in a series of highly conceptual art works. These works are on show at the Today Art Museum in southern Beijing until Saturday.
Featured are some 20 temperas Ma created using the powder as pigment to recapture the splendor of the original pottery, and a powder-filled glass container resembling the stratigraphic sequence millennia ago on Earth. Also on display is a 10-meter high totem-like installation of TV sets screening computer-morphed video footages about the process of grinding and painting the temperas. Picture shows Ma mixing the colorful powder.
Zhu Linyong
Gallery online
Contemporary Chinese art has attracted huge attention over recent years, sparking a trend among artists here to go online to increase their global visibility.
The London-based Saatchi Gallery is offering free web spaces and facilities for Chinese artists and art students through their site, www.saatchigallery.com/yourgallery. Walker (pictured), an installation by Shi Jinsong, is one of the interesting items on display.
British collector Charles Saatchi launched the "your gallery" project in 2006. The website has reportedly attracted at least 30,000 artists and art major students worldwide, serving as an international platform for exchanging ideas and displaying photos of their creative works. In the coming months, similar free web showcases will be provided for artists in Russia, India and Spain, said Annabel Fallon, spokeswoman with the Saatchi Gallery in London. ZLY
Fashion
Design craze
Young designers showed unique creations at a special market in Beijing on June 3. Handmade works on sale from the 12 designers included dolls, household items and clothes.
Among highlights were Chen Xingfu's Happiness Dolls - rabbits and bears with extremely long and thin legs, reminiscent of the installations of YBA (Young British Artists), who were known for their experimental works in the 1990s. But Chen had added lovely patterns to the cloth of the dolls, bringing balance to their avant-garde design.
In keeping with Olympic fever, some designers had created small cloth dolls, shaped as though involved in sporting events. Others showed wallets and bags designed with images of pandas. Designer Meng Jie (pictured) drew bleeding toes on a pair of shoes among other items with interesting patterns.
The design market has been held irregularly in China over the past few years. It was inspired by similar markets in London, which provide a platform for young designers to show and sell their works there. But in China, the market does not have a regular agenda or location. Usually organizers, this time SDX Joint Publishing Company and City Pictorial, rent a venue and invite the participants.
Liu Wei
(China Daily 06/07/2007 page20)
