This video is an interview with Zeng Fanzhi detailing his works at Gagosian Gallery, located in New York. This exhibit was a culmination of 3 years work, and viewers can get a look into his thought process behind the creation of his abstract works. Fanzhi had mentioned that solely choosing the colors for some of his paintings took months, which I found shocking, and underscores the intricacy he takes with all of this works. He also describes mentally how the difficulty of the painting changes from start to finish which I never thought about. It was cool to learn more about Zeng Fanzhi as a painter as now I feel I can put myself in his shoes and think about the paintings he creates.
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https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/11/arts/11iht-jessop.1.11901116.html
This article introduces an exhibition at the Singapore Art Museum called “Xu Beihong in Nanyang”. As Xu Beihong traveled throughout Southeast Asia and India between 1939 and 1941, his paintings still conveyed a subtle patriotic theme for supporting the people in his motherland. This article also included some comments from Kwok Kian Chow, the director of the Singapore Art Museum. Chow comments that Xu was not the first to formulate the idea of integrating Western practices and ideas into Chinese art, but he was one of the first to offer a solution and a direction. From this article, I understand that Xu Beihong had an immense influence on the development of Chinese painting in the 20th century because he championed an expansive realism that included Romanticism and Expressionism. These comments are particularly useful for me to understand Xu Beihong’s ideology in his art creations and how this built his prestige and influence within China. This article also provides information about the significance of some of the famous works in the background of the Anti-Japanese War, such as “The Foolish Old Man Who Removed the Mountains” (1940) and “Put Down Your Whip” (1939).
Bibliography:
Kolesnikov-jessop, Sonia. “Xu Beihong: A Chinese Master of Styles That Straddle East and West.” The New York Times. The New York Times, April 11, 2008. https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/11/arts/11iht-jessop.1.11901116.html.
https://www.hennessy.com/en-int/stories/cai-guo-qiang-live-event
The article “Cai Guo-Qiang: A Live Event” on the Hennessy website describes a performance art event by the artist in which he created a painting using gunpowder and fireworks. The event took place at the Hennessy Château in Cognac France in September, 2019. It was part of the Hennessy’s “Master of the Arts” program and was attended by a select group of guests.
The article provides an in-depth look into Cai Guo-Qiang’s creative process and the inspirations behind his work. Through interviews with the artist and his team, readers gain insights into the technical and artistic aspects of the performance, as well as the philosophical and cultural themes that underpin Cai’s practice. The article also includes stunning visuals of the event. These visuals showcase the power and beauty of Cai’s work in a unique setting. Through these visuals and the accompanying text, the article offers a fascinating glimpse into the world of Cai Guo-Qiang in which highlight the ways in which his art engages with broader cultural and political themes, while also showcasing his innovative and dynamic approach to art-making.
This article is really informative about the history of Qi Baishi’s life. It describes his life and how it relates to his eventual artistic style. It also shows the awards he received which is important to understanding his value to the Chinese art landscape. It also talks about his training which shows how much he cared for his art and it gives background as to how he was able to make his pieces that were popular.
I chose this webpage because I believe in order to understand the artist that Qi Baishi was, you should understand his childhood and how that made him create art that appealed to everyone.
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/08/realestate/zhang-hongtusart-studio-in-woodside-queens.html
In this link, we get an inside look into Zhang Hongtu’s apartment in Queens, New York. I really liked this article because it was extremely personal. His apartment has a studio, which is why he bought it. In this interview, Zhang takes the interviewer on a tour of his home. He stops to point out photographs of him and his wife in China before they immigrated, and discusses how his wife landscaped their backyard. His house has big wooden doors in a Japanese style, and he discusses how the air in his space feels fresh and calming. He has books of his own art on his coffee table.
I chose this article to talk about because it is a side of the artist that is not often shown. Simply imagining his home and workspace makes him feel more human, and separates him from his art. It also gives great context to his work as it is fun to imagine him painting and working in the spaces that are described.
https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft829008m5&chunk.id=d0e4120&toc.depth=100&toc.id=d0e3117&brand=ucpress
This website is conducted by the University of California Press and discusses key highlights of Feng Zikai’s history. They also show some of his works that follow the timeline of his history. They go into depth about Feng Zikai’s historical context, and his frustration with his work. He had made many different types of work, and the website goes into depth about how these different types of work had made him feel and caused himself new challenges.
Bibliography:
University of California Press. “War and Peace in the Cartoons of Feng Zikai.”
News release. 1982-2004. https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/
view?docId=ft829008m5&chunk.id=d0e4120&toc.depth=100&toc.id=d0e3117&brand=ucpress
Ai Weiwei’s website explains some of his films he directed and the background behind his creative decisions. In addition to being an architect and working in design, Ai Weiwei is also a director. His website explains the vision behind his recent memoir titled, “1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows.” This film discusses Ai Weiwei’s childhood and how his father’s counter-revolutionary beliefs influenced the manner in which he grew up. Considering Ai Weiwei’s father’s creativity was restrained, Ai finds it important to share his political beliefs and fight for human rights. I think that this website is a great resource as it dives into the driving forces behind Ai Weiwei’s means of expression.
Bibliography
Ai, Weiwei. Ai Weiwei Films. Accessed May 4, 2023. https://www.aiweiwei.com/.
The interesting link provided below is an interview that someone had with my artist, Feng Mengbo. They interviewed him in 2013 about a piece of technology that he owned. The point of the interview was to build off of how Feng’s love for video games and technological tools shows up in his artworks. The insight that this interview brings to my topic is how Feng’s love for technology from the beginning of his digital media art career all the way to the future plays an important role when it comes to the creativity and building of his new digital artworks. This is because each specific electronic he uses or video game he has or is playing appears in each artwork somehow. He gets his inspirations from each current electronic or video game that he has played at the time or is playing and is coming up with a new artwork.
Work Cited
“Feng Mengbo Biography, Artworks & Exhibitions.” Ocula the best in contemporary art icon. Accessed April 26, 2023. https://ocula.com/artists/feng-mengbo/.
https://www.1000plateaus.org/artists/30-chen-qiulin/
This is Chen Qiulin’s gallery page by 1000 plateaus gallery. The gallery is run by her partner and they decided to work together because the gallery as a whole recognizes her talent and allows her to work at her own pace. This gives her a comfortable space to fully express her creative abilities (Qiulin 2013). Sadly it does not hold all her art but it holds a majority of it, especially the more recent pieces. It also includes the most information about each piece compared to other websites that have a collection of her work. In my opinion, the best way to view her work is through “Peppermint” (her book). It includes her own words describing her thought processes and the goal of the piece. This book can be pricey but is available in Shaffer library. Being able to see large high definition photos of her work is vital in understanding the meaning behind the work.
Bibliography:
Chen, Qiulin. 2013. Review of CHEN QIULIN 陈秋林 Interview by Monica Merlin. Tate.org. https://www.tate.org.uk/research/research-centres/tate-research-centre-asia/women-artists-contemporary-china/chen-qiulin.
Website: https://www.panyulin.org/categories.php?lang=tw
This link provides a short biography of Pan Yuliang, including a timeline of her life and an abundance of her paintings (and other works). The database of her paintings is beneficial when comparing and contrasting Pan’s ideas as she progressed through her career. It will also help with my exhibition because my goal for it is to discuss the representation and treatment of Chinese women through Pan’s personal experience. Although it does not contain all of her paintings, it contains enough information to gauge Pan’s art style (Modernism and Impressionism), medium (oil), and her appreciation of women and the human body. The short biography mostly provides information on her schooling while the timeline provides her life events in chronological order. This helps establish what was occurring in her life at the time of her paintings, and it may also help explain why she painted what she did.
Bibliography:
“作品: 潘玉良 Pan Yu Lin.” 作品 | 潘玉良 PAN YU LIN. Liqing Culture and Education Foundation, 2015. https://www.panyulin.org/categories.php?lang=tw.
