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A Matter of Taste: Savouring Chinese Art
How does consuming a hamburger compare to nimbly using chopsticks to ingest rice? Well I’d say it’s no different than comparing the cover of a Flaming Lips album to an austere pagoda. In China as in many cultures, food is an artful and deeply social practice, the preparation, ingredients used, and presentation act like an umbilical cord to the beating heart of Chinese philosophy, ancient tradition, and generations of social relations. Art and cuisine are inherently cultural, why else would Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s soup can be a national icon of the rebellious sixties? Why else would the main searches on TripAdvisor be related to finding delicious, authentic local cuisine when…
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Free and easy: how European drawing finally caught up with China
Recently I was looking at Renaissance drawings with a Chinese friend. The works we were looking at were vast and made with a complex mix of coloured media. She explained that it’s hard to describe drawings like this in Chinese because there is just one word for “drawing”, which simply suggests a flowing sketch. China’s art has always been based on this kind of free drawing, while European art has a long history of being tightly disciplined and studious. Today, as this year’s Jerwood drawing prize shows, the west has caught up with China: this drawing is so open, free and unpredictable it can be almost anything – from the…
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卡拉瓦乔和帕索里尼：精神相通
不考虑到他们的时代，意大利电影导演帕索里尼经常与意大利画家卡拉瓦乔相似，无论是从个人方面还是从专业方面。为什么这两位艺术家如此相似？他们是如何相似的呢? 卡拉瓦乔的作品被认为可与电影照明的发明相提并论 —— 在他所有的作品中深色和浅色的巨大反差，人物的每一个细节都显露出怪异和瑕疵。他的作品无疑是最接近16世纪的照片的。帕索里尼，在他的一生中因为他的极端的政治观点同样被人误解。但是他却拍出了一些20世纪最震撼的电影。 革命，同性恋，愿意引起轰动，他们背景怪诞的相似性（仍然存留猜想）可能影响了他们的作品黑暗而鲜明的风格，这些作品都鲜明地渗透着鄙视与挑衅。 然而美术和电影之间的比较可能不太明显，两位艺术家经常采用的鲜明的灯光效果是一个不可否认的共同点，如左边帕索里尼的电影Teorema（1968）的截图和右边卡拉瓦乔的杰作Judith and Holofernes (1597 – 1600)： 卡拉瓦乔和帕索里尼都享受着社会弃儿的陪伴，将他们作为自己作品的原型。不像与他同时代的人，卡拉瓦乔经常使用“普通”的人作为历史的，宗教的，和富裕的人物形象，如Sleeping Cupid (1608)，其中一个熟睡的孩子被描绘为丘比特（如下图）。帕索里尼，同样，喜欢用来自意大利农村的贫穷而诚实的人物形象。他常常选择在电影里使用乡村方言，而不是主流意大利语： 帕索里尼和卡拉瓦乔采用的技巧散发了人性的阴暗面的光亮，真实，生动而又超出时代流行文化之外。这两位艺术家，相隔300年，显然已经在人类境况上达成了相互理解。
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Immortality Inspired Art
Immortality: the notion that one lives on past this life, thus helping us mere mortals digest the fear and grief brought on by death. Heavy investments of inestimable wealth into the unwavering belief that the afterlife exists has produced hugely lavish art, including majestic sculptures, tombs and precious artifacts. The Han Dynasty, China’s second imperial family as of 206 BCE, was one such group of believers. The enormous wealth that awaited family members upon their passing would surely make one relish the chance to expire. Intricate burial chambers, kitchens, concubines and rooms crammed with the most precious of gems were just the tip of the iceberg, with reports of sacrificing…
This is an interactive art blog in multi languages, you will find new articles on artists, art history, exhibitions, etc. Contributions welcome.
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