It is Asia Week here in Manhattan, and there are so many events and exhibits to see that it is a little overwhelming. In addition to museum shows and the art fairs (think admission fees), there is also a well-organized Asian Contemporary Art Week series of exhibits and lectures throughout Chelsea and the city.
Some of what I went to see last night: the Arario Gallery is hosting an exhibit of works by Hyungkoo Lee. The show centers on lit sculptures in darkened rooms, ala natural history museums but darker, weirder. The sculptures are exactingly-realized, life-sized (?), in-motion skeletons of popular cartoon characters (Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote, Daffy Duck, Tom and Jerry, etc.). They are suspended, in motion, and hauntingly disturbing and beautiful. Oh, and hilarious. You should see the claws and teeth on the leaping Bugs Bunny… for images click here.
There was a lot of interesting video work scattered throughout Chelsea, from painting/video synthesis (Ranbir Kaleka at Bose Pacia) to raw single channel projections from Central Asia (I Dream of the ‘Stans at Winkleman). For more information on Asian Contemporary Art Week, click here.
Interestingly, even the Worcester Art Musuem currently has an exhibiiton of two contemporary Chinese artists, one of whom does LANDSCAPES:
go to:
http://www.worcesterart.org/Exhibitions/two_chinas.html
Trivial pursuit: In the Ranbar Kaleka piece, what are the two waterfowl that waft by at the end? It’s not like I am sure because the image is so tiny, but I have some ideas. I just want to see if you know because you got better views.
Anxiety and landscape. It’s funny, in my landscape dreams I am NEVER anxious or fearful, I just have this weird overwhelming desire to keep going, exploring, seeing, but never getting to some kind of climax or end, so there is a certain wistful frustration. Lately, I have been actually taking FIELD NOTES in my dreams, to the point where my real arm is extended and moving, as if I am taking notes.
Grinding ink blocks: I still do it. It’s a wonderful, calming process. I write out Zen koans for my own edification. “The snowy egret on the snow is not the same color”. For years, I have been meaning to get a tat of that.
Off to exercise
Mark
On your MP3 player for Asia Week:
1. Dengue Fever: “Venus on Earth” CD
Re: Dengue Fever: good call – but most of the band is from Los Angeles – but still, good call!
When I saw the video in the gallery, I thought that the flying birds are Snow Geese. But my knowledge of world birds is a little shy of impressive…
Not Snow Geese. They look like either RUDDY SHELDUCKS or EGYPTIAN GEESE, likely the former, but again they go by fast and tiny. Never a good combo for bird ID.
All sorts of unusual geese are putting down locally. Just got home and read about Barnacle and more White-fronteds out in the Connecticut River Valley.
You actually CAN listen to an LA band in NYC! There’s no music police. Old style: Pizzacato Five
Mark
Catherine:
See link:
http://home.megapass.co.kr/~skua/news/shelduck.html
Do these look like the birds in the work?
WAM actually has a Ruddy Shelduck in an Antioch mosaic!
Mark
I finally had a chance to look again, and I am leaning towards Ruddy Shelduck too. I had thought that there was no color in the birds, but on a different monitor I can see it more clearly… but honestly, I still can’t tell.