opening night 3
Opening at italian Morella Gallery. A group show called Internal Injuries, featuring 7 Chinese artists. We are too early, so we go for lunch at the Sichuan Food restaurant across the street.
Film screening at Platform China shows a series of European short-films. I cannot understand the following discussion, so I go to sit in the gallery room where I will exhibit and contemplate my installation. Today it seems small - idea too big? Natalie, Xiao Lu, Xu Zhongmin invite me to join them for dinner at a donkey restaurant. During a long drive in Xiao Lu's new Jeep she explains the system for speeding tickets: video cameras placed along the main roads record the traffic, and the public has to check on a website wheather they have been fined - huge additional fines are given if you don't pay on time. We eat some donkey and talk about art education. Xu Zhongmin explains that the ones who study art are the ones who are unsuccessful in other disciplines. Still the competition is fierce. There are only a few small art schools in a city of 13 mill. and you have to pass many drawing tests with live models. The art schools are state run and very conservative. Emphasis is on learning techniques by copying, only some of the younger teachers are more liberal and knowledgeable about Western contemporary art. It is a bit random what western art books and information the students get hold of, and again they tend to copy whatever they see. According to Xiao Lu, the lack of creative thinking in the school system results in a lack of originality. There is too much respect for history, tradition and the teachers. Most graduated artists take jobs as interior designers, garden design or in publishing, while only a small percentage goes on to become professional artists. Most of these are the state hired, realist propaganda artists, while a very, very few break away and become independent artists who try to make it in the international art world. Everyone around our table have studied abroad.
Film screening at Platform China shows a series of European short-films. I cannot understand the following discussion, so I go to sit in the gallery room where I will exhibit and contemplate my installation. Today it seems small - idea too big? Natalie, Xiao Lu, Xu Zhongmin invite me to join them for dinner at a donkey restaurant. During a long drive in Xiao Lu's new Jeep she explains the system for speeding tickets: video cameras placed along the main roads record the traffic, and the public has to check on a website wheather they have been fined - huge additional fines are given if you don't pay on time. We eat some donkey and talk about art education. Xu Zhongmin explains that the ones who study art are the ones who are unsuccessful in other disciplines. Still the competition is fierce. There are only a few small art schools in a city of 13 mill. and you have to pass many drawing tests with live models. The art schools are state run and very conservative. Emphasis is on learning techniques by copying, only some of the younger teachers are more liberal and knowledgeable about Western contemporary art. It is a bit random what western art books and information the students get hold of, and again they tend to copy whatever they see. According to Xiao Lu, the lack of creative thinking in the school system results in a lack of originality. There is too much respect for history, tradition and the teachers. Most graduated artists take jobs as interior designers, garden design or in publishing, while only a small percentage goes on to become professional artists. Most of these are the state hired, realist propaganda artists, while a very, very few break away and become independent artists who try to make it in the international art world. Everyone around our table have studied abroad.
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