Art in Shanghai

The Shanghai Art Museum was the first museum I visited in Shanghai. The Museum was hosting the fifth biannale this year. I went to the opening night celebration only to find that it required an invitation. Since I had traveled some distance to attend it, I decided it was worth effort to enquire if they had an invitation for me. I asked a few of the attendants for an invitation. After a few minutes wait, one of them lead me to the entry gate, gave me a tag and invited me to enter.

The opening night coincided with the full moon and was held outside in a park adjoining the museum.
It was an international event and the crowd was thick and well dressed. The show was a video and performance affair and included a floating astronaut, live music, and video installations.




The video installations appeared in various configurations including large scale moving boxes and tall towers as in the photograph above. (Yes, that is a billboard for 'Lord of the Rings' in Chinese in the background.) The museum did well in putting on an interesting event for the international crowd living and visiting Shanghai.

The rest of the show, held inside the museum, continued its international flavor and included recognized names such as Yoko Ono and Cindy Sherman. Most of the work here was photographic, including the work of Sherman, which in this case were images of her as clowns.

The next museum visit was to the Shanghai Museum (different then the Shanghai Art Museum.) This museum was much more traditional and included more historic work from Chinese artists and artisans. In addition to pen and ink work, there were displays of furniture, carving and regional dress. The paintings were the most impressively displayed of any museum. As the viewer approaches each work behind glass, automatic lights turn up and then dim after the viewer walks away. The whole museum was impeccably maintained.

There were other shows of contemporary work that I visited. One area in particular was the Suzhou Creek area. Work here was also multi-media, video and installation. To be honest, I found most of this to be unimpressive. As I understand it, one reason for moving away from classical painting is because it is old, and that there is nothing new to explore in traditional methods. The problem is, now, what was new has become old; what was original has become now trite. Hanging beads or boxes with lamps and bulbs, slide show projectors with fast moving imagery, video clips of odd scenes with women in various stages of undress, has all become as 'worn out' as what proponents of 'modern' art want to escape. For me, there is still much more to explore in traditional approaches to art and painting. And, it takes more than just a clever idea to create interesting and expressive paintings in this manner.



Next: Teaching at the Shanghai American School

A Visit to the Art City of Hangzhou

While in Hong Kong (see post), I had heard from Tina Yee-wan Pang, Curator of the University of Hong Kong's Museum and Art Gallery about a town called Hangzhou in that had the premier art university in all of China. I had been impressed with a show Tina had curated that featured painters from this school. Later, I was delighted to find out that Hangzhou was just a short train ride south of Shanghai. 'I must go visit Hangzhou', I thought!




China is such and vast and fascinating country that the choices for places to visit are endless. It was not until near the end of my stay there that I made the trip to Hangzhou. It turned out to be one of the best stops. The city is relatively small for China - some six million people live here and it is a major tourist spot for all of China. At the center of the city is a large lake surrounded by hills, trees, parks and walking paths. There are even multiple bicycle rental pick-up and drop-off spots.




Finding the university was fairly straightforward as it was situated near the southern end of the lake. The school is the largest one I have seen dedicated to art. All the visual disciplines were well represented here. The facility had multiple classrooms for multiple life drawing, calligraphy, painting, ceramics, video and so on.




The big difficulty for me was not being able to speak or read Mandarin. So, I could look at the campus and gather what I could without language. It seemed that the school was not as internationally inclined as I had found so much of Shanghai. However, on my way out, I came across the school's exhibition hall. It had a huge photo show of work by German photographers! While photography is not my main line of interest, it was great to see again that art is an international language crosses all borders.






Next: Return to Thailand - Art in Chiang Mai

Teaching at the Shanghai American School

In addition to painting and seeing other art on this trip, I wanted to explore the possibilities of teaching. What would it be like to teach as I have done at the University of New Mexico and Taos Institute of Arts, only here in a foreign country? I had a brief opportunity to do this in Japan, where I gave a portrait demonstration in Sano (see Painting in Japan.)

My hosts in Shanghai, Sepi and Paul Johnson, have for many years taught internationally. This year was their first to teach at the Shanghai American School. The school had openings for substitute work, so I visited to give them my resume. Within a few days, I got a call back to substitute for Anna Koloseike, one of their art instructors. I gladly accepted the invitation.




Shanghai American School


Teaching and spending time at this school was an eye-opener. The campus was huge - very much like a campus at an American university. The students were from various parts of Asia, yet most of them spoke English as their first language with either an American or British accent. In the classroom, I was delighted to see that they were being taught the fundamentals of art: instruction in values, drawing, and color. And the students were learning and producing some advanced work.

So, teaching in Shanghai turned out to be good for me to experience. Hmmm... what would teaching abroad be like fulltime?



Next: A Visit to the Art City of Hangzhou

Paintings from the Ancient City of Pingyao

The day after arriving in Shanghai, I went with Sepi and Paul to Pingyao, an ancient walled city located two hours northwest of Shanghai by plane. Our purpose for visiting Pingyao was twofold: to attend the Pingyao International Photographic (PIP) exhibit where Sepi's sister, Soody, was showing her work and to see a more historic view of China.

Pingyao has hosted the (PIP) for many years. Photographers come from all over China and the world to see and exhibit their work. It was fascinating to see the most modern photographic work with people from around the world set in this truly old environment. For all of us, this visit turned out to be a highlight of our time in China.

As I have written earlier, it has been my intention on this trip to focus more on painting landscapes than my usual work with portraiture. I found the people in PIngyao so appealing that I decided to work on a few pieces with them as the subject. The first of these paintings is of a fellow who I had seen several times walking through the paved streets. On this occasion he was on the side looking intently at the other people walking the streets.




'Looking in Pingyao', Oil on canvas, 20x16


The next scene was a woman looking out the window of a restaurant. Her distant gaze was captivating.




'Wondering in Pingyao', Oil on canvas, 20x16



Next: Art in Shanghai

News from Shanghai

One of the reasons I ventured out on this painting trip was because of a very generous invitation from Sepi and Paul Johnson. Sepi had attended one of my portrait painting workshops at the Taos Institute of Arts two summers ago. On the second day of the workshop she approached me during the session and asked if I would like to visit she and her husband, Paul, in Dhaka, Bangladesh where they were teaching at an international school. My immediate thought was, 'You bet', although I politely inquired, 'Are you sure?' Sepi without hesitation said, 'Yes, Paul and I want you to come. There are all kinds of painting opportunities there.' The three of us met for lunch and the plan was set - I would go to Dhaka on a painting trip!

As is often the case with plans, the path along the way varied some from the original script. In the two years that passed, Sepi and Paul had changed their teaching post to Shanghai, China. Again they extended their invitation to come and visit with them there.

Now, I am in Shanghai.

My aim on this trip has been to paint and visit artists, art galleries and museums. This is happening here. Before writing about Shanghai from that point of view, it is well worth talking about my everyday experience of life here.

I have spent many moments thinking about what to say about this city, one of the top twenty most populated in the world. From the moment I got off the plane, to the ride from the airport, to the house where Sepi and Paul live, to the visits to the museums, art stores and galleries, to posting this weblog by means of a wireless internet connection, I have been surprised and delighted. Shanghai, China is not what I expected!




Cars, bicycles and billboards in downtown Shanghai

The easiest way for me to describe my experience has been is through one of the first and most persistent images I have encountered: the clash of bicycles and automobiles. A short time after leaving the airport with Mr. Wan at the wheel, I began to notice incongruity. Everywhere, along with the numerous cars, were people riding bicycles of all types: two-wheeled, three-wheeled, tricycles, mopeds, scooters, mini-bikes and motorcycles. And although many of these riders stayed to the right traffic, an equal number were meandering in all directions, swerving in front of cars, pedaling against traffic, stopping in the middle of the busy street and in general, creating what appeared to me as absolute pandemonium! The Shanghainese appeared very nonchalant about this chaos. For the entire hour-plus ride the scene continued in this way. Apparently, it was just the way the traffic works here.

What was more interesting to me about this situation however, was one peculiar fact: most of the cars were late model vehicles while all the bicycles were old, really old, machines. To say that they were ten or twenty years or even older would not be an exaggeration. Just this one observation indicated to me that some significant cultural change had been happening here. At some point many years ago, time had stopped. Now, Shanghai has fast-forwarded to the present, skipping over decades of gradual change.




Just outside the Sezhou art district



The new catapulting into the old has been repeated in the architectural landscape. Blocks of one and two storey buildings and homes are razed to be rapidly replaced with towering apartment buildings and shopping malls. Once replaced, the evidence of any past is gone. All that remains are a few simple old buildings awaiting demolition juxtaposed with the shiny new edifices.

This is Shanghai, a city of old bicycles and brand new automobiles.

Many thanks to Sepi and Sepi Johnson for their generous hospitality. Sepi's initiation to visit has lead me on a most fascinating journey!



Next: Paintings from the ancient city of Pingyao

Hong Kong Central

Before I left Taos, Jan Mellor had given the name of a travel writer, Andrew Leung, who lives in Hong Kong. Andrew had visited and written about Taos last year. I was staying in Kowloon, which is immediately north the main Hong Kong Island where Andrew lives. I had emailed him a couple of times and hadn't heard anything so guessed he must have been away on assignment. As it turned out, he had been away, but got it touch with me two days before I was scheduled to go to Singapore. Andrew offered to meet with me and give me a tour of Central.

Most of the art scene in Hong Kong is on the island. There were a lot of galleries here, so I spent the morning exploring them before meeting with Andrew. For the most part, the galleries were carrying work of living artists from Asia. What was the surprise here? I could have been in Taos or New York or London or Osaka. While there may have been some slight differences of style, it is apparent that artists around the world are producing work that is emerging from the same set of influences.
This is unlike the wood block prints of Takeshi Uemura or the brushwork of Yang Shen-sum, which come from different and unique traditions. And, unfortunately, it appears that in the process many of the fundamentals of art have been lost or forgotten. It was a good thing I met later with Andrew.




Andrew met me at the Fringe Club, a center for artists and the arts. He lead us on a walk at a quick clip in the afternoon heat of Hong Kong around the back roads to the out-of-the-way fruit stalls and antique dealers. The whole way Andrew gave me a short history of Hong Kong. Finally, we stopped for a glass of yin yeung, an iced drink of coffee and tea (really good) before we headed off to the University of Hong Kong Museum.

I had thought we were just going to see the collection at the Museum, which contained a fair amount of Japanese Ukiyo-e prints. What I had not expected was to be introduced to the curator of the Museum, Ms. Tina Yee-wan Pang. Tina and I chatted about the exhibitions she curates and what she likes in art. It was good to hear about her very high standard for the quality of the shows. Catalogues from the exhibits contained work that showed a depth of knowledge of painting. In particular, one recent show was of paintings from artists at the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, the premier art school in China. The school is a bus ride away from Shanghai where I will be on the next part of the trip. Visiting the school is now top of my list of places while there.

A big thanks to Jan, Andrew and Tina.


Next: The City of Singapore

Visit to Hong Kong and the Art of Yang Shen-sum

Hong Kong is another city with incessant activity. The streets are constantly filled with taxis, buses and people from all over the world. The difference here, like other cities I have visited so far on this journey, is a certain sense of calmness. People appear to be not so driven to get somewhere and walk around in a more casual pace. For me, it made being in the city more tolerable.

The first art museum I visited here was the Hong Kong Museum of Art. A significant portion of their collection was of ceramics and carved objects. The quality level of the work was very high, even for objects more than two thousand years old.

The great discovery for me, however, was on the top floor. The galleries here had many examples of traditional and contemporary brush painting. One painter of note was Yang Shen-sum who passed away this past May. The museum had put together a fairly large collection of his work and it was worthwhile to see.




Even better than the paintings, however, was a DVD showing Shen-sum at work. For me, it was thought-provoking to see his use of the brush. His whole approach appeared to be more about letting the brush do more of the work and letting his hand be the guide. This approach allowed for very fluid brushwork with terrific variety of edges, shapes and value. Watching Shen-sum paint was so useful, that I came back the next day to watch again. Later, I spoke with Jennifer Chu Shui-ping, a curator at the museum, who put me in touch with the person who made the DVD. So, I had the good fortune to buy a copy the day I left Hong Kong!


Next: HK island visit with Andrew Leung