Presentation

#3 Review

Flowers and Skulls by Takashi Murakami

Takashi Murakami seems to be a familiar figure for us Hong Konger because of the LV cherry blossom series that he designed. I never learnt to appreciate this series, for I don’t like the monogram of LV in the first place, and the cherry blossom pattern does not help increase its appeal to me. Undeniably, this series did leave an impression of the name Takashi Murakami on my mind. And this time, I came to visit his exhibition Flowers and Skulls and found it quite interesting and inspiring.

The Cherry Blossom Louis Vuitton Handbag designed by Takashi Murakami

My impression

Standing in the Gagosian Gallery, my first impression of this exhibition is that it includes various colours, which gives a jolly feeling. However, when I stayed a little longer and observed more carefully the details of the paintings, a contradictory feeling began to caught me. On the one hand, the flowers which usually symbolize vitality striked me as terrifying; on the other hand, the skulls which usually symbolize death and terror looked adorable to me.

I was interested in this blue painting of flowers at first glance, since it has a beautiful blue color. But when I stared longer, it gave me a creepy feeling in that blue and purple flowers looked poisoned and their facial expressions are stark and stiff. They reminded me of the unearthly plants in far-away future depicted in a Japanese comic named The Drifting Classroom by  Kazuo Umezu.

 

On the contrary, the skulls seemed living and burgeoning.

After doing some research online, I found the statement of Takashi Murakami, which explains that my feelings are reasonable.

Takashi Murakami said:

“A child told me after he saw the flower pattern: ‘Those are not real smiles. Something seemed hidden behind them.’ The kid was right...I combined flowers and skulls together this time. Skulls usually represent death, but they are colourful in my works. We will die, but at least we are alive now. ”

Structure of the paintings

Flowers and Skulls, they look so different, yet in a way they can be put together. Special drawing techniques need to be adopted in order to better achieve certain effect.

Takashi Murakami said:

“The smiling flowers seem protruding while the surly skulls seem caved in. Flowers and skulls, convex and concave, high and low. In structure, they create a strong contrasting effect, which is the most challenging part of this work.”

In my opinion, he did a good job. When standing in front of the paintings, I tried as close as possible to approach them because I often had the feeling that they were three-dimensional. While Takashi Murakami is famous for “superflat”style and ethos with his works distracting from the perspective ethos of the traditional western arts, the details of his works somehow show subtle solidity.

Reference in art history

Takashi Murakami juxtaposes such distinctly contradictory concepts as joy and terror, optimism and pessimism together into fusion and creates a new kind of inspiration. His works reminds me of a painting shown in a previous class called The Ambassadors by Hans HOLBEIN the Younger. Although the style of Takashi Murakami and Hans Holbein the Younger may be completely different, skulls are used by both artists as part of the contrast. In Hans’ painting, the fancy clothes represents peace and happiness, but the anamorphic skull represents death that always awaits in spite of all the fortune and social status one may have.

The Ambassadors, 1533, Hans HOLBEIN the Younger

Conclusion

Takashi Murakami believes that first-ranked works of art are those who can be understood by many people. If he can conquer the platform between different cultures, he will have the power to make the western world take more interest in eastern art and culture.

I agree with this view. Unlike other post-modernist artists, his works are pleasant and approachable. He has rid modern art of the daunting stereotype of obscurity and made more accessible the messages that he tries to tell. Isn’t it good?

#2 Review

Equal Relationships

During the New Year holiday, I went to an exhibition named Equal Relationships in the Blindspot Gallery. As someone who takes a great interest in photography, I’ve always enjoyed appreciating different kinds of photography arts. This time, the exhibition did not fail me in that it includes works of two photographers that are distinct and similar in different ways. They are 223 (Lin Zhi Peng) and Ren Hang.

I have followed 223 for quite some time as he is already a famous artist in mainland China. Photos of his that are displayed in this exhibition are daily snapshots featuring ordinary people, which is just of his style. Unlike many photographers, he does not use a single-lens reflex camera; instead, he likes to use simple fool-proof film camera. It gives a special feeling in his works that brings out something unordinary in ordinary lifestyles. Let’s see some of his works.

Fowl

This is a fun scene: countryside, big howling airplane, grown-ups holding their heads up high, little girl covering her ear. Couldn’t be more true and living. While the grown-ups are (presumably) staring at the airplane as it is something new to them (given the country background), this little girl just can not bear with the overwhelming noise. Maybe for her, this giant steel machine is just a weird and annoying fowl.

Above the city

This one is my personal favorite: a man in red with a black umbrella standing on the top of a building, way high above the city, his head looking towards the camera. It is a beautiful scene: the contrast of red and black (which happened to be my favorite colours), the fog, the looming city.

Unlike 223’s daily snapshots, Ren Hang’s works are more like movies. They were carefully constructed scenes. The photos are the final outcome of his work, but we should also try to see his intention behind these scenes, just as we should try to have some literacy about movies and intentions of the directors, acting of the actors or so when we are watching movies.

Many of his works feature nude bodies. But instead of having a sensual effect, most of the time, his nude photos give me feelings of despair, boredom and even voidness with the weird and twisting poses and empty eyes of the models.

A quote from Ren Hang: ”Despair is more true.”（「失望反而令人感到真實」）Perhaps he cares more about truth than beauty. In a way, I agree with this statement, for it is easier to capture beauty than truth. While beauty pleases the eyes at the moment, truth remains longer in time. This statement also echoes with the way 223 takes photos with a fool-proof camera: if you are capturing truth and all you care about is the truth in your photos, it does not matter what kind of camera you are using.

A couple of his works are as follows.

Untitled 12

Untitled 12

Untitled 12

The last photo reminds me of some early works of another photographer named Zhang Huan, one of the best modern experimentalist artists in China who currently lives in New York. They both put naked people in wild nature, comparing and contrasting green nature and nude bodies.

To Raise the Water Level in a Fishpond, 1997, Performance, Beijing, China, Zhang Huan

To Add One Meter to an Anonymous Mountain, 1995, Performance, Beijing, China, Zhang Huan

Nine Holes, 1995, Performance, Beijing, China, Zhang Huan

I wonder about the name of this exhibition. What equal relationship is this exhibition trying to display? Is it the relationship between these two artists? Or the one between the photographers and the objects that they’re shooting? The one between art and everyday life? Interpretations can be many. All I can say is that both of their works have shown some aspects of the lives of the current generation, the scene of which may not be pretty to look at, but there is definitely some truth in them.