Paintings depicting 3-dimensional and arial views were abundant in an exhibition of current Chinese art at NAMOC, the National Museum of Chinese Art, in Beijing in March 2011.
Cheng, Wen-ji, Embracing, 114.5 cm x 200 cm, oil on canvas, 2009
This bowl, seen from a distance across the room, looked startingly 3-D. We stepped close to admire its geometric perfection.
The photos shown here were taken with my pocket Leica (lens 1:2.0-2.8/5.1-12.8) as raw file formats and processed in Adobe Photoshop. Whenever I remembered, I snapped the title of the picture next to the painting as shown here. Back home, a friend translated the titles for me.
The following two photos were taken from a painting covering an entire wall. Seen first from a distance, we thought that it was a sculpture.
Liao, XiaoChun, New Anthem College, 346 cm x 599 cm
Approaching the huge work of art, we realized that the human figures were painted.
The close-up above gives a better impression of its detail.
Another series of 3-D pictures, as seen in the detail of one shown below, were exhibited in a darkened room. Googles for viewing these pictures were offered at the entrance to the room.
This picture below was displayed behind glass reflecting the overhead illumination which lightened up some part of it.
The following photo shows one of several moderate size paintings. All of them depicted some sort of aerial view in a highly styelized fashion.
The next two pictures were comprised of multiple vertical screens. The resulting large banners were displayed in halls at the entrance of the museum, indicating their importance in the exhibition. They are two examples of a series with similar motifs. The photos of these 6 meter wide banners, compressed here to 500 pixels, do not do justice to the strong impact they have when viewed in the museum.
Immortal Moon, 152 cm x 607 cm, Ink and colour on paper, 1973, Take A Step Back Collection, H.k.
In addition to the aerial views, the two banners also depict a favorite motif in Chinese art, namely mountains. Another picture with a mountain motif is shown below.
Mount Qomolangma, 184 cm x 182 cm, 2009
The interpretation of the following picture is left to the viewer:
The Early Chaos, Ink and colour on paper, 48.6cm x 50cm, 1985, Shuisongshi Shanfang Collection, H.k.
Then, there were a number of paintings showing Western influence. This one caught my attention because of its carefully painted details – pearls and capillaries on the skin.
Luo, Zhan-peng, 100 Strawberry Ghosts Night Walking #10, oil painting, 194 cm x 259 cm, 2010
The final painting serves to remind that we viewed the exhibition in an Asian museum:
Birgit:
A reworking of established themes. All of it very accomplished and ambitious in scale by the looks of things.
Hi Jay, I am glad that you checked in.
I thought that it was interesting to see so much art with 3-D views considering that (1) abstract art was flat and (2) the current craze, apparently mostly abroad, with 3-D movies.
I was also intrigued by the preponderance of aerial views. A few years ago, David Palmer told us that he worked with them. – Using my little Leica, I have been snapping aerial views, sometimes close to take-off and landing – Lake Huron at Detroit and the multiple water ways at La Guardia. Thinking more about it, the view from Troels’ apartment – 21 G of 560 Riverside Dr – over the Hudson River may qualify as aerial view.
Hi Birgit,
I am not getting automatic notices about A&P posts and so hadn’t checked in until you commented on a post I did in 2008. That sent me to “Recent Posts” and I realized that I was missing your dialogues! Thank you for continuing this process. I shall try to do better — and I am hoping to find a way to automatically subscribe via email to A&P. After putting a blog on my own website, which caused much difficulty, I’m guessing it won’t be easy.
Anyway, thanks for continuing to contribute here and I’ll try to make a comeback, of sorts.
Hi June,
Thanks for checking in. As far as I know, we only get automatic messages when comments are made to our own posts.
I am looking forward to having you and Jay coming back!
Talking about starting something and not getting on with it as you mention in your other comment: Last spring, I bought dreamweaver to design my website. At the first difficulty, I gave up on it. I do have the excuse of a very busy year finishing up my job at Michigan State University. But soon, after having dealt with chores getting our place ready for my mother’s visit, nothing should stop me from pursuing goals, such as building a website, relearning French and learning Italian for my Studienreise to Italy in the far future.
Ah, Birgit, my daughter has been studying Italian for her September trip to Italy — her first venture there, although she’s traveled fairly widely.
She and I took an art history course in Renaissance Art this spring. The instructor was infatuated with Italy, which suited us just fine. It was a Grand Tour, probably the closest I’ll ever come. And the web sites (particularly something called ArtStore, subscribed to by the College and made available to students and faculty), were phenomenally good. I know that I couldn’t have seen the paintings as well had I seen them physically, in person.
Of course, the web photos leave out the ambience (as well as the language) so in many senses (literally speaking) they are still far less than travel, but as a preview for her, they were fabulous.
My only complaint about the class and the web materials was that it took me hours and hours to complete assignments because with the high resolution of the ArtStore images, I could see more and more detail. And so I kept looking and looking and looking. For hours.
June,
I am envious of you – taking an art class with your daughter – and of your daughter for going to Italy soon.
Birgit, I suspect you aren’t half as envious of my daughter as I am. However, she deserves the trip, and she loves travel. She says that on her second trip, she’ll take me. I’ll paint plein air and do a tiny bit of museum looking; she’ll go where she couldn’t go on the first. That helps ameliorate the envy a bit:-)