CLOSED VS. OPEN

14:00 May 20, 2008
Second day of the national mourning for quake victims

- “Excuse me, does the museum closed today?” in front of the Duolun Museum of Modern Art, I asked.
- “Of course! What day is today? The whole nation is mourning for the victims in the earthquake. It would open on Thursday.” answered an official.

Walking along the Duolun Road, I started to think that I might be turned away by every museum today. Yet, to my big big surprise, Osage Gallery was quietly open at the corner of road, though without many visitors. Old people were sitting and talking in the nearby garden; some others were walking the dog. Apparently, the nation sorrow hadn’t fallen on the neighborhood.

According to the government, during the three days of national mourning, all kinds of “entertainment” should be closed. Does modern art serve as an entertainer? As the question lingered, I stepped into the Osage.

GOOD NIGHT – It took me quite a long time to figure out every naked body in each photo. As for me, I appreciated very much the artist’s idea of examining people’s existence. In some photo, you could easily pick out where the person was. In some others, however, the discarded body was so skillfully hidden that you could hardly be aware of its existence.

MY BEAUTY - Horror is un-horrible, but weird. Artist here is trying to construct an atmosphere of contrast in way of the combination of a faceless girl and beautiful backgrounds. Yet, the way of photography adopted was so dull that led to little visual impact for audience, at least for me. Also, two elements of the combination seemed to be fragmented in photos.