Scavenger Hunt

I was very impressed with the organization of the gallery. It seems that migration and industrialization is a reoccurring theme I cannot escape from, from the classroom to the galleries to my trip over the first vacation break. One can literally see that effects of migration and industrialization. On this trip, we were assigned a list of artists to find and I found few to be really quite interesting.

The first artist I would like to focus on is Yue Minjun, an artist from China now residing in Beijing, and his art piece "Colorful Running Dinosaurs." I thought his idea and creation was quite interesting, though, to be honest, creative and not creative at the same time. I feel that the immense size of the display was what awed people. The idea he was trying to convey was quite smart though. I especially like the all-exact smiles on the "dinosaurs" or more rather "chinese dragons." It created a eerie, creepy feel, really showing the ignorance people have on how our path to taking advantage and wasting all our natural resources will destroy the earth in the end. His message against the negative effects of industrialization and waste is clearly understood when viewers are literally at the foot of the chinese dragons to observe this piece of art. The other thing I really found smart about this to really convey his message was the fact that the art pieces were spray-painted, exactly like how cars are painted. It really showed the irony to everything.

Another artist I would like to briefly mention is Huang Hsinchien of Taiwan China. His art featured in the gallery was "Shanghai, Shall We Dance." I really liked this one because, again, it was a creative way of having viewers interact with their art to convey their message. This time, his message was not of the negative effects of industrialization, but our relation to urbanization. He turned ideas of how we see stiff high-rises to something flexible and transformable. I really like this one because it was just something different. However you positioned yourself, the buildings would follow. Looking at Huang's art history, it seems he is very focused on technology and the use of it to create his art. He seems to focus a lot on the interaction between urban life and the urbanites.


This is by Lonnie van Brummelen & Siebren de Haan called "Monument of Sugar," who both now reside in Amsterdam. They are from the Netherlands. This was installation with film projectors, and blocks of sugar, alot of open space as well. To be honest, I did not entirely understand this piece. It was quite confusing. It was about migration and crossing the borders and such. To me it was open space and blocks of sugar. I think it was the projectors that threw me off. I think what they were trying to convey was about being able to cross the borders and breaking through. All in all, I was a bit confused.




Another artist I found (with Kevin) was this one, which we both liked greatly. The above pictures are from an artist named Bu Hua of Beijing. This piece is a video installation called "Savage Growth." I really like this one because of the animation. It was a clear cut video about Bu's message but it was at the same time easy to understand. Bu Hua's message is of migration and its effects. Globalization and migration has taken a toll on China, both positively and negatively. Bu Hua made it clear of what is occuring in China, about the growing pollution and the never ending race to catch up and in the end beat all the other industrialized country. The world is becoming flatter and with that we interact with other countries and, kind of, in a way destroy the earth by our waste of resources, selfish desire to be the "best," and disregard for the third parties affected by our actions. Watching the movie was quite entertaining and honest. Everything Bu Hua portrayed was accurate and it was interesting to see it in a cartoony aspect.




This artist was not an artist I was assigned to but I would really like to briefly talk about this artist. It was one of the first art pieces I saw before I started searching for the artists assigned to me. This one really caught my eye, partly because of its colors, partly because it was just interesting to see two things juxtaposing each other in a way. This art work is called "Scenery Scenes" by Lu Hao of China. Lu Hao's work is a depiction of the underground shopping centers of People Square. It links between the urban and the migrants...kind of revealing, in my point of view..the educated and the ones who seek to make money just to live.

It is obvious that migration has such an impact on China, especially with urban economic development and the relaxation of the hukou system. One can see the both positive and negative effects of it all and how it really does have a deep impact on China and its growth. It is something that cannot be ignored. Right in front of our eyes, we see the evident transformation of China and its people.