Senseless Drawing Bot

TAKASHI MURAKAMI Flowers & Skulls Exhibition

Immersing in The TAKASHI MURAKAMI Flowers & Skulls Exhibition in Gagosian Gallery is pleasure experience to me. This is the first Takashi Murakami's exhibition in Hong Kong. Flowers with different expressions and colorful skulls fills the gallery. We, as audiences, can experience a visit with "joy and terror" at the same time.

Takashi Murakami is a famous but controversial artist in international arena. He announces a "superflat" style to represent the traditional Japanese aesthetic characteristics and the post-war Japanese culture and society. Takashi further studies the subculture in Japanese society like manga, pop culture, as the topics of his work. Through his works, we can see his efforts to bridge the Japanese culture to the western art history and to express individual thought about the defeated culture of post war Japan.

In the exhibition, two distinctive iconic subjects, flowers and skulls constructs a space of "joy and terror. This is the attempt that Takashi to explore the central dichotomies in his art. [1] At the first impression, Takashi's work is full of childishness and psychodelic as the outline of the paintings are manga style and colorful. Flowers with smiling face are lovely and skulls are not horrible since they are painted in bright and vivid color. However, if we engage into the atmosphere, we may have a deeper and strong sensation of the paintings. In the common cognitive frame, flowers represent bliss, peace and full of vitality. On the contrary, skulls give the impression of horror and death. Reading through the paintings, I feel confused about the already conceived meanings of these two objects. The bright smiling flowers seem not to be a smile through heart. Just like wearing a mask to hide the real emotion. From a video that interview with Takashi, he said that flowers with a large variety of color shows a complex of emotion, not simply the original and positive emotion [2]. Skulls, on the other hand, are presented in some bright and warm color. The sense of horror of skulls vanished. The intersection of feelings during walking around the gallery is an interesting experience.

Left: Flower Ball Cosmos, 2008  Right: Flowerball Black, 2007

 Blue flower & Skulls, 2012

Takashi is famous for his "superflat" style, combining the western and Japanese culture in art through his two dimension and manga style works. However, there are proportion of critics to his work as lacking technique and structure in his home country. This exhibition, he is determined to show his painting, composition technique in his work. Although the majority composition is the complex cluster still, he manages to combine the painstaking traditional artisanal techniques (such as Ukiyo-e) with the pop and fizz of manga in some of the exhibits[1]. The largest painting: Of Chinese Lions Peonies, Skulls, And Fountains, 2011, is the best illusion for his techniques. It is experimental to integrate such two subjects that diametrically opposed to each other in one painting. Besides, he try to structure the theme of the exhibition as a conflict but mutually accepting each other. As mentioned above the meaning of flowers and skulls are conflictual  on one side. However, they can be mutually accepting each other on the other side as the two subjects also have similar characteristics, the fragile vibrancy of life and the passing of time [1]. He structures a contrasting but balanced exhibition successfully. Having a visit to Takashi's Flowers & Skulls world is a fun and great opportunity to enrich my art experience. 

Of Chinese Lions Peonies, Skulls, And Fountains, 2011

Around sound art festival and retreat

Before participating in this festival, I have a lack of understanding about sound art. Sound art is not very prevailing art practice in Hong Kong still. In the general sense, art mostly relates to painting, sculpture, music, those emphasize in the end product. However, the sound art has a interdisciplinary nature. Different media, subjects and environment can be part of the sound arts. More importantly, the notions of sound, listening and hearing is the focus in the sound art.

The open and quite environment of the Kuwn Tong Ferry Pier.

The Around sound art festival took place in the Kuwn Tong Ferry Pier is a fresh and interesting experience to me. The venue is the right place for sound art and site-specific work. Kuwn Tong Ferry Pier has its own history. Part of the pier is abandoned and becomes a quite place compared to the crowded past. Also, the environment is full of different sound elements. The sea breeze, the sound of ferry,and people's noise, all these become part of the components and inspirations of the sound arts and installation. the festival offer an opportunity for audience to listen the created or composed sound by the artists.

I found a on-site artist, Matt Cook, is working on his installation "Untitled (2013)". This is a good example of site-specific art and sound art as he fixed different components together to coordinate with the sound around the pier. He connected electric wires, motors, metals, and other sound generating objects, part of them seems "unrelated", to create or replay the sound of the pier. It is fascinating to witness the little group of instruments to play like orchestra. Matt said that the sound around could become his inspiration. He can alter parts of the installation to create the sound he heard. His work is lively, variable, and interactive with the sound, environment and audience.

The working process of Matt Cook. "Listen, focus, and work"

Little Orchestra in the pier

Another work presented in the pier is "Momo-tarou (2013)" by Akio Suzuki and Hiromi Miyakita. It is a totally different piece compared with Matt's piece. It is a piece of installation and performance which adds one more layer to the work. The performance needed a couple of tools, hammer, sticks, nails.  Akio was responsible for constructing the frame for Hiromi to perform. Firstly, most of the attention were devoted to Akio as he were constructing the frame and producing sounds "Pang! Pang! Pang!", "Ding! Ding! Ding!". Not many of us notice the other performer. Later on, Hiromi started doing some action to coordinated with or response to the sound. Her movement changed according to the sound produced. In my point of view, no fixed movement or dance was planned before hand. The artists can alter their performance according to the sound and environment. In other words, there can be various performance with the same theme, but under different circumstances. It can be classified as performance art also as it was performed by artists themselves, no limit on venue or time, and relationship between audience and performers. We, as audience, also became parts of the environment and engaged in a closer relation with the artists. The impression become more direct.

 The performance: Momo-tarou (2013)

The Around sound art festival introduce a new art category to me that listening and hearing can embrace with environment and other art forms in some interesting and innovative way. Visiting this festival is a good experience.