74 posts tagged with china and Art.
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Donghua has its own identity, and it’s one worth knowing
Chinese animation is a vibrant, distinctive industry — so why do so many people still call it ‘anime’? [Polygon] ““Donghua” — much like “anime” for Japanese speakers — is simply the Chinese word for “animation.” After decades of stagnation in the animation industry, going as far back as the Cultural Revolution, China has entered what many tentatively call a rebirth in the field. It’s the result of 20 years of a Chinese identity crisis in animation, as the industry struggled to compete with the likes of Disney, Pixar, and Japan’s famed Studio Ghibli. While donghua’s current form is heavily influenced by anime, it has its own identity. From the beginning, the medium has constantly evolved to meet the mindset of the society it comes from. Chinese animation has been around for nearly a hundred years.” BONUS: [10 best donghua to get into Chinese animation]
Nightmare fuel
99 years-old artist Huang Yongyu designed the Year of the Rabbit (from Hell) zodiac stamp for the Chinese postal service. Huang actually came on livestream to talk about his red-eyed blue rabbit, expressing that drawing a rabbit is something fun, something celebratory, and that he just hoped his rabbit would make people happy. "But it doesn't," one person replied. From What's on Weibo founder Manya Koetse.
Chat and social media reactions, images, and poetry
"When so much of life is mediated through WeChat, stickers become a necessary mask. A way to be visible without committing. Communication without actually communicating." Chaoyang Trap (previously, cofounded by MeFi's Own beijingbrown) delves into "laziness-as-resistance" in China (discussed in a recent New York Times article), the process of making and selling these images, how they differ from reaction GIFs, copyright, woodblock prints, fandom, and more. Related: the poem "This Language That We Share" by Judith Kingston. [more inside]
Resurrecting the art of China's dragon scale bookbinding
At his studio in Beijing, artist Zhang Xiaodong layers hundreds of sheets of thin paper on top of one another until they form a complete and impeccable image. When the chapters of his elaborate books are unfolded, the pages move like the bellows of an accordion. This ancient Chinese art, known as dragon scale bookbinding [CNN], stretches back more than 1,000 years to the Tang dynasty. Passed down between generations of royals and literate upper class families, the finished works were thought to resemble dragons, each page appearing like a "scale." Video | More examples
I Take My Hat Off To Thee, Sirrah!
Hat history, hat fashion, hat racism-- strangely human [sarcasm].
Some [western] hat history, some racist hat history (of course), some more history of hats (mostly about Western History), but the world isn't limited to ideas of hats in the west. Great hats of Japan, Chinese Traditional Hats, Luxury Hats from Africa [more inside]
Beishan Broadcast Station: wall of (anti-communist) sound
Quemoy or Kinmen County (Wikipedia) is two groups of islands governed by the Republic of China and located just off the southeastern coast of mainland China. In the late 1960s, Taiwan made use of this proximity (Google maps) to set up four structures to reach out to mainland China. One of the remaining structures is a 30-foot-tall concrete block, honeycombed with 48 large holes with a speaker inside each (Google streetview panorama). The Beishan Broadcast Station was used to blast anticommunist messages across the Taiwan Strait, from Kinmen into China (Atlas Obscura). Now it is periodically used at a much lower volume (YouTube). [more inside]
Yo dawg
Simon Willison heard you like copies of dogs, so he commissioned a replica oil painting of a photo of Barbra Streisand's dogs looking at the grave of the dog from which they were both cloned.
But his spirit carries on...
Everything That Belonged to Us is Coming Back
The full scale of the criminality is impossible to pinpoint, because many heists never make the headlines ... But the thefts that were made public bear striking similarities. The criminals are careful and professional. They often seem to be working from a shopping list—and appear content to leave behind high-value objects that aren't on it. In each case, the robbers focused their efforts on art and antiquities from China, especially items that had been looted by foreign armies. Many of these objects are well documented and publicly known, making them very hard to sell and difficult to display. In most cases the pieces have not been recovered; they seem to simply vanish. The Great Chinese Art Heist by Alex W. Palmer [SLGQ]
literally, “the method of dyeing and printing”
Images of classical Chinese artworks
The English-language website of Taiwan's National Palace Museum has over two thousand images available from its archive in high quality scans. You can search by keyword or browse by dynasty and category. For instance, you can take a look at Ming-era paintings, Song-era jade craftworks or Ch'ing-era ceramics. You can also download images from recent expeditions. If you haven't had your fill, you can then browse the museum's Chinese language websites for painting and antiquities, which have a combined 70 thousand images. If you don't know Chinese and want to use the search function, Google Translate might be of some help.
Fan Ho
How Fan Ho, Hong Kong’s poet with a camera, found his calling – in his own words
In one of his last interviews, Fan Ho, who died a year ago, aged 84, recalls how he rediscovered his passion for photography – and some old negatives – to finally gain the recognition and respect he longed for [more inside]
A Photographer in Shanghai
The battle of Shanghai in 1937 was unique in many ways. For example, it was recorded more exhaustively in the western media than any other battle in China’s long war with Japan. This was because of the presence, in the city’s international districts, of foreign journalists and photographers. The latter left a treasure trove of photos, some of which are unknown to the wider public to this day, nearly 80 years after the battle. Bonus: Asians in WWII Poster Art
Chang'e 3 moon shots
The China National Space Administration released all of the images from their Chang'e 3 moon landing mission (previously), including hundreds of amazing true color, HD photographs. Some 35 GB of datasets, including photographs of and by the Yutu rover have been difficult to retrieve outside of China and have been mirrored by Emily Lakdawalla at planetary.org.
Chinese calligraphy and painting manual from 1633 now online, in full
Since 1933, the Cambridge University Library has had a pristine copy of Shi zhu zhai shu hua pu, the Ten Bamboo Studio collection of calligraphy and painting from 1633. Because the book was so fragile, the butterfly bound (Google books preview) manual for teachers of art and writing was not opened until it could be properly digitized. That day has come, and the entire book is online, giving the world a view of “the earliest and the most beautiful example of multicolor printing anywhere in the world,” according to Charles Aylmer, head of the Chinese department at Cambridge University Library. [more inside]
Utah, get me two!
With designs inspired by Peking opera the facekini protects its wearer from jellyfish stings and sunburns.
photos: The Chinese Art of the Crowd
"After viewing news photographs from China for years, one of my favorite visual themes is large crowd formations. Whether the subject is military parades or world-record attempts, mass exercises or enormous performances, the images are frequently remarkable. The masses of people can look beautiful or intimidating, projecting a sense of strength and abundance. Individuals can become pixels in a huge painting, or points on a grid, or echoes of each other in identical uniforms or costumes."
The Met's China Exhibit: Cultural Celebration or Appropriation?
The Met's soon-to-open exhibit, titled "China: Through the Looking Glass," tackles the impact of Chinese aesthetics on Western fashion, and how Chinese culture has inspired fashionable imagination for hundreds of years. Juxtaposing high fashion with Chinese art, film, clothing, and artifacts, the exhibit looks to explore why Western culture is as enraptured with the East as it is. [more inside]
Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz
Bargeloads of art and exhibit materials have been going out to the former prison island of Alcatraz recently, all for an imprisonment- and human rights- and freedom of expression-themed exhibit by Chinese activist dissident artist Ai Weiwei, who designed and directed the installation while remaining under detention in Beijing. The barged materials include over a million Lego blocks, assembled in San Francisco.
Chinese Lianhuanhua: A Century of Pirated Movies
Before bootleg DVDs, western movies were adapted into Lianhuanhua: linked picture books that could be bought or rented. While many stories were told, and many movies were "pirated" in this way, one of particular interest is Star Wars. [more inside]
Prosperous Suzhou
Prosperous Suzhou (20,353 × 546 pixel JPEG) is a 1757 scroll painting by Xu Yang illustrating the everyday life of the city, including more than 4,600 figures and 400 boats. It combines Western perspective with traditional Chinese style, and is currently on display at the Masterpieces of Chinese Painting exhibition at the London V&A.
Rubber Ducky, you're my very best friend, it's true!
We've read about Florentijn Hofman's giant rubber duck before (previously), and it made it's way earlier this week to Hong Kong to spread joy :D
Well, unfortunately, the duck was also viciously murdered (warning: may be graphic to younger viewers), and many already blame chinese mainlanders for it. [more inside]
Well, unfortunately, the duck was also viciously murdered (warning: may be graphic to younger viewers), and many already blame chinese mainlanders for it. [more inside]
Yang Yongliang
Mes Aynak
Golden Buddha, Hidden Copper. "Twelve years after the Taliban blew up the world-famous Bamiyan Buddhas, a Chinese mining firm -- developing one of the world's largest copper deposits -- threatens to destroy another of Afghanistan's archeological treasures." Campaign to Save Mes Aynak.
The mural in Oregon the Chinese government wants destroyed
A colorful mural adorns Chao Tsung-song / Tibet House in Corvallis, Oregon. Commissioned by Corvallis businessman, David Lin, the 100 foot long mural depicts at one end, a cheerful Taiwanese countryside scene, and at the other, police beating Tibetan protesters and a Tibetan monk in the process of self-immolation. The Chinese government has requested that the mural be destroyed. Mr. Lin and Corvallis city mayor, Julie Manning, say, "no."
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Mike McHenry has posted several photo pages of the Chinese firecracker and firework labels he's been collecting since 1968.
Using a Camera Lens to Illustrate
Don Hong-Oai (1929 - 2004), was a master of creating artwork which appeared to be Chinese ink illustrations, but were actually photographs. [gallery] [more inside]
Throwing molten iron for fun and profit
A landscape of the mind
''Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains'' is the greatest surviving masterpiece by Huang Gongwang (黄公望 1269-1354), one of the Four Yuan Masters; considered one of the finest of all Chinese paintings, it served as a model and inspiration for many subsequent literati artists. The scroll suffered fire damage in the early Qing and was divided into two parts. This summer, a special exhibition at the National Palace Museum in Taiwan reunited these two portions of Huang's masterwork for the first time in 360 years.
Michelangelo Antonioni's "Chung Kuo"
[Michelangelo Antonioni's Chung Kuo] as a documentary film was one which was draped with fascination for both filmmakers as well as an audience, rather than championing anti-whatever sentiments from either side of the world. Not having seen many movies, either features, shorts or documentaries made during the Cultural Revolution era or about that era in question (propaganda included), I think this Antonioni film has more than made its mark as a definitive documentary that anyone curious about the life of the time, would find it a gem to sit through.
The Chinese art of elegant bribery
The Cartoon Guide to Life, the Universe, and Everything
Larry Gonick is a veteran American cartoonist best known for his delightful comic-book guides to science and history, many of which have previews online. Chief among them is his long-running Cartoon History of the Universe (later The Cartoon History of the Modern World), a sprawling multi-volume opus documenting everything from the Big Bang to the Bush administration. Published over the course of three decades, it takes a truly global view -- its time-traveling Professor thoroughly explores not only familiar topics like Rome and World War II but the oft-neglected stories of Asia and Africa, blending caricature and myth with careful scholarship (cited by fun illustrated bibliographies) and tackling even the most obscure events with intelligence and wit. This savvy satire carried over to Gonick's Zinn-by-way-of-Pogo chronicle The Cartoon History of the United States, along with a bevy of Cartoon Guides to other topics, including Genetics, Computer Science, Chemistry, Physics, Statistics, The Environment, and (yes!) Sex. Gonick has also maintained a few sideprojects, such as a webcomic look at Chinese invention, assorted math comics (previously), the Muse magazine mainstay Kokopelli & Co. (featuring the shenanigans of his "New Muses"), and more. See also these lengthy interview snippets, linked previously. Want more? Amazon links to the complete oeuvre inside! [more inside]
Demolition of Ai Weiwei's studio
Shanghaiist reports that the Chinese authorities have followed through on their promise to tear down Ai Weiwei's studio. (previously). The artist is under house arrest in Beijing. [more inside]
made in china
Traditional patterns exquisitely turned into objects of little worth l car | tv | polo shirts by Li Xiaofeng | Twisted porcelain | The Porcelain War Museum and more by Charles Krafft | Manga Ormolu by Brendan Tang | Ming meets the tin can by Lei Xue. [more inside]
Harmonious Society
Lord of war
For his graduation piece, Central Academy of Fine Arts sculpture student Bi Heng (毕横) made a 9.4 metre tall Transformer-like statue of apotheosised martial hero Guan Yu; the base vehicle Bi cannibalised was another icon of the Chinese battlefield, the Jiefang truck (more pics, video in Chinese)
Release early, often and with rap music.
The Free Art and Technology (F.A.T.) Lab is an organization dedicated to enriching the public domain through the research and development of creative technologies and media. You may know them from such projects as How to build a fake Google Street View car, public domain donor stickers, internet famous class, the first rap video to end with a download source code link, or their numerous firefox add-ons (such as China Channel, Tourettes Machine, or Back to the future). FAT members have been hard at work standardizing various open source graffiti-related software packages, including Graffiti Analysis, Laser Tag, Fat Tag Deluxe and EyeWriter [previously] to be GML (Graffiti Markup Language) compliant. Fuck Google. Fuck Twitter. FuckFlickr. Fuck SXSW. Fuck 3D. FAT Lab is Kanye shades for the open source movement.
Ai Weiwei hospitalised
Ai Weiwei, one of the leading Chinese artists of his generation, has undergone emergency brain surgery after being beaten by police. [more inside]
miniature interiors
Carving a snuff bottle for painting. Types of snuff bottle painting: slide show. Step by step process of painting inside. A painting in its cultural setting. Some contemporary images: Tornado on the highway l aurora. With a special 90-degree-angle paintbrush used to paint inside glass or crystal objects, artists can achieve exquisitely unique paintings.Some of the painting tools used: the bamboo pen l writing brush l lily magnolia. [more inside]
The T'ang Dynasty
Moasics: they aren't just for Roman bath houses anymore!
Uh oh, you smashed a dish while you were washing up. But you don't get upset, because you know what to do with the pieces. Being both cultured and crafty, you not only know about the long and illustrious history of mosaic art but also that you can make mosaics from china and ceramic shards as well as pebbles, beads (new or removed from old jewelery), shells, marbles, or even lego or Scrabble tiles. So you take those pieces of your broken plate (and others that klutzy you has broken in the past) and, following some basic instructions, make numbers for your house, a fireplace surround, a birdbath, a flowerpot, a table or two or four, a tray, picture or mirror frames, a wall mural/homage to Hitchcock, or even a floor. By now you're wishing you had a spare basilica or Roman villa so you could really go nuts. And, besides planning on picking up some thrift shop china, you're eyeing that 48-piece reindeer-and-elves Christmas dinnerware set your mother-in-law gave you a few years back and thinking it's really too bad you're so clumsy and likely to break it in the very near future.
pathos and pathology
"Hidden within the basement archives of Yale University's Historical Medical Library lie the original oil painting collection and personal papers of the first American surgeon to practice in China." Extraordinary paintings of compassion in a medical setting. [Warning, these are graphic depictions, some NSFW] Elegant, disturbing and moving portraits of patients by Lam Qua, commissioned by a medical missionary named Peter Parker in the 1830's. [No, not that Peter Parker. Via MeFite tellurian's awesome blog]. [more inside]
The Caves of Dunhuang
"the precious jewels of Jao-chou"
In 2006 in the Fitzwilliam Museum three enormous porcelain vases from seventeenth or eighteenth century China were smashed by a museum visitor who fell down the stairs. This presentation "follows the vases' progress from scattered fragments to their redisplay in the Fitzwilliam Museum. The site includes slideshows, film clips of the conservation process and a timelapse of one of the vases under reconstruction". [more inside]
Chinese ice sculpture festival
Harbin Ice and Snow World 2007 "Welcome to... Beijing after an ice storm? No, this is “The Eighth Annual Harbin Ice and Snow World”, China’s premiere winter event." Previously on MeFi.
Smile, what's the use of crying
Yue Minjun, a Chinese avant-garde artist, known for his depiction of toothy, smiling males. More at Asia's Hottest Modern Painters. Bonus: Goldfish
南巡
Recording the grandeur of the Qing [Flash; browser re-sizing; Flash-free topic index] Gorgeous and rich resource introducing multiple facets of Qing history via a study of the spectacular painted scrolls that recorded Kangxi and Qianlong's inspection tours through the south of their Empire.
Wu Tai Shan
scholar's rocks
Known as scholar's rocks or gongshi, viewing stones are rocks of complex shapes that suggest worlds within worlds, microcosms in stone. In Japan they are called Suiseki, from the Japanese characters for water "sui" and stone "seki", placed on a daiza, a carved wood base. They are at once a miniature landscape and a point of imaginative departure…
Xia Xiaowan
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