NEW MASSES!
No One Will Grant Us Deliverance, Not God, Nor Tsar, Nor Hero!
Cantonese Speak Cantonese
"Chen Sir, Guangzhou Supports You!"
The Disappearing Goat City (Guangzhou)
a documentary by 謝文君 & 粵拍粵掂
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曹斐 (Cao Fei) is the first Chinese female artist chosen by the PBS program ART21 (Art in the 21st Century; the most internationally acclaimed Chinese artists are mostly in this program, e.g. Xu Bing and Cai Guo-Qiang). Cao was born in Guangzhou in 1978 and graduated from Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts in 2001. One thing I found really special about Cao Fei is that she's very different from the earlier famous Chinese artists who uses calligraphy, gunpowder, and whatsoever "Chineseness." Her art is more about local stories with a sense of lightheartedness and lots of references to local culture. I wrote about her and other Cantonese artists (e.g. one of China’s first art avant-garde groups, Guangzhou based - The Big Tail Elephant Group) as a semester long project for a Hampshire course Deterritorialized Spaces: Border Cultures.
The following are my favorite ones of Cao Fei's work, especially the PRD Anti-Heroes. I came across this piece in the 維他命空間 (Vitamin Creative Space), a very no frills local independent space (not even a gallery) located in the middle of nowhere - 赤岗东新港商业城内光速网吧3楼. Its location is actually very absurd and surreal because it's on the 3rd floor of an internet cafe, to which you need to go through a very crowded outdoor market where all the small business people might have no idea about the existence of such nutritious and creative brain juice. The Vitamin Space mainly focuses on Cantonese artists and has its own publications, which is pretty rare. I was surprised that I found its books in the Printed Matter in NYC. I watched the whole PRD Anti-Heroes dvd in the Vitamin and had been trying to find a copy of it. But I'd never seen it again until ART21 uploaded small snatches of it on youtube. Awesome but not perfect!
珠三角梟雄 PRD Anti-Heroes, 2005
This performance uses documentary style interviews, anecdotes, local legends culled on the internet, widely publicized press reports of goings-on in the Pearl River Delta's hot spots, other first-person accounts of life, and traditional Cantonese opera.
A parody of propaganda phrases: “One World One Dream” and “building a harmony society”
Cantonese Kong Fu character holding signs with Cantonese slangs
A Satire on the Beauty Contest
From the artist statement:
If we say that “Heroes” are part of the “History” that is well known to all of us, then “Anti-Heroes” lie in that part of history that remains unknown and anonymous... An anti-hero can take on a variety of roles and professions including that of coolie, beggar, gambler, hawker, garbage collector, tobacco seller, vendor of pirated CD’s, shoe polisher, or repairer of pots and pans, mainly doing all of the undocumented jobs outside the reach of local government administration. These people who do not have a social system of their own to rely on, and who tend to be outside the mainstream’s line of vision, are rapidly spreading to all of society’s nooks and crannies, living a subterranean life that is both separate from and at the same time interdependent on the outside world.
The RMB City is a n interactive project aims to depict an artificial island that is built in the 3D virtual world of the Second Life --> a postmodern collage of landmarks and urban over-development.
I haven't reconnected with 廖冰兄 Liao Bing-Xiong ever since elementary school because I'd taken Liao for granted in a while, which means he was among a list of famous names that everybody knows but doesn't go beyond the level of simply knowing the names. Liao is an older generation artist who's most famous for his political satire illustrations. His sister's name is Liao Bing, so his name's Liao Bing Brother/Xiong. His work is very dark, intense, and metaphorical, which is a pretty clever way to deal with censorship.
If we say that “Heroes” are part of the “History” that is well known to all of us, then “Anti-Heroes” lie in that part of history that remains unknown and anonymous... An anti-hero can take on a variety of roles and professions including that of coolie, beggar, gambler, hawker, garbage collector, tobacco seller, vendor of pirated CD’s, shoe polisher, or repairer of pots and pans, mainly doing all of the undocumented jobs outside the reach of local government administration. These people who do not have a social system of their own to rely on, and who tend to be outside the mainstream’s line of vision, are rapidly spreading to all of society’s nooks and crannies, living a subterranean life that is both separate from and at the same time interdependent on the outside world.
Online Urbanization: 人民城寨 RMB City
The RMB City is a n interactive project aims to depict an artificial island that is built in the 3D virtual world of the Second Life --> a postmodern collage of landmarks and urban over-development.
at least enjoy the music, 4:12 -!
P.S.:
Cao Fei's earlier work
A letter from her mother when Cao was little
当今之现实比漫画更漫画
I haven't reconnected with 廖冰兄 Liao Bing-Xiong ever since elementary school because I'd taken Liao for granted in a while, which means he was among a list of famous names that everybody knows but doesn't go beyond the level of simply knowing the names. Liao is an older generation artist who's most famous for his political satire illustrations. His sister's name is Liao Bing, so his name's Liao Bing Brother/Xiong. His work is very dark, intense, and metaphorical, which is a pretty clever way to deal with censorship.
禁鳴 No Honking/Speaking
燃血求知 Burn Your Blood to Study
Try to imagine impressionist dot painting:
Here, dots = human heads
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