Two weekends ago we headed out to (translation: I forced Matt to go to) "Art on the Bund"! It's a free monthly walking tour hitting up 6 different art galleries all along the Bund. Our tour guides led us to the different boutique galleries and at each we met the owner / curator / etc who explained all the exhibitions. All of the art was contemporary which is not totally my cup of tea, but I'm a sucker for a good art exhibit. This is even less up Matt's alley, but he was a serious trooper and didn't complain a bit as I dragged him on to each next stop. Honestly, 6 galleries is too many, so after 4 galleries I decided to call it quits and Matt jumped with appreciation. Then we were off for some drinks on the Bund. Haha.
Here's some pics from the galleries:
Gallery #2: AroundSpace Gallery. Small gallery with an exhibition. This piece was cool with the crepe paper made into the fields. There was also other pieces using some leather / fabric / horse hair to make indistinguishable animals. Pass...
Gallery #3: Pearl Lam Gallery. This was our favorite featuring an exhibition by Michael Wilkinson. His work featured a variety of techniques and mediums, but some of the coolest pieces were the way he used the reflection of the mirrors. My favorite is the old photo from a Paris student protest blown up so that the faces are pixelated and distorted up close but then you can see the individual faces from far back. Then he uses the mirrors so that you can see yourself reflected in each face. Additionally, he created each one by etching off the mirror from behind the glass rather than painting the reflectiveness on the front.
Here's also an interesting article about the exhibition. It open the day of the Boston Marathon bombings and the author tried to draw some parallels, but I'm not sure about that... But the rest is interesting. Article Here.
Gallery #4: Studio Rouge. This is supposedly one of the first galleries to bring contemporary art to Shanghai and housed in supposedly one of the oldest original buildings on the Bund. We also met the owner who was very cool, in his obviously artsy way... This particular exhibition wasn't my personal cup of tea.
Grandmother, I keep checking up on Ai Wei Wei, the Chinese artist you mentioned, but I get the feeling he won't be exhibiting in China any time soon, if ever again as I'm pretty sure he's now exiled from the country and his studio demolished... While this day was a fun little adventure into contemporary art, I think I would really enjoy his work, as you did!
Since Matt was such a trooper on the art tour, this most recent weekend, I arranged a day that would be right up his alley. BBQ-fest!!! (Well, Bubba's BBQ arranged it but I rallied the troops! ;)
The event started at 11am and we arrived promptly at 11:05am. Guess who was anxious to be on time for this one? Some of our awesome friends, Camilla & Andreas (gorgeous Danes!) joined us and the boys were in pure heaven with meat in one hand and beers in the other.
After the BBQ-fest, we headed out to watch another of our friends, Steve, play Aussie rules football. Julia, Steve's girlfriend and also one of my favorites, gave us the heads up that it was "Ladies' Day" meaning free champagne for all the ladies! Obviously, I wasn't passing this up and what meat-fest isn't best washed down with a couple glasses of champange?
Talk about a great little Shanghai Saturday!
oh, and Matt cut his hair!
Here's some pics from the galleries:
Gallery #1: Shanghai Gallery of Art (surprisingly small for the gallery with the city's namesake) The current exhibit was "Some Like it Hot"
Here, the artist encouraged viewers to take use of the red ink pad and create their own art on the wall. close-up of my little red heart. (Although it felt like a trick after because I was the only one in our group to partake and the red ink stayed on my finger for the entire tour. but I still like me little heart. :) )
Opening day there was a stack of plates about where we are standing and everyone was asked to take a plate and throw it at the wall in the direction of the word that causes you the most anger / stress / pain / etc. On the wall where the plates were thrown (that you see here) are written words such as "self", "government", "institution", "media", "religion", etc. "Self" was in the center and no one is sure if the center has the most destruction because that is where people were aiming and need relief, or if they all just had horrible aim...
a wall of baby pickles
yep, baby pickles
Gallery #2: AroundSpace Gallery. Small gallery with an exhibition. This piece was cool with the crepe paper made into the fields. There was also other pieces using some leather / fabric / horse hair to make indistinguishable animals. Pass...
Gallery #3: Pearl Lam Gallery. This was our favorite featuring an exhibition by Michael Wilkinson. His work featured a variety of techniques and mediums, but some of the coolest pieces were the way he used the reflection of the mirrors. My favorite is the old photo from a Paris student protest blown up so that the faces are pixelated and distorted up close but then you can see the individual faces from far back. Then he uses the mirrors so that you can see yourself reflected in each face. Additionally, he created each one by etching off the mirror from behind the glass rather than painting the reflectiveness on the front.
Here's also an interesting article about the exhibition. It open the day of the Boston Marathon bombings and the author tried to draw some parallels, but I'm not sure about that... But the rest is interesting. Article Here.
that's my trooper!
Pink Floyd's "The Wall" in LEGOs and chalk paint. What a playful guy!
Gallery #4: Studio Rouge. This is supposedly one of the first galleries to bring contemporary art to Shanghai and housed in supposedly one of the oldest original buildings on the Bund. We also met the owner who was very cool, in his obviously artsy way... This particular exhibition wasn't my personal cup of tea.
lots of this...
Photo Op! I LOVE The Bund!
Grandmother, I keep checking up on Ai Wei Wei, the Chinese artist you mentioned, but I get the feeling he won't be exhibiting in China any time soon, if ever again as I'm pretty sure he's now exiled from the country and his studio demolished... While this day was a fun little adventure into contemporary art, I think I would really enjoy his work, as you did!
Since Matt was such a trooper on the art tour, this most recent weekend, I arranged a day that would be right up his alley. BBQ-fest!!! (Well, Bubba's BBQ arranged it but I rallied the troops! ;)
The event started at 11am and we arrived promptly at 11:05am. Guess who was anxious to be on time for this one? Some of our awesome friends, Camilla & Andreas (gorgeous Danes!) joined us and the boys were in pure heaven with meat in one hand and beers in the other.
After the BBQ-fest, we headed out to watch another of our friends, Steve, play Aussie rules football. Julia, Steve's girlfriend and also one of my favorites, gave us the heads up that it was "Ladies' Day" meaning free champagne for all the ladies! Obviously, I wasn't passing this up and what meat-fest isn't best washed down with a couple glasses of champange?
Talk about a great little Shanghai Saturday!
oh, and Matt cut his hair!
Love, love the pic of you on the Bund. What is on the wall that is so colorful?
ReplyDeleteCrazy Art Galleries. Not sure, but I still think the Guggenheim show with the chewed gum in the shape of body parts tops it.
xo
Very interesting art exhibits! I love the plate throwing idea!!! Also- yay for the bbq fest and football game! Sounds so fun and a great expat gathering! Glad you're having such fun!!
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