Graffiti 2.0

Just some more local urban art, sanctioned and not.    Enjoy:

Okinawan Graffiti

Near our apartment is a long concrete embankment that lines the ocean.  Graffiti – both seemingly sanctioned [or there are some urban artists painting some odd children scenes] and definitely non-sanctioned.  I love graffiti and I am constantly amazed at their skill and creativity.  While I was walking along, snapping a few photos, I ran across two younger guys.  After a nod and a ‘konbanwa,’ he smiled and pointed to one section of concrete tagged in blue.  Quickly, we realized that my Japanese and his English were limited enough that a true conversation wasn’t happening.  Indicating that it was his work, he beamed.  When I motioned for him to get in the photograph, he shook his head no.  He held his hands up as being cuffed or arrested and frowned.  I told him I liked the work with a thumbs up.  Excitedly, he told me to wait and ran to his car and came back with a black hood – squatted down and let me snap a photo.

So, fun times already in Okinawa – I’m chillin with the gangstas. As I walked away, the two boys bowed.  Hard core Japanese gangstas.  Here’s some of the work I saw:

Beijing – 798

Even though we hadn’t hit up every temple in town, we decided that taking in some art would be up our alley. The resulting trip was the coolest ‘out of the ordinary’ thing we did in Beijing. The very industrial and modern 798 Art District houses some impressive art which was more subversive, political, and counter-culture than anything I expected to find in China.

The area is a converted abandoned Industrial sector. The buildings are old warehouses and factories, which now house sculptures, cafes, and art spaces. We spent a morning and afternoon here, but didn’t manage to see everything. If you get to Beijing, I suggest finding this little block of goodness. Again, pictures are often better [or at least more pleasing to you and easier on me].  I have tons more, but here are some goodies:

The Road to Shanghai

After leaving Sichuan [actually after leaving Luzhou], my official work duties were over. So, I flew to Shanghai and met up with Shu Lan for our China holiday extravaganza. First up on our list was to hit up the town of Shanghai. We only had a night and two full days, so we had to pack it in. Thankfully, Shanghai seems to be Hong Kong lite. Since I can shop till I drop at home – and Shu Lan was planning to be in Shanghai for several days after I left for HK – we were able to skip out on the shopping.

Well… almost skip out. Turns out China gets cold and yours truly needed a coat. Let me tell you, finding a decent jacket in Shanghai is no problem. Finding one that won’t 1) cost you an arm and leg and 2) fits when you are built like a tank, now that takes work. We must have been to 20 shops all up and down Shanghai. Turns out, in China, my shoulders make me a XXL. That’s right kiddos – all you people who say ‘OMG Bryan you are so skinny!’ ‘You’ve lost SO much weight!’ ‘What’s your secret?’ Well, the secret is to move where people are super tiny apparently.

So, here are my Shanghai highlights:

The Bund – A big tourist destination that at first looks like a miniature of the Hong Kong skyline. A closer look, though, reveals a beautiful array of historic buildings. You can take a boat here [we didn’t]. Close by is also a corridor-like street [leads to Renmin Ave.], which has more cool buildings, good eats, and plenty of shopping.

Yu Yuan Gardens – located in the ‘old center’ of Shanghai, this Chinese garden. While there are some plants, the focus seems to be on elaborate rockery pieces, water, and cool looking buildings. Very picaresque. Strategically, if you head here you can also hit the ‘Old Shanghai’ areas. The buildings look cool, you can get some soup dumplings, and buy stuff till you are satiated.

Duolun Street – In the 1930s if you were an artist or a revolutionary – you were at Duolun street. There are some cool statues, the oldest [or maybe only] Chinese style Christian church, and a cool scene. Again, shopping on this street – primarily from vendors and artisans. It can be tricky to get to and you might find yourself on some alleys of Shanghai. This was interesting too, though, as we saw a part of Shanghai that a lot of tourists don’t make it to.

We saw other things in Shanghai, but like I said our time was limited. So, if you have only a day, I suggest those three. I didn’t take a ton of pictures, but the city has a 1920s feel with art deco buildings. It feels like a city removed from time.

Sculpture in HK

One thing I love about major cities is the artwork.  Smaller towns just don’t seem to have sculptures scattered around in random places – a quiet statue standing solemnly in a forgotten nook, or simply odd peices of art.  Hong Kong, being so overwhelmingly packed with stuff, has randomness a plenty.  So, I thought a nice entry showcasing the sculptures of the city might be entertaining.  The majority of these come from Central and TST, but there are gems scattered seemingly everywhere. Enjoy…

A sidenote…

I am weeks behind in blogging about HK and my adventures.  But, on a side note, I have fallen in love with the artwork of Heinrich Kley.  Sometimes I like to just walk through a library and glance at books on the shelves.  Last time, this little orange spine caught my eye – a collection of Kley’s notebooks.  Each illustration seems to contain pages of story and thought crammed into its tiny inkings.  Some of it is simply odd and surreal. He is fond of elephants [and humanizing animals, or animalizing humans] and apparently inspired sections of Fantasia.  Even still, he is apparently an illustrator/artist who simply faded into time.

My favorite by far is this gem:

You can sample several other pieces of his work here. Enjoy

More Lanterns (Mid Autumn Festival)

I came across these lovely lanterns in Tsim Sha Tsui (TST).  Since several people seemed to really like seeing these, I thought I would post them.  Mid-Autumn Festival has already past but some things like this are still around in Hong Kong.  As September ends, they will slowly disappear.  Already, there are no moon cakes it seems. All of these lanterns were part of a single scene located by Victoria Harbour.   Again, I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves:

The moon…

Mid Autumn #2 – Lanterns

I’ll keep this post brief, and let the pictures speak for themselves. Lanterns are everywhere right now.  I think that when westerners imagine ‘lanterns’ we think of stodgy oil lamps.  Occasionally,we might even recall the bright red lanterns depicted in film.  These red lanterns are omnipresent, but are nothing when compared to the detail and craftsmanship of these lamps.  This pictures were taken near Victoria Park, and each scene depicts a story, ideal, or aspect of the Mid-Autumn Festival.  Some of the stories are Japanese, Korean, or of other Asian origin – each seemed to center around the Moon.  So, enjoy:

Rabbits keeping Chang-E company!

This story centered around a Japanese crop myth.

This myth was about Korean women and drumming.

Takashi Murakami Art

I forgot that I picked a small pamphlet from the exhibition of Murakami’s pieces.  His art is crazy, fun, and mildly psychotic.  I really enjoy his work, even if the exhibit was less than impressive.  You’ll notice, however, even in the pamphlet, artists’ work from Murakami’s workshop/studio are shown (apparently Mr. is gaining popularity).  So, for your viewing pleasure:

T. Murakami and Amano in Hong Kong

After my grand luck with the Hong Kong Art Museum’s Contempory Art collection (I will write about this later), I thought it might be interesting to check out two other art exhibitions.  Both were featuring Japanese artists – namely Takashi Murakami and Yoshitaka Amano.

Murakami is probably most famous for his designed Louis Vuitton bags but he is equally famous for the wonder known as ‘My Lonesome Cowboy’ which stands 9 ft tall, (WARNING: this is a vulgar/sexual image). Interestingly, when I was searching for the image, it turns out the piece was used in a Philosophy of Art exam at my alma mater, the University of Arkansas.  Crazy small world sometimes.  Occasionally described as the Andy Warhol of the East, he combines anime, manga, and western art motiffs. Well, the art exhibit in Hong Kong was more than disappointing.  Housed in a almost missable building in The tiny room, roughly the size of the dormitory I am currently living in, housed less than 10 pieces, all prints, of which around half were not even Murakami’s work – but instead artists who work in his studio.  All of this was a clever ruse, to get me to purchase affordable $30,000 HK prints of his work.  I would have purchased a book of his work, but those were not even available.  

A little saddened, I left and headed to the Yoshitaka Amano exhibit. Amano is probably most famous for his work on Vampire Hunter D and Final Fantasy. This exhibit was infinitely better!  All of the pieces were aluminum, and painted with the same process they paint automobiles.  Apparently business has been going well and they plan to extend the exhibition until November (rotating in some new pieces).  One of the ETA’s I was traveling with said it looked like he had nightmares and decided to paint them.  I asked the guy if I could take some pictures, and he agreed – so enjoy (click on an image for a larger view)!