So on Mondays, the Biennale is closed and I get to wander around! I decided to make a trip to the
Palazzo Grassi, which is owned by the François Pinault's Collection, set up by one of the richest art collectors and one of the most powerful man in the luxury goods business. The Palazzo Grassi is built in the neoclassical style, and restored/worked over by architect Tadao Ando. In it, now sits Pinault's expensive contemporary art collection.
Currently on show is
The World Belongs to You, which runs from June 2, 2011 to December 31, 2011. It is curated by Caroline Bourgeois. Entry is 10 euros for students. 15 euros for normal entry. The official write up on the website for the exhibition:
The World Belongs to You brings together works by artists from different practices, generations, and backgrounds, exploring artists’ relationships to history, reality and its own representation. «The exhibition revolves around major themes of contemporary history: from the breakdown of symbols, to the temptation of self-withdrawal and isolation, the attraction of violence and spirituality in a troubled and globalised world” (Caroline Bourgeois).
Wasn't obvious to me after going through the exhibition, but the works were overall, good.
I shall give a quick run-through of what I saw, but before that, I would like to disclaim that I am not a professional art critic, and my last art history class was four years ago in my Art Elective Programme class in NJC. Let's begin :)
MY THREE FAVORITE WORKS
Stranger Than Paradise, 2010-11
Yang Jiechang
What can be seen as an attempt to fuse contemporary sensibilities to be shocking with traditional chinese painting methods gave way to a deeper meaning for me. In the chinese-styled flat landscape delineated by bold black brushstrokes against a dominantly brown background, are figures of various animal species in various activities. Various species of animals are suckling on the nipples of one mother animal for milk, a man and a bear frolicking in the wild, a horse and a monkey making out, a woman and a deer procreating, inter-species family time, and the various creatures that have no place in traditional chinese paintings due to their belonging to totally different habitats - kangaroos, polar bears...
My initial 'shock' (not possible anymore today?) and close dismissal gave way to a reading of the painting as one that had hardly any discrimination, where the inter-species interactions could perhaps be read as metaphors for the different kinds or races of people living with no bias. The painting, which is really huge, say more than 10 meters wide and 2.5 meters tall, perhaps really is paradise... for where can there be one place where all creatures co-exist and interact happily, regardless of species, beliefs, or climate?
Friendship (Two Women), 2007
Zhang Huan
The beauty of the work lies in how Zhang had used ash from prayer sticks to form his image. Up close, it just looks like scattered beds of ashes, which includes the remnants ends of burnt sticks and little bits of paper. From far, you see the slightly blurred yet discernable image of two women.
To me, it symbolizes how the act of praying, being religious, or sharing the same belief have given them a common ground to bond and carry out activities together, and thus form a friendship. Also, the image of two women has some apparent reference to China's period under communist Mao rule. More than just being figurative, I really enjoy looking at the work on the micro level, and seeing the landscape of it; the contours of the surface formed by the ashes.
The Algiers' Sections of a Happy Moment, 2008
David Claerbout
This is one of the works I enjoyed the most in the exhibition. It's a single channel projection of many black-and-white stills, played along to the slightly haunting yet slightly meditative soundtrack of a string instrument (sorry, my musical descriptions suck bad). The film opened to a scene of a street soccer gathering on the rooftop of a building, which was amongst many other almost similarly height buildings near the coast. There were boys surrounding the side of the courts, and no one was kicking the ball. The game was probably on a break, and one of the boys was feeding the seagulls. As the projection consisted of stills and the speed was rather slow, you are slowly led into seeing the different occurrences from the many angles - the majestic birds, the happy boys, the feeding, the landscape, close-ups. At first I thought that although it was terribly slow (not a complaint, the photography was amazing... so much detail, so much depth and so well composed), the film was moving along. However, as it came towards the end, I realized that it was actually the same moment, when the photos towards the end consecutively showed the same boy from different angles. Then I realized I was duped into believing that there was going to be a narrative from the beginning, which we tend to associate with how films work.
Reading up, apparently there were over 50,000 shots taken from various angles (it must be A LOT. nothing felt repeated) within a few seconds. To me, this work really captured the essence of just a simple happy moment, one that is so genuine and so fleeting. Also, I wondered if the slow speed was on purpose to slightly jar on the need to find out what happens next in a narrative, or if it's a reference to how humans tend to overblow and exaggerate a single wonderful event as time passes by and memory fades...
OTHER WORKS I THINK ARE NOTABLE
The Hunter, 2011
Adrian Ghenie
Reminds me of Francis Bacon, just less abstract.
The Past is a Foreign Country, 2011
Fruedrich Kunath
Nice title which helped led me into the work.
Contamination, 2008-2010
Joana Vasconcelos
Beautiful for its scale and quirkiness.
Life is Beautiful, 2009
Farhad Moshiri
The contrast and irony.
Family Romance, 1993
Charles Ray
Humor + porn. Just kidding.
Hanging Wall, 1968
Ger Van Elk
Conversation piece.
FAVORITE NEW PHRASE PICKED UP
"Nazi Theories of Racial Hygiene"
- culled from write-up for Adrian Ghenie
Ciao!
Winston
Image Credits/ 1 2 3 4 5
