Living Art

Beijing, July 10
My host and I made the trek to the 798 Artists Collective this afternoon. I don't know if it is correct to call it an Artists Collective but I think that name gives a sense of the area. Out past the 4th Ring Road there is an area of abandoned factories and warehouses along with what look like workers' housing units along with other buildings. The area has been taken over and converted to galleries and shops. The warehouse spaces are very good for displaying large pieces and installations. The workers' houses and other low buildings have been converted into shops and stores.

Some of the art is not to my taste. All of it is beyond the range of my budget this trip. There was a gallery of Buddhas in ceramic, priced from Y250,000 - Y500,000 (The Y means Yuan. The exchange rate is roughly Y6 = $1.) The statues were very beautiful, most were serene, some were a little playful. Some were distinctly Chinese. Any one of them would be a good addition to a Buddhist home. We saw one exhibit of what I have to call "modern painting", I have no idea what stream of modern art this was. And I would not have any one of them in my home. I either did not connect with the pieces or I connected negatively.
We saw an exhibit of large black and white photographs made during the photographer / artist's trip to Tibet. A few of them I felt neutral about. Almost all of them I would have taken home if possible. There are stunning, powerful images that reveal some of the beauty and the reality of living in Tibet.
Scattered around the parts of 798 we visited were what would probably be classed as "grotoesques" by art critics. Human figures that are distorted in some way, or non-human figures that the human visitors could react to and with. We saw two sheet metal outlines of human figures attached to a wall. They reminded me of sardine cans. Each metal shape was big enough for one person to stand in. People were gathered around waiting to get their chance to get into the cans and be photographed.

We went into one dimly lit shop that was full of cloth and embroidery. The space was about 3 or 4 meters square and roughly regular ceiling height. Except for the door and window there was cloth and clothing stacked floor to ceiling. There was also a pile about table height in the centre of the room. The woman who talked to us told us the embroidery was done by monks, Tibetan monks, or monks from the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, from the look of the designs. Absolutely beautiful work, bright colours, fascinating designs, swirls of colour, almost all strong primary colours: reds, yellows, blues mostly. I wanted to buy something but I knew I would never be able to walk out with just one piece.
There were lots of souvenir shops of course, and most of them were overflowing with people, some looking, some buying. Quite often one or two items catch my eye and I think about buying, and then I see the same item in two or three or four places and I know the "unique" piece I saw in one shop is a mass produced item. I did buy a key chain with the name of the subway stop I have used every day since I got here. It will be a daily reminder of this trip once I get back to Toronto.
And we went into the UCCA Store. That is the store to go to if you want new or unusual items from the 798 area (unless you buy original art of course). Lots and lots of well designed pieces, pieces people can live with and use. Lots of art gallery souvenirs as well and some limited edition art. So it has something for all pocket books, and probably something for all tastes. A great place, and full of people young and old wanting to find something for themselves or for others.