Manga Ormolu – Hybrid cultures in a globalized world

Manga Ormolu is one of Brendan Lee Satish Tang’s ceramic series, which amalgamates Ming Dynasty style porcelain with figures from Japanese anime and manga. The set is inspired by French ormolu, where Chinese ceramics were gilded with gold or bronze. Here Ming-style vases are usurped by futuristic robotic prosthetics, representing the ongoing process of globalization (as known as colonialism, nationalism, and capitalism) and of cultural appropriation. Tang criticizes the rate and extent of which globalization is increasing as we pass through various technological revolutions from agricultural, industrial, to now digital. The boundaries which define one’s identity are subjected to constant change, but now at an even faster pace.

Manga Ormolu version 4.0-c by Brendan Tang

The message of traditions taken over by technology and globalization and of cultures hybridizing and merging together reflects his personal history. Tang is born in Ireland to Trinidadian parents – father of Chinese decent and mother of Indian decent and now lives in Canada. Being ethnically-mixed and culturally diverse, he claims that he is used to a hybridized identity. Through Manga Ormolu, he wishes to address the issue of transformations in culture and identity in an amusing and not so serious fashion, while motivating viewers to become aware of globalization and to reflect on the realities of their world. 

By Athena Wong

Related Reviews: Global Art Database,Visual Art, Exhibition, Vancouver Art Gallery

Temporality and Fragility in Kristi Malakoff’s “Skull”

One of Kristi Malakoff’s current pieces at the Vancouver Art Gallery, entitled “Skull” brings together two opposing feelings, that of life and death, and through looking at celebratory ideas of death Malakoff is also bringing together the global with the local. The piece covers a large white wall in the gallery, and at closer look one is able to see the fine craftsmanship that Malakoff has put into this work. A labour intensive piece the work consists of over 12000 cut out paper flowers, mounted on the wall to form the design of a skull. Fifty different types of flowers are displayed, and have all been photographed by Malakoff, and then cut out one by one, and reassembled in the gallery space. The work speaks of death and beauty, both through the initial design; flowers into a skull, as well as the fact that the piece itself is so delicate, and ultimately will be destroyed once the exhibition is over. Life is fleeting, just as this project in fleeting, in the temporality of it, the bright colours and impressive detail will all be taken down, therefore the work must be celebrated while it is still here.

“Skull” by Kristi Malakoff

Also in terms of celebration this work brings up ideas around celebrations of death, such as The Day of the Dead, in Mexican culture. This is where Malakoff’s work leaves the local space of the Vancouver Art Gallery and becomes a global piece of work, that cross-culturally can be talked about, and understand in the same, yet different ways as well. Celebrations of death are something that happens across cultures, not just in Mexico, similar celebrations occur in Spain, and the Philippines. In this way this large skull allows viewers to think about death, and how it is celebrated in their own culture compared to other cultures. Malakoff uses a beautiful design to show off the beauty in life, and juxtaposes this with an image that is understood globally to be one of death or destruction, in this way she is speaking to a larger audience, and making her point more globally understood, instead of only understood for the space of the Vancouver Art Gallery.
A common theme of fragility and temporality occurs throughout Malakoff’s pieces, and she is able to use a theme such as this to provoke cross-cultural discussion around her work, as well as aesthetically, the fragility of her work can be appreciated for both its beauty as well as the hard work that evidently went into it. A large-scale piece such as this screams to be talked about, and that is exactly what “Skull” achieves, discussion around the beauty of the work as well as discussion around the larger themes the work represents.

Kristi Malakoff’s "Star" and "Target" (both on the floor)

 

Two other Kristi Malakoff pieces are currently being displayed at the Vancouver Art Gallery now, both her piece “Target” which is made of layers and layers of crate paper, as well as “Star” which has been constructed with actors tape in the shape of a star on the gallery floor, can also be seen in the “How Soon Is Now” exhibit, running until May 3rd, 2009.

By Heather Palmer

Related Reviews: Society, Global Art Database,Visual Art, Exhibition, Vancouver Art Gallery

How Soon Is Now

“How Soon Is Now” is an exhibition that is happening now until May 3^rd, 2009 at the Vancouver Art Gallery. The exhibition introduces selected artists from the province of British Columbia whose work utilizes range of forms such as sculpture, painting, video, audio installation work and more.

In one part of the gallery, a series of works that are bizarre yet at the same time eye pleasing, is Brendan Lee Saish Tang’s Manga Ormolu. Tang, born in Dublin and raised in Nanaimo BC, links his interest in hybridity to his family background, which includes a number of generations of ethnic intermarriage and intercontinental migration across India, China, Trinidad, Ireland and Canada.

 

Brendan Tang (in front of the Vancouver Art Gallery)

Manga Ormolu version 3.0-b

Manga Ormolu enters the dialogue on contemporary culture, technology, and globalization through the relationship between ceramic tradition (using the form of Chinese Ming dynasty vessels) and techno-Pop Art. The futuristic update of the Ming vessels recalls the 18th century French gilded ormolu, where historic Chinese vessels were transformed into curiosity pieces for aristocrats. But here, robotic prosthetics inspired by anime (Japanese animation) and manga (the beloved comics and picture novels of Japan) subvert elitism with the accessibility of popular culture (Brendan Tang—Artist’s Website).

The title “How Soon Is Now” evokes one characteristic of the work in the exhibition: a sense of immediacy that speaks to the present moment (19^th issue of Glance, news and event of the Vancouver Art Gallery). Through developed technology, it is un-questionable that the world is coming closer. Hence, Tang’s work flawlessly fits with the title of the exhibition and just like his background he has created work that mirrors the hybridization as a cultural effect of globalization.

 

Raymond Boisjoly—Expanding Fields. Christmas lights and wooden construction.

Wood and lights compose Raymond Boisjoly’s Beginnings and Latecomers, a unique hybrid of cultural ideas.  Made of yellow cedar, the sculpture is adorned by Christmas lights of different colours.  The lights form to outline figures similar to those found on totem poles.  This mixture of West Coast Native symbolism with Christian-based tradition evokes a strange juxtaposition, creating an odd, desecrated version of a totem pole.  

Boisjoly offers a unique translation of local Aboriginal tradition and culture. His representation of a totem pole, bright lights and all, is one for the modern, market-oriented world.  Today, artists are expected to go beyond their local art communities and serve and appeal to a more global market.  I see Boisjoly’s work as a critique of this idea, bringing to the viewer’s attention how Native culture has become a cheap commodity.  Aboriginal icons and beliefs have been appropriated time and again in order to make money in the name of celebrating local art tradition.  This is at the expense of true Native culture, however, as traditions are boxed up into packaged products for the mass consumer.

 

Noah Becker in the studio. Photo Big Tiny Smalls

Noah Becker’s piece entitled, Dysfunctional Landscape, is currently being featured at the “How Soon Is Now”.  This artist’s work is labelled as “commenting on contemporary culture.”  Becker’s, Dysfunctional Landscape, consists of a mountain structure broken down with levels of several tiers, containing both objects and human figures.  This frame provides the piece with a downward motion, containing an end when the bottom of the work is reached.  In the depiction, objects appear to be passed and shared.  Some are left on the floor, while others are in use.  These individual abstract fragments include a person with a marionette puppet and the act of building in progress.  While all these individual identities are presented in the piece, so are segregated entities. 

The notion of globalization is here evident.  Individuals choose to partake as consumers in the shared concepts and notions of cultures outside of their own, even if they are not aware of their involvement.  Together people are building a universal point of recognition; however humans are still members of their personal culture.  The scattered objects represent the notion that there is no infinite answer to the implications of globalization.  Cultural overlap exists, however no one is quite sure how to encompass identity into a single definition.  In other words, the lack of certainty of the meaning and repercussions of globalization is represented.

Other Artists in the exhibition:

Jackson 2bears, Abbas Akhavan, Sonny Assu, Cedric, Nathan and Jim Bomford, Aaron Carpenter, Hadley+Maxwell, Antonia Hirsch, Allison Hrabluik, Instant Coffee, Christian Kliegel, Germaine Koh, Laiwan, Kristi Malakoff, Kyla Mallett, Luanne Martineau, Damian Moppett, The Music Appreciation Society, Lucy Pullen, Marina Roy, Samuel Roy-Bois, Carol Sawyer, Kevin Schmidt, Kathy Slade, Ken Singer, Mark Soo, Erica Stocking, Dan Starling, Kara Uzelman, Holly Ward, Paul Wong, Rhonda Weppler and Trevor Mahovsky.

 

Next Talk: Pleased To Meet You: Socialibility and Art Thursday, March 26, 7pm In the Gallery Panelists: Abbas Akhavan, Instant Coffee, Laiwan and Holly Ward; Moderator: Lorna Brown With: PDA for your PDA (Public Display of Affection for your Personal Digital Assistant) Laiwan will present this participatory event as a complement to the panel. Bring your PDA. 

Jen Lee, Matthew Sy and Melissa Assalone

Related Reviews: Society, Global Art Database,Visual Art, Exhibition, Vancouver Art Gallery

Inside the mind of Jacques Resch

"Le Diabolo" by Jacques Resch

A French surrealist artist born in 1945, Jacques Resch became a physics and chemistry teacher while painting and drawing on the side. Resch’s works are strongly influenced by what he perceives as onrushing problems that plague the world such as pollution, political and social instability, poverty, and even the modern day insistence and obsession with technology. According to his biography, Resch prefers to create his work spontaneously with no edits, as it is his point of view that these errors show and emphasize the feebleness of human nature and the limits of the human creature. Indeed, at first glance many of Resch’s paintings are difficult to take in due to its multi-layered characteristics. Pieces such as the “Le Diabolo” depict people, none of whom look happy, living, perhaps imprisoned, inside distorted structures. In this painting the people have become an inseparable part of the very structure that they had created.

"Le Vagabond" by Jacques Resch

In “Le Vagabon”, a human figure is seen walking on stilts with a heavy load on his back. But as to who is in control of the body comes into question as two faces (one of an old man and another of a child) emerge from the man. The ground is littered with garbage which the man dutifully avoids using his wooden stilts while carrying his own rubbish on his back. Resch brings into question the manner in which perspective comes to play on how we define boundaries, especially when defining human progress. When viewing his works one begins to wonder as to the extent that the very objects and events that we have created and started have in turn defined our very existence and influenced our perception of the human condition.

Anthony Bornia

 

Related Reviews: Visual Art, Global Art Database

Dan Perjovschi: What happened to us? What is happening to the world we live in?

Dan Perjovschi is an anti-communist and visual artist, mixing drawings, cartoons and graffiti in artistic pieces drawn directly on the walls of museums and contemporary art spaces all over the world. What fascinates me about his work is the great sense of humour and satire about the actual facts that are happening in today’s globalized world. Perjovschi takes the simplest and most ordinary ideas and issues of the society such as clothing, or our everyday to-do lists and represents them in a totally different and most humorous way that makes the viewer realize that these “little” issues are no longer little anymore. What he identifies is the actual reality of our lives “with a profound ability to respond to his context, he deploys irony to comment cuttingly on local and global politics, economics, social and culture” (Perjovschi’s website, 2009) that we tend to ignore or bypass without regards. As we can see in one of his amazing works, figure 1.1 (photo below), he argues that capitalism in today’s world has become separated into two parts: capital and ism which separate people into two groups: capital becomes one person with the highest power and ism is the workers and employers with less power in the society.

 

figure 1.1

 

Also, the way Perjovschi signifies his art pieces is another phenomena. He draws his pieces on the walls as the audiences are watching and attending the exhibition. In figure 1.2 (photo below) we witness Perjovschi drawing on the walls of the gallery, and if we look closely we recognize the relevance of these issues in our lives. For instance, he draws two pair of pants one simple and the other ripped, and on top of the simple one there is a $25 price and on top of the ripped pants is a $125 price. It makes you laugh because it is true and is a reflection of the reality of our economic world.

figure 1.2 - Projects 85: Dan Perjovschi, What happened to us? t MoMA

 

Dan Perjovschi has introduced a new way to present globalization and its issues which people tend to grasp more when it is exhibited as little simple cartoons which speak of nothing but the reality. I believe he is a great artist who draws the most problematic issues of our society and world in the “simplest” way and that is why he makes a significant contribution in the art world. I encourage you to check out Dan Perjovschi’s website and also look at some of his interviews below. You will definitely enjoy them!

Jaleh Fotoohi

Related Posts: Visual Art, Museum, Global Art Database

Alighiero Boetti: Political Map of the World (1971-1989)

Alighiero Boetti, born in Italy in 1940, was part of the Arte Povera movement that began in 1967.  This movement favoured traditionally ‘low’ forms of art like craft, design, embroidery and printing as a way to reject ‘high’ art.  In addition to this, Boetti was interested in different cultures, systems of classification, geography, order, chance and collaboration. 

Alighiero e Boetti. (Italian, 1940-1994). Map of the World. 1989. Embroidery on fabric, 46 1/4" x 7' 3 3/4" x 2" (117.5 x 227.7 x 5.1 cm). Scott Burton Fund. © 2009 Estate of Alighiero Boetti

These interests are brought to the forefront in his series, “Political Map of the World.”  In 1971, Boetti took his designs for a map of the world to artisans in Afghanistan. Boetti handed over creative control to the artisans and acknowledged their partnership by surrounding the map with Italian and Farsi writing. The artisans worked in fabric and used each country’s flag to represent it on the map.  Each country is put on an equal plane because they are all represented in the same way. Boetti wanted to focus on each territory as a unified whole and did not want to show the smaller divisions within each country, not even acknowledging national identity. 

But what makes this work truly global is that it evolved as the world did. Every time the geography of a country changed, a new version of the map had to be created. Looking at each map allows the viewer to see where the world was politically at the moment in time when the map was made.  Showing, for example, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the division of the Soviet Union. It lets the viewer see how countries worldwide dealt with the concepts of power and territory. 

By taking his ideas to people in another country, representing each country as a whole in the same way, and by making new versions according to global changes, Boetti’s “Political Map of the World” is certainly a global work of art. 

Kathryn Schmidt

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Globally understood: Food as a basic need. A look at Pierre Leichner’s Food Wars

Pierre Leichner’s exhibit Food Wars is currently running at the Maple Ridge Art Gallery, and consists of sculptures as well as photographs depicting a societal view of issues of food of the current generation. The exhibit consists of large sculptures of shrimp tales and their varying stages of infection as well as photographs in which army men have been positioned throughout food items in order to create a scene about the battle of food. The sculptures have been beautifully crafted and within each one the viewer is exposed to some sort of abnormality, that which does not belong in the food.

This exhibit is successful in discussingcurrent issues when it comes to what we eat and what is going into our food to keep it preserved. As well, the issue of food becoming so abstract and foreign from what it originally is, as it becomes pre-packaged, etc. that we loose track of what food is considered natural anymore. An exhibit such as this can be put into the category of global art in that it is able to discuss an issue that can be understood world wide, food is everyone’s basic need, and a piece like this is able to question the complex way in which food has evolved to more than just a basic need but a battle, or for some people a struggle for survival.

Heather Palmer

 

Related Reviews: Visual Art, Global Art Database

New economic and social policies for an interactive age

Oliver Russler’s Alternative Economics, Alternative Societies is a thematic interactive art installation that challenges the audience to look their own country’s economic policies verses another country’s economic policies; what works and what does not work is very often debatable. The piece includes interviews from people all over the world, from the United States to Mexico to Denmark and their ideas for different social and economic models. They also come from a variety of disciplines from economists to political scientists, from authors and to historians. However, they all have one thing in common; they all reject a capitalist system of rule; proving that while very often our cultures disagree on many concepts, but there are some rejections that are universal.

 

Alternative Economics, Alternative Societies 2003 - 2008, (ongoing), installation

 

All of the interviews have been translated into English with the intention that Russle wanted to appeal to a more global market. On the floor and the wall near each television screen is a quote that is significant to the alternate model that is being talked about in the particular interview that is playing. It is a simple way that can introduce almost anyone from anywhere to each television screen.

This ongoing and continually developing installation has travelled to museums all over the world and is breaking down cultural barriers to continually show our global culture more ways to see how we can work together to change things. He chooses not to focus on the ways in which we are different and the concepts that only cause friction and tension.

Tara Turley-Dean

Related Reviews: Art, Global Art Database