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Art inspired by a rubbish idea
By Xu Wenwen |
April 9, 2012, Monday
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Print Edition
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ARTIST Hua Jun, who was inspired by a visit to a landfill last year to create work that takes rubbish as its subject and raw material, has an exhibition of his "garbage art" running in Hangzhou.
The show, entitled "Regard -- Solo Exhibition of Hua Jun," which runs through Wednesday at the Sanshang Contemporary Art Gallery, features abstract paintings of rubbish, calligraphy using garbage dust instead of ink and videos documenting how Hua created a huge calligraphy piece on a garbage pile and another using rubbish.
Hua, 42, associate professor of the Chinese Traditional Painting Department at the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, is well-known for thought-provoking Chinese calligraphy and Chinese figure paintings. As part of his training, Hua studied at the Swedish Royal Institute of Art for three years.
Hua said he became interested in creating garbage art after visiting a landfill site - Hangzhou's largest at the time - that was later covered over and landscaped to create Tianzi Mountain Park.
"Last year, I volunteered to work at the landfill and it struck me that rubbish is the reality of real life and that I should express this via art," recalls Hua.
Hua's first artwork about rubbish, featured in the exhibition in a video, was a huge piece of calligraphy created on a giant white biodegradable sheet covering a mountain of garbage at the landfill.
It features eight characters - Bu Sheng Bu Mie, Bu Zeng Bu Jian, which mean "they neither arise nor cease, neither increase nor decrease," a quote from "Heart Sutra," a Mahayana Buddhist sutra. Each character is about 50 square meters.
Another calligraphic creation at the landfill, in which Hua formed characters out of the detritus of the everyday -- such as rags, shoe insoles and a broken broom, was also captured on video.
Hua continues the theme in a calligraphy work created in the gallery. Rather than using ink and water, the same eight characters Bu Sheng Bu Mie, Bu Zeng Bu Jian are written in burnt garbage dust.
The artist created this by writing the characters straight onto paper mounted on the wall using a huge brush dipped in transparent glue. Onto this he then threw the garbage dust.
"The dust and shade effect is like that found in Chinese traditional calligraphy," Hua explains.
Academics have praised Hua for raising questions by creating art out of discarded materials, and adding a new twist to traditional forms.
"Garbage has never been taken as a main subject in artworks, but Hua has broken with that tradition, leading people to consider that the things we reject may have potential to revive," says Wang Zan, the deputy president of China Academy of Art.
"Hua's innovative art also highlights the value of traditional Chinese art by retaining the spirit of traditional art but not simply copying ancient methods," Wang adds.
Visitors arriving at the exhibition are welcomed by a 20-meter scroll painting on a low cabinet, but it is very different from a traditional ink, water and Chinese dye piece.
Entitled "Rubbish Diary," it is a painting of Hua's family's rubbish over a 20-day period, which the artist retrieved from the dustbin to paint.
Bold abstract patterns in grey, white and dark tones on a brown background resemble blocks in woodcuts, with a gradual shift in shades capturing the textures of Chinese calligraphy and painting.
Nearby, two arrays of images mounted on walls at first sight seem to be the same composition but at different sizes. But actually the left array comprises black-and-white photographs of real rubbish, while those in the array on the right are Hua's paintings of the images on the left.
Each painting triples the sizes of the images on the left wall, and while, at first glance, seem the same as the photographs, they reveal abstract patterns when viewed close up.
This trait - an object's meaning changes depending on whether it's viewed from a distance or close up - features in many of the works at the exhibition.
Four almost 2-meter-tall figure portraits at a distance are half-length portraits of Buddha with clear eyes, yet at closer scrutiny reveal themselves to be formed from numerous tortuous lumps, though with the varying shades bringing harmony.
Date: through April 11
Address: 52-1 Yan'an Rd S.
Tel: (0571) 8782-5611
The show, entitled "Regard -- Solo Exhibition of Hua Jun," which runs through Wednesday at the Sanshang Contemporary Art Gallery, features abstract paintings of rubbish, calligraphy using garbage dust instead of ink and videos documenting how Hua created a huge calligraphy piece on a garbage pile and another using rubbish.
Hua, 42, associate professor of the Chinese Traditional Painting Department at the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, is well-known for thought-provoking Chinese calligraphy and Chinese figure paintings. As part of his training, Hua studied at the Swedish Royal Institute of Art for three years.
Hua said he became interested in creating garbage art after visiting a landfill site - Hangzhou's largest at the time - that was later covered over and landscaped to create Tianzi Mountain Park.
"Last year, I volunteered to work at the landfill and it struck me that rubbish is the reality of real life and that I should express this via art," recalls Hua.
Hua's first artwork about rubbish, featured in the exhibition in a video, was a huge piece of calligraphy created on a giant white biodegradable sheet covering a mountain of garbage at the landfill.
It features eight characters - Bu Sheng Bu Mie, Bu Zeng Bu Jian, which mean "they neither arise nor cease, neither increase nor decrease," a quote from "Heart Sutra," a Mahayana Buddhist sutra. Each character is about 50 square meters.
Another calligraphic creation at the landfill, in which Hua formed characters out of the detritus of the everyday -- such as rags, shoe insoles and a broken broom, was also captured on video.
Hua continues the theme in a calligraphy work created in the gallery. Rather than using ink and water, the same eight characters Bu Sheng Bu Mie, Bu Zeng Bu Jian are written in burnt garbage dust.
The artist created this by writing the characters straight onto paper mounted on the wall using a huge brush dipped in transparent glue. Onto this he then threw the garbage dust.
"The dust and shade effect is like that found in Chinese traditional calligraphy," Hua explains.
Academics have praised Hua for raising questions by creating art out of discarded materials, and adding a new twist to traditional forms.
"Garbage has never been taken as a main subject in artworks, but Hua has broken with that tradition, leading people to consider that the things we reject may have potential to revive," says Wang Zan, the deputy president of China Academy of Art.
"Hua's innovative art also highlights the value of traditional Chinese art by retaining the spirit of traditional art but not simply copying ancient methods," Wang adds.
Visitors arriving at the exhibition are welcomed by a 20-meter scroll painting on a low cabinet, but it is very different from a traditional ink, water and Chinese dye piece.
Entitled "Rubbish Diary," it is a painting of Hua's family's rubbish over a 20-day period, which the artist retrieved from the dustbin to paint.
Bold abstract patterns in grey, white and dark tones on a brown background resemble blocks in woodcuts, with a gradual shift in shades capturing the textures of Chinese calligraphy and painting.
Nearby, two arrays of images mounted on walls at first sight seem to be the same composition but at different sizes. But actually the left array comprises black-and-white photographs of real rubbish, while those in the array on the right are Hua's paintings of the images on the left.
Each painting triples the sizes of the images on the left wall, and while, at first glance, seem the same as the photographs, they reveal abstract patterns when viewed close up.
This trait - an object's meaning changes depending on whether it's viewed from a distance or close up - features in many of the works at the exhibition.
Four almost 2-meter-tall figure portraits at a distance are half-length portraits of Buddha with clear eyes, yet at closer scrutiny reveal themselves to be formed from numerous tortuous lumps, though with the varying shades bringing harmony.
Date: through April 11
Address: 52-1 Yan'an Rd S.
Tel: (0571) 8782-5611
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