Part of 0：Context -- Information & Thinking
After the above research and logical organisation, I set about constructing my sculpture. I wanted the sculptures to take on a lived-in orientation, but also to have a symbolic meaning in my own style.
I like my work to be dramatic, so that when the viewer sees it, they can feel that there was a story here or that something is happening. It's a way of perceiving the world for me. So in the initial first draft, I wanted to create a theatrical atmosphere, like the home of the protagonist of the story, who is not present, only the clothes he has taken off and thrown around.
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Ideas about installation
The second edition sketch of the installation
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Ideas about installation
The third edition sketch of the installation
Having painted the first draft, I don't think it has the effect I was hoping for, the problems are as follows.
1.The choice of furniture style seems imprecise. Different people and different identities choose different furniture from a theatrical point of view, and the colours and newness of the furniture contain different meanings.
2.Other clutter placed in the space because you want a cluttered and chaotic atmosphere is too much of an eye-catcher.
3.The enlargement of the scene distracts from and detracts from the subject matter of the work itself.
There are more problems than the above, but enough to overturn my first version of the idea. In general, I got caught up in too many modifications, like using too many adjectives in a sentence and forgetting the subject, predicate and object, making the sentence look very confusing. I made the mistake of not being honest enough.I realised that I needed to subtract for my work, to take out the subject of the question and take off the clothes that I had put on for the sake of expression. (Final version of the draft).
I went to the Wellcome Collection and found a large number of books on the deconstruction of the human body to understand how they are composed and put together. And to feel them in a very visual way.
Although there are many works that I have seen before, when I saw works in different eras, different cultures, and different religions in the exhibition hall, which were depicted in the language of the human body, I still had a deep feeling. I'm thinking: In a sense, body theory may be the easiest resource for us to think about all problems, or an instinctive and intuitive way to think about problems along this line of thought. Because no matter how people think about a problem, it doesn’t matter whether it is systematic or deep, but the most familiar experience of getting along day and night, joy, anger, sorrow and joy—all perceptual and rational experiences can be directly derived from our body, which is not like rationality. Knowledge must be taught, polished, discussed, and analyzed, and then we can gradually form our ability to understand problems from a rational knowledge perspective. Therefore, the imparting and creation of knowledge is a relatively complicated matter, but it is a relatively convenient way to understand problems in combination with our body.
But I don't think I continue to use the body as my creative idea because of convenience . I understand (not just because of the perennial skin disease) my attention and curiosity about the body's instincts, and I think the body itself is intuitive and full of power.
Describe your image
Describe your image
The skin of St Bartholomew. Flaying Bodies in Early Modern Art and Anatomy
G.M.weston (Sotheby's）
DOMVS COMELIANA • PISA
Describe your image
Stolen Parts: Bodies and Thing Theory in Inferno 24-25 - A. Saiber
A. Saiber (Bowdoin College)
DOMVS COMELIANA • PISA
I watched the lecture The skin of St Bartholomew. Flaying Bodies in Early Modern Art and Anatomy by DOMVS COMELIANA - PISA. The act of removing the skin. This lecture placed particular emphasis upon skin and the act of skin removal. The use of the human body and human organs, etc. in art and religion was explained.
In another lecture called Stolen Parts: Bodies and Thing Theory in Inferno 24-25，it was specifically about “ When does a familiar object—even something as intimate and unique as a body part—become an estranged thing, and vice versa? At what point does it signify differently? ”
What struck me most about this talk was A. Saiber mention of Dante’s word choice, imagery, and syntax in Inf. 24 and 25 reflect the instability of things in both the material world and in the world of language. He challenges us to consider our understanding of ownership and identity, and keeps me thinking about what is really lost and gained in appropriating what is not, by law or by nature, ours.
On the subject of the body and identity, in a contemporary context, I have been observing how artists choose their entry points and materials and how they approach the structure ，form and rhythm of their work.
Joseph Beuys
1921-1986
Fat Chair, 1964-1985,
wood, glass, metal, fabric, paint, fat and thermometer, 183 x 155 x 64 cm (Tate Modern)
For Beuys's Fat Chair, I am mainly focused on his choice of materials - the relationship between the two materials in the work, the way the work is constructed and the sense of conflict it brings.
An interesting part of Fat Chair is heat (the 'chaotic') to cold (the 'crystallised').
I think the warmth here refers not only to the physical warmth of the heater, but also to the warmth of the material "heat" (the 'chaotic')--the way it looks, smells, feels—the way it oozes and seeps, jiggles and ripples, molds and melts—the way it is stored and burnt.Medically or biologically, simply put, fat is essential to life: although too much fat can be fatal, the body metabolises it to produce the energy needed for bodily functions to survive. In the case of art, fats imply a myriad of plasticity and fluidity in response to changes in thermal energy, a symptom of the infinite extension of life.
Beuys uses the thermal energy emitted by fat and its variable form as a metaphor for the plasticity of the soul.As for the chairs in Fat Chair, in Beuys own words, "Here the chair represents a kind of human anatomy, the area of digestive and excretive warmth processes, sexual organs and interesting chemical change, relating psychologically to will power. "
The chair represents a standardised, limiting framework, implying on the one hand a social stereotype of habit and comfort, and on the other a cultural deposit of 'being before essence'.
In fact, when I analysed Beuys's Fat Chair, I realised that he was attempting to establish a triad of 'structure, heat and building', expressing a formative art in the anthropological sense I mentioned above, so from this perspective I think Fat Chair is actually a portrait work.
Mimosa Echard And Michel Blazy
Dortmunder Kunstverein, Dortmund, Germany
LUCA – Last Universal Common Ancestor
March 16 – May 26, 2019
Mimosa Echard and Michel Blazy. Guest artist: Anne Bourse
Kombucha Project, 2017
Kombucha, mixed media
In 2021, my interest was piqued when I learned about the use of Kombucha and mushrooms in clothing Materials during a conversation with a clothing designer. The Kombucha is not a single strain, it is a co-organism of the genera Yeast, Acetobacter and Lactobacillus.So it is a perfect fit to express what I need to emphasise in my work: "not only do people influence the world of things, but things equally influence people, their social interaction and identity ” .
Then I followed the exhibition LUCA - Last Universal Common Ancestor at Dortmunder Kunstverein, Dortmund, Germany, and one of the works, kombucha project, caught my interest.
The artists Michel Blazy and Mimosa Echard share an interest in organic matter: in Blazy's work this is closely linked to nature and its forces of growth, while in Echard's work it is more connected to the human body. The process of biological growth is therefore at the heart of the 'living' installation developed by the two artists in collaboration.
Echard and Blazy invited seven artists to collaborate on the Complimentary Tea project. Their drawings, objects and photographs are submerged in liquid kombucha that gradually forms a gelatinous membrane that covers and connects them. Over time this results in an ever-extending ribbon-like structure . They want to express a theme :an unpredictable combination of human creation and nature whose flowing, merging and expanding embody the principle of life. the artists develop a site-specific installation where nature grows from the inanimate, the organic meets with the artificial and the fluid exchange between matter and its environment is revealed.
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Lucy Glendinning's skin series is also one of my observations. They are made from a combination of wood, rubber and other materials, each presenting a skin bag huddled on the floor with legs in different positions, the uneven folds and paint covering the surface creating a soggy feeling, releasing signals of physical slackness and weirdness, like a shell without a soul to support it.
Her work I think is inward looking, both in the gestures of the work and in the author's own gaze at the work itself, which has an interiority.
As the artist herself ： I like the idea of the works being internalised as if contemplating themselves. Sometimes this is deliberate and sometimes this is how they turn out — so to speak. I think it is because in some ways I want the sculptures to feel as human as possible. If they are self-engaged rather than looking out, I feel they might have more of a human presence. And I am interested in the inner animal, in our subconscious and how we think of ourselves, how we are connected to animals and nature, or are separate and in charge.
Tracey Emin
1963 -
I have suffered from very severe psoriasis for many years and it is well known that psoriasis is a chronic disease that is very difficult to be cured. It has caused me to live in constant pain and low self-esteem and I can say that the experience of being ill has shaped my character.
Because psoriasis is so difficult to cure, I have developed a character that does not show my emotions because I know that no one else can solve any of my problems or worries for me. So the only way I can vent my emotions is to create, it's like a diary for me, in which I gradually recover my emotions, look at myself, answer my questions and get myself out of the abyss.
I really like the directness and nakedness of Tracy Emin's early installation works, which are an autobiographical and natural expression of emotion. Her work often expresses an anxiety that can be tragic or humorous, using her material as a psychological filter.
This is a true portrayal of Tracy's state of complete breakdown after a breakup, and maybe everyone's after a breakup - this bed comes from a complete breakdown she experienced after a breakup: 4 days in bed, almost Lost consciousness, got up with difficulty, went out to drink a glass of water, and returned to the bedroom, only to realize that the scene in front of him was a portrayal of his extremely corrupt and chaotic life.
What should I do, continue to be depressed? She realized that she shouldn't be one with this bed, so she chose to get up and go out.
"My Bed", everyone has something to do with it, she's just exposing their lives in more extreme ways, everyone has some level of stain in their lives, but that's okay, there's nothing wrong with that.
Her works let me see that she accepted the chaos of herself, but this was not a compromise, but a very powerful confrontation.
This diary-style expression is like a kind of cleaning and washing of the past for Trish herself, as she said: "It's like cleaning my soul. It's not just getting rid of the mental burden of the past, Or the naked presentation, it’s not that simple—something actually happened to me.”
I think Tracey Emin's themes are often issues that everyone has to face, like love, sex, death. She speaks of personal ordeals, especially of young women, of rape, abortion, alcoholism, sexual intimidation and violence. Emin continues to weave themes of fact and fiction, autobiography, personal gains and losses, meditation and confrontation into her voluminous works.
Zhen Chen
1955 - 2000
Sometimes, fate often gives more hardships and tests to the strong. Chen Zhen suffered from hemolytic anemia at the age of 25, and the doctor said that he might only have 5 years to live. This made Chen Zhen have a deep understanding and reflection on the value of life and time. He regards illness as a valuable experience and transforms it into a driving force for artistic creation. In Chen Zhen's ideal, art is used to heal and improve the relationship between human nature and nature. He cared deeply and wholeheartedly for the human condition and future until the last moment of his life.
Describe your image
Chen Zhen
Purification Room, 2000
by ADAGP，Paris
Courtesy Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan and GALLERIA CONTINUA,Photo: Agostino Osio
Describe your image
Describe your image
Chen Zhen
Crystal Landscape of Inner Body (Serpent), 2000,
Crystal, Metal, Glass.
by ADAGP, Paris
Courtesy Galleria Continua
Photo: Attilio Maranzano.
I like Chen Zhen's words very much: "As an artist, I also dream of becoming a doctor. Art creation aims to examine myself, test myself, and finally observe the world." I think I, like Chen Zhen, hope to translate this Concepts are integrated into existence and into life, just like a flow of creative energy, this surging energy will be unstoppable. And his works also try to establish a cross-cultural dialogue and thinking mode. He asks the world, asks questions about human nature, and tortures the relationship between them and the social environment.
In "Purification Room", the first thing I saw was a layer of mud wrapped daily necessities. In traditional Chinese medicine, mud can clear the intestines, and Chen Zhen also hopes to use mud for the purpose of disinfection. He chose simple daily necessities. I think that choosing a single material firmly enough will make the vision very simple, similar to a symbol.
In such a simple picture of life, I will be quiet. This is a monochrome painting, and my desire seems to be buried by it. I can go blank here. Beyond materialistic expectations. So I think that's why the work is called "Purification Room": I hope to purify our souls.
In the work "Crystal Internal Landscape", Chen Zhen molded human internal organs with crystals and placed them on an iron medical bed. Each internal organ corresponds to a Chinese zodiac. Visitors walk up the small glass steps to observe the internal organs of these crystals. While refracting light, the crystals also reflect images of the surrounding environment, allowing these internal organs to blend with the external environment.
Chen Zhen
Crystal Landscape of Inner Body (Serpent), 2000,
Crystal, Metal, Glass.
by ADAGP, Paris
Courtesy Galleria Continua
Photo: Attilio Maranzano.
And in my work "Nude", I also use the elements of human internal organs, but it does not exist alone. I hope that my internal organs, skin, bones and other organs exist in a unified meaning of "clothes". At the same time, the fragile and colorful biofilm will also be affected by changes in the environment, and changes in light will also affect the fragile internal organs, which may damage them or cause the environment to project the color of the internal organs. This is my opinion on the individual The most intuitive perception of cognition and group environment.
In works such as "Jardin-Lavoir" and "Crystal Landscape of Inner Body ", although Chen Zhen does not intend to become a real doctor, "treatment" and human participation are indeed an important dimension of discussion in these works. In contrast to myself, in the process of creation, I always believe that art creation is a kind of therapy, a kind of self-punishment and self-warning, and also a kind of reflection. I highlighted this point in the creation of a unit, I asked myself questions, and at the same time observed the world.
REFERENCES
Websites
Book
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Martin Heidegger, Being and Time, trans. by Joan Stambaugh (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1996)
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Nietzsche, Friedrich W. (1996) [1878]. Human, All Too Human: a Book for Free Spirits. Translated by R. J. Hollingdale. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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Zahavi, Dan (2003), Husserl's Phenomenology, Stanford: Stanford University Press
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James, Paul. Despite the Terrors of Typologies: The Importance of Understanding Categories of Difference and Identity. Interventions. 2015-03-04, 17 (2): 174–195 [2019-11-02]. ISSN 1369-801X. doi:10.1080/1369801X.2014.993332.
After summarizing the information, I started the production of the work
