Burden ( Kavadi ) Dance Exhibition Asian Civilization Museum Singapore

 Lexicon : Thaipusum is an Indian annual procession where devotes wear the Kavadi (burdens) to implore Murugan, the Hindu God of War for assistance or to repay a spiritual debt. 

In the exhibition the viewer sees the Kavadi assembly as well as the individual component parts displayed in an organized manner. There is a video playing the Thaipusum procession. 

I can imagine the exponential pain caused by the spikes and hooks piercing through my skin and carrying the weight of the Kavadi on my shoulders. 

I read about and see the Kavadi in the exhibition somehow I have not understood what it really means as I have not grasp the meaning through my own unique practical experience. 

I must be an Indian.
I must be a Hindu devote
I must seek spiritual favor from Murugan
Perhaps satisfying these conditions  , I can know the word Kavadi and Thaipusum.

The word will forever elude me, a Chinese man watching from a distance admiring the Indian man inflicting pain upon himself in a public spectacle. I do not have the devote courage who derives spiritual benefits from the experience, transforming the bodily pain into spiritual pleasure ...  

 

National Gallery Singapore : Liu Kuo Sung Experimentation as Method

Liu Kuo Sung has extended the subject of Chinese painting way beyond the mountainous landscape of Earth, into outer space and onto the moon..... 

I have tried to combine Chinese calligraphy flowing brush strokes with western abstract painting and was delighted to know that artist Liu Kuo Sung has been doing it for his whole artistic career. I came to Liu Kuo Sung Experimentation as Method to witness how he did it. To do it exclusively in Chinese mediums , Chinese paper, Chinese ink is itself an implicit assertion that this artwork is a Chinese Ink Painting. However after adding foreign materials one can transform it into the Mixed Media  typical of the Abstract Painting category.  

I would imagine it would be an uphill battle for Liu Kuo Sung to convince the  traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy masters to view his artworks as Chinese Ink Painting. Liu Kuo Sung commented in the talk that Chinese Ink Painting still have a lot of room to grow.

 

 

The speaker who spoke of Liu Kuo Sung, divided his artistic life into 9 Acts. Each act is the period where the artist develop one painting style. The image above shows 9 painting styles for 9 Acts.

 Act 1 in the artist life starts with abstract painting that has a concept of covering and uncovering probably the artist was conflicted in what to say and not to say, and could be feeling and exercising self censorship that has been translated into the technique of painting over to cover up underlying paint.

Canvas/s Creating Instagram AR Filter Tampines Regional Library

The Instagram AR Filter workshop by visual artist Almostasthma was held on the 6th floor classroom while a small AR exhibition of the artist works was presented on the 2nd floor of Tampines Regional Library.

In Tea Party AR, the rabbit host in the center of the 11 surrounding Chinese Zodiac animals, played like an animated GIF. The vibrant, Kawaii cute animals gives the viewer a sense of community in a cosmopolitan culture.

The rest of the artworks were recorded video presentation examples of AR face mask, the virtual objects mapped to the person's face responding to the live facial movements. Another example showed the AR being applied to a public space , Bedok park. This reminded me that I have yet to experience an outdoor AR, and would like the opportunity to experience it first hand. 

I am convinced that Social AR in Instagram is here to stay. However it require two physical objects to trigger the AR experience that is the QR code and the image. Imagine once the exhibition is over, the exhibition panels dismantled, the AR experience will be over as well.  A YouTube video experience on the other hand can be recycled by repeated viewing.   

Nothing is Forever Rethinking Sculpture in Singapore Exhibition National Gallery

 Lexicon : I would not miss the chance to learn about the meaning of sculpture being an art object , evolving in concept , in shape and in materials over time as defined by the artists and artisans in Singapore. 

Due to the different sizes of sculptural works as well as gallery space it must be a headache for the curator to organize the artworks thematically and group them together. Very large sculptures are placed outside the gallery area irregardless of where they belong.

I hope to reorganize here in this blog the sculptures and artists who made them in their respective thematic order of the exhibition:

Power 

The Spiritual

The Corporal

Making , Unmaking, Remaking 

Some B-roll pictures from other parts of the exhibit are added.

This exhibition is personal to me as I am thinking whether if I would classify my own works that I have designed as "sculptures" or "products" or "objects".  

Products are designed for utility purpose , to serve man. I don't think my designs have a functional purpose except being a product of my imagination. 

Objects on the other hand is too vague a category where any thing and every thing can be an object. 

Sculpture may be it. So I thought.

The only problem is that I don't sculpt , I assemble. I would prefer to classify my designs as "assemblies". I wonder if these artists in the exhibition would like to define their works as sculptural ? 

Does it need to be classified as Sculpture to be called Art ? 

Does it need to be Art before it can be exhibited in the Art Museum ? 

Can Installation Art be called a Sculpture ?

Remember that Nothing is Forever , even categories and classifications can disintegrate with ample time and politics.