开始 - kaishi - Start, beginning

I have really struggled with how to start this blog- I've been in Beijing for almost two weeks now and only today have I actually decided to sit down and post something (little tidbits of writing have been in progress for a while). Many of the people who will be reading this already know a lot about what I'm doing and I don't really have the time to go into details; I guess they will come gradually. Short version: I am spending a semester in Beijing doing an intensive (think cram school) Mandarin language program. There's not much time to do much besides study- four hours of class every day, and then the entire afternoon/ evening is spent preparing the next day's lesson which can have up to 90 new words to learn, plus homework and other assignments. There's also an extremely strict language pledge- aside from calling home, I will not speak English for the next four months (and my program takes it seriously here- they have actually put pledge-breakers on a plane back to the US). It's hard and at times simply awful, but there are moments (which I hope will grow increasingly more often) where I am thrilled to be here, and feel that I'm mastering this ridiculously challenging language. When communication actually happens, I feel my motivation and energy to continue study revived.

Plus, of course, I get to experience a country on the other side of the world! It is really surreal to finally be here, after preparing to study in Beijing for two and a half years now. For as many times as I've had textbook lessons about the American student who just arrived in Beijing (including all the lovely vocabulary of airport, suitcase, customs, roomates, taxi, first impression) and as cliche as I felt walking through the airport, explaining to the driver how to get to Capitol University of Economics and Business, nothing anyone ever says or describes about China can really prepare you for what it's like to be here. And, I can't even claim to know what it's like to be here- maybe let's wait a few months for that one.

One of the biggest yet most obvious differences about Beijing is the unbelievable density of human beings. Yes, this is home to over 17 million people, but I have never seen an urban density like this before. People all over the street, crowded subway tunnels, packed buses. If you stop to think about how each one of these people (presumably) has somewhere they sleep at night, an apartment, owns a pair of slippers and a bar of soap, and eats breakfast, lunch, and dinner, it's really mind-boggling. It's like trying to imagine the Big Bang Theory. It also makes me wonder, how often do people here randomly bump into someone they know? With all of these bodies trying to get to their destination, and everyone with their head down (and right now, buried in a scarf) trying to move between each other, how would you ever know to look up and look for a familiar face?

Yours truly, freezing cold in front of, uhm, whatsitcalled.

Thank you!!

I just wanted to say thanks, Pipo, for a fantastic semester. I have enjoyed your class so much- the challenge of learning photography as well as the engaging ideas and material presented in class. I've also had fun keeping a blog (I think I'll keep it up, esp. while I'm in Beijing next semester!). See you in September!

Frames

This was the final result of my second sculpture project this semester- I was very inerested in old, ornate picture frames (http://theorangefedora.blogspot.com/search/label/frames) that you see in museums. The frames are so intricate and were all handcarved, yet the maker is never given credit. I left my frames empty to draw attention to the handiwork that goes into this craft, and also to question why, in our society, whatever is put in a frame is instantly elevated to the status of 'art'. Made from plaster using the blanket-mold process, the multiplicity and apparent mass-production (hah!) of my frames is also in contradiction to the uniqueness of the original handcarved pieces.

This project was an unbelievable amount of work- after creating a model of each piece from clay and making a rubber mold, each section of the frames had to be cast, baked, sanded, shellac-ed, painted brown, painted gold and then rubbed over with shoe polish for the aged look.

Yours truly (for staffage).

Loretta Lux

Little children and oh, so very creepy. http://www.lorettalux.de/

Elizabeth Peyton and Egon Schiele

Above, Elizabeth Peyton: Contemporary figure painter (mostly male model-y figures in lush paint). Below, Egon Schiele (1890-1918): Austrian figure painter of mostly female nudes and self-portraits (often twisted or sexual or about death). The two painter's work seem correlated to me- a similar emotion or connection to the viewer, I guess.

10 Classical Paintings (However you wish to interpret "classical")

First and foremost- the most influential painter to me/my work/my life. Before I decided that I'm not a painter I tried really, really hard to paint like him- Henri de Tolouse-Lautrec.

The above is one of my favorite paintings- Lamé by John Currin.
The above two are also by John Currin, a contemporary painter who often references classical painting or traditional portraiture but gives it a cynical modern twist.

Above and below are paintings by Eric Fischl, another contemporary figure painter who works in a more classical realism style.

Below are three paintings by Edward Hopper, another "classic" (at least, to me, and in the contemporary painting world). His paintings convey incredible loneliness and emptiness in such a beautiful way.

Fourth Project: Luck

(these scans are really horrible, sorry- it was my first time scanning negs.)

(project statement)
For this final piece I combined a process I have been working on in my sculpture class (2-part molds) with a photographic narrative. The little shapes I photographed are cast from glycerin and are duplicates of this incredible stone I found on the beach in Mexico when I was twelve. I held on to this stone, as I have held on to many other small, visually interesting or meaningful objects, because I thought maybe they were lucky. I am not superstitious nor do I rely on these objects to bring me good fortune, but I have always enjoyed the imaginative nature of luck. In this work the stones serve as a visual symbol for good and bad happenings. The stones “traveled” to these different locations and were documented there, just as my own thoughts have traveled to or lingered in these same locations. The stones can denote not only the things we discover about ourselves, or what we leave behind, but also the aspects of ourselves and events in our lives that we cannot see. This idea is just beginning to take shape and in the future I plan to work more with these stones as well as the idea of luck in general.