Liu Ye- Gun

Gun
2001–2002
Oil on canvas
72 x 144 in.
Source:http://www.bampfa.berkeley.edu/mahjongartists/index.html

Orange sky...
I didn't see the gun first time I walked by it... now it makes more sense... or not...
The sky is sooo orange, even the little girl is inflamed with the orangeness of it. All cute and plump, sitting on what appears to be a tree stump with ribbons in her hair. or maybe just a trunk of a very tall tree that got cut off, because from this perspective, she seems to be somewhere very high up, close to the sky, so close that she is bathing in the orange light.

I like the fuzziness of the pine greens. fuzziness creates a soft imagery, like something of an imaginary imagery. Yet it is interesting that the overpowering huge space and impressive color of the sky at the same time compliment the imagery and eats up the imagery. By eating up I mean everything is tinted with this orangeness and that the landscape for example on the left lower corner of the painting is completely eat up by the dense orangeness that only the form of a mountain landscape and be barely visible.

i think the gun is what takes me back to reality. before seeing the gun, the painting is all very "Alice in wonderful" for me. but after seeing the gun, I suddenly don't know what to do with the painting anymore.

The gun makes this cute painting so sad. the way the little girl face away from us, holding a gun, suggest some sort of an impending doom or battle she is anticipating and she needs the gun to protect herself. She's just sitting there, waiting, for something terrible to happen. the overwhelming orange sky might bring in the implication of storminess, it's said to be the color of the sky before a storm. the fact that everything in the painting is tinted with the orange hue explains that nothing in that world can escape from what's coming, and the best one can do is prepare. The tiny girl sits there, waiting for the monster that's somewhere inside the opaque orangeness

Geng Xue- Han Xizai Dinner, No. 2 2007

Han Xizai Dinner, No. 2
2007
Installation: porcelain with glaze
Dimensions variable
Source: http://www.bampfa.berkeley.edu/mahjongartists/index.html

CUTENESS!!
These are sooo adorable!! I love how the color and shape of the entire piece complement so well! the colors are light and sparse, so not too heavy on the coloring, all the figures and furnitures are all rounded. the texture looks smooth and shiny. but most of all i love the expressions on these figuines!! the host-looking dude has this serious expression, but just look at him!! so cute and small and rounded!! the contrast of his seriousness and composition makes him look all the more adorable~

the tiny dishes on the tables are AMAZING! so much detail and yet still so well done~ it's interesting tho, how the coloring and dawning of the figures seems very loose yet if you look at it's actually really detailed and well done!! I kind of like the loose strokes tho, gives it a flowy easy feeling to the piece and the atmosphere of it.

Miao Xiaochun- The Great Wall 2000 Years Ago

The Great Wall 2000 Years Ago
2001
Black-and-white photograph
50 x 144 in.
Source: http://www.bampfa.berkeley.edu/mahjongartists/index.html

I think this is so funny. I am not sure what it's trying to say, but it's funny. It has a past met present feeling to it. the grey color makes it seem like a old photo, but the quality suggest it is impossible for it to be old.

I don't know what to think in terms of which figure does not belong in the picture. I mean, look at it, the title really influence what views think about the image. if the title is untiltled, things might be interpret differently.

my first impression is that the guy in the back does not belong to the picture. this is a old wall, as the title suggests it's like 2000 years ago. so the guy in the back is displaced. Almost like when a pedestrian just happen to get into the movie set for some old time movie. How strange and out of place! and precisely because of the displacement, there is a comic effect.

but if you think about it, the quality of the photo suggest the presentness of the setting. the wall is still there now, is it not? so it is a portrayal of the now. so what's the guy in ancient attire doing here. He should be the displaced figure. someone doing a dress up thing for an event that has to do with empirical China perhaps.

I think what the artist is trying to say is that the Chinese people are displaced between the past and present. Like they are stuck in a funny place now just like the photo shows. and the present day looking guy is changing his clothes, suggesting change in the identity of the people, but people who are still located in a very traditional China (as a location) and its history as suggested by the great wall.

Liu Zheng- The Four Beauties 2004

The Four Beauties 2004
2004
Color photograph
4 parts, 39 x 78 in. each
Source: http://www.bampfa.berkeley.edu/mahjongartists/index.html

There is something quite unsettling about this set. They almost look too real to be real, at the same time too fake because it seem so real. I think Liu is trying to depict the famous Four beauties of Chinese history; although I can't really pin point the exact story for three of them, I am pretty sure the cubby lady is Yang Guifei.

I like the contrasting color tones. Dark, pitch black backgrounds with green a green aura like shade here and there.. and the general color of the furnishing and clothings are cold color tones like black freen and blue. I like how these cold colors are contrasting against the soft flesh color and nakedness of the women.

way only the women are naked?

All the men are fully clothed, even over clothed. the female bodies are naked and in many secens in danger and fragile.

um... I wonder if the Yang Guifei print belongs to the set at all! in every other picture there's always someone close to dying or is action or being act upon by some kind of physical violence... man trying to cut his throat with a sword... man executing another man with a HUGE sword... women being choke to death right next to a already dead women... and Yang Guifei stands there with her ladies in waiting with not much going on...strange...

no one looks happy in the entire set!! they all show negative expressions.. bordom, fear, surprise, contempt, weariness, speculation, doubt, scheming, sadness, denial, worry, struggle, agony, envy/ jealousy, ditry looks, and the expression one gets when being choked to death... #__#

These female bodies are not beautiful, yet not grotesque... they just look real. What is Liu trying to say? that the beauties are no more beautiful than any women? or is he purposely trading the stadard of beauty down? In a way these female bodies are like.. meat, like sex objects, exoposed and their private parts not hidden, these female figures behave as if they are clothed.

I donno... these are fasinating images but I can't bring myself to stare at them for too long, somehow make me feel a little revolting and yuck... I wonder why...