Saturday, November 30, 2013

A New Installation/Mixed Media Work Completed

Recently, I gradually wrapping up several projects in the pipe, one of them is an installation or mixed media work, which is also part of my ongoing "White Dress" series, titled Cage.

Cage / 樊籠 / Käfig
Cage
Paper, Ink and Oil on Paper, Pin, Wooden Frames, 

16.5" x 16.5", Completed in 2013

These white dresses, in the ongoing series, represent elements of community or society simultaneously homogenous and individual, both fluid and rigid, at once becalming and menacing, as manifested in the intertwined red threads here, which formed both the supporting network and the constraining cage these flying white dove like dresses were to be confined into.


Related posts on Art · 文化 · Kunst
- A Still Life Painting, Two Pears, Completed
- New Painting "Lantern" Completed
- Painting "Surveying" Completed
- Niobe - An Installation
- Unexpected Successes of "Stringed White Dresses - An Installation"
- Stringed White Dresses - The Process of a New Installation
- One More Painting Featuring White Dress
- White Dresses - First Painting Finished in 2011

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Thanksgiving Greetings

Today is Thanksgiving and I wish everyone a wonderful holiday, while I recall all the things in the past year and beyond I feel grateful for.

Below are a group of pictures I took in last few days, the golden autumn days in San Francisco Bay Area:

DSCN7366 - Golden Autumn Leaves DSCN7357 - Golden Autumn Leaves

I particularly love this persimmon tree, which surely looked festive:

DSCN7359 _ Persimmon Tree

DSCN7362 _ Persimmon Tree DSCN7361 _ Persimmon Tree

DSCN7397 _ Red Autumn Leaves

DSCN7371 _ Yello Rose

And no holiday and home is complete without a nice and comforting feline:

DSCN7372 _ Cat's Shadow

Happy holidays!


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- Full Moon in an Early Morning
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- Foggy and Sunny Day in Berkeley 

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

A Still Life Painting, Two Pears, Completed

Earlier this year, I started to work on some fruit drawings, mostly with figs and pears as my subject.  Later, I decided to commit such effort onto canvas with oil paint to depict my edible subjects.  Finally I completed a painting with two pears, revealed from a diamond-shaped slashed opening.  The bright color on the fruits contrasted strongly with the muted background.

Two Pears / 兩個梨 / Zwei Birnen

Below are several drawings I made earlier this year.

Charcoal and Graphite Drawing Figs Pastel Drawing Figs 1

Graphite Drawing Figs


Related posts on Art · 文化 · Kunst
- New Painting "Lantern" Completed
- Painting "Surveying" Completed
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- One More Painting Featuring White Dress

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Architectural Wonder - the Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland


DSCN7133 _ Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, California

Recently, I chanced by Lake Merritt in Oakland and noticed a plaza equipped with a nice little fountain, in front of a glass paneled cylinder building, whose rather dull fortress shape at first failed to impress me then as I walked to the other side of the street, the building suddenly became mightily impressive, with half of its cylinder back-lit and bulk became candy-like translucent and visually engaging.

DSCN7136 _ Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, California

Later, on the same day, I was told that the intriguing structure was a cathedral, Cathedral of Christ the Light, and it also had an interesting interior warranting a visit.  As soon as I entered, I was quite stunned by the bold, simplistic yet intricate patterns created by many architectural elements - lattice walls, geometric "columns" and boat-shaped ceilings, etc., just underneath the class panel skins.  I had a strong feeling that I was inside the hull of a gigantic ship - Noah's Ark, perhaps? 

DSCN7203 _ Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, California

DSCN7202 _ Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, California

DSCN7205 _ Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, California

DSCN7143 _ Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, California

DSCN7194 _ Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, California

DSCN7185 _ Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, California DSCN7170 _ Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, California

The cathedral was definitely one of the kind and its modernistic features strangely generated as much spirituality as conventional ones if not more.

DSCN7160 _ Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, California

DSCN7174 _ Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, California

DSCN7177 _ Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, California





DSCN7165 _ Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, California

DSCN7181 _ Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, California DSCN7183 _ Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, California

DSCN7184 _ Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, California

Even the chairs and paneled dividers reiterated the patterns of the cylinder walls and their simplistic beauty and eloquence was simultaneously humble and ethereal.

DSCN7162 _ Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, California

DSCN7199 _ Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, California

DSCN7201 _ Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, California

DSCN7157 _ Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, California

DSCN7169 _ Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, California

DSCN7156 _ Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, California

There were other elements of interests in the cathedral, but they paled somewhat comparing to the basic building structures.

DSCN7206 _ Cathedral of Christ the Light, 
Oakland, California

DSCN7193 _ Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, California

DSCN7179 _ Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, California

DSCN7207 _ Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, California DSCN7190 _ Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, California

DSCN7189 _ Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, California

DSCN7155 _ Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, California

I was encouraged to visit a crypt at the lower level, Crypt of the Holy Angels, which had air of comforting and mystery, with many juxtaposing interesting visual elements throughout its long corridors.

DSCN7247 _ Crypt o the Holy Angels, Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, California

DSCN7230 _ Crypt of the Holy Angels, Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, California

DSCN7242 _ Crypt of the Holy Angels, Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, California

DSCN7212 _ Crypt of the Holy Angels, 
Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, California

DSCN7235 _ Crypt of the Holy Angels, 
Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, California

DSCN7215 _ Crypt of the Holy Angels, Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, California DSCN7234 _ Crypt of the Holy Angels, Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, California
DSCN7227 _ Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, California DSCN7231 _ Crypt of the Holy Angels, Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, California

DSCN7242 _ Crypt of the Holy Angels, Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, California

DSCN7249 _ Michelangelo's Pietà, Cathedral of Christ the Ligth, Oakland, California
Reproduction of Michelangelo's Pietà

This amazing cathedral building helped to change my perception of Oakland, the poor cousin of its more glamorous San Francisco across the Bay. 

It is safe to say that even if "there is no there there," Oakland still boasts some architectural gems, such as the Cathedral and several others from earlier era, such as the Sears Department Store, I. Magnin Building and Paramount Theater, all of them I walked by on my way to BART (subway) station from Cathedral of Christ the Light.

DSCN7271 _ Sears Department Store, Oakland, California
Sears Department Store

DSCN7270 _ I. Magnin Building, Oakland, California
I. Magnin Building

DSCN7268 _ Paramount Theatre, Oakland, California
Paramount Theatre


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