Beautiful Autumn Day

It is very beautiful today and when I walked around University of California, Berkeley campus, a few frames caught my attention and I want to share with you:

Berkeley Art Center's Annual Members Showcase -

Berkeley Art Center's Annual Members Showcase has a theme this year - RED.

The official website says: "An annual tradition, Berkeley Art Center’s members showcase includes work in all media from its artist-level members, presented salon-style. Featuring myriad points of view and levels of accomplishment, this exhibition celebrates the diversity and vibrancy of our cultural community. This year’s theme, “RED”, is inspired in part by a recent comment from artist Tom Marioni during a presentation at Berkeley Art Center. Be creative with your interpretation of this theme, in the spirit in which it was intended!"

The exhibit on be viewed from December 12, 2009 – January 24, 2010.

Opening Reception: Saturday, December 12, 3-6pm

I will exhibit my oil painting: Grail. I do believe that it is red enough:

Berkeley Art Center is located at:
1275 Walnut Street
Berkeley, CA, 94709
(510) 644-6893 phone
(510) 644-0343 fax
info [at] berkeleyartcenter.org

Gallery Hours:
12–5 p.m., Wednesday – Sunday
Closed on all major holidays

Preparations for Holiday Season Exhibit

Last night I participated the preparation meeting at City Art Gallery, San Francisco. The holiday season exhibit at City Art Gallery generally attracts many gift seekers, due to the eclectic collections it offers from many local artists.



















































During this economic challenging time, the members were doing our best to present a large selection of "affordable art" to broad audience.

I will exhibit a few charcoal drawings in December - January. If there is space, I might show a small oil painting as well.

The opening will be a hearty and boisterous event. Come and have fun and meet the cool local artist - Opening December 4, Friday, 7-10 pm. See the official December - January postcard from City Art Gallery below for details:

Mythology Series on Synch Chaos (Webzine)

Over the years, I have created a series of paintings based on Western and Chinese myths and legends.

Synch Chaos, a cutural webzine just published a series of my paintings.

Below is the list of the work and the links to the images on my web site ( www.matthewfelixsun.com )

Minotaur
Oil on Canvas, 24″ x 30″, Completed in 2005
http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthewfelixsun/3844905109/in/set-72157621940201251/
Minotaur, as I saw it, was a tragic figure, who was condemned and trapped by fate to his horrible condition and savageries. He welcomed his slayer Theseus, who was approaching fast in a galley. Holding Ariadne’s thread, which will help Theseus to leave his labyrinth, Minotaur pondered on his imminent death and anticipated his own relief with trepidation and anticipation. A large tear rolled down his face, monstrous and beautiful.

Daphne
Oil on Canvas, 30″ x 40″, Completed in 2009
http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthewfelixsun/3867334845/in/set-72157622064751614/
A more or less straightforward rendition of the metamorphosis of Daphne into a laurel tree. Hands and arms of Daphne and the golden torso of Apollo dominated the canvas. In the background, the killing of Daphne’s playmate Leukippos by the jealous Apollo and the chasing of Daphne were simultaneously portrayed, to complete the whole cycle of the story.

Sisyphus
Oil on Canvas, 48″ x 24″, Completed in 2003
http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthewfelixsun/3849117038/in/set-72157622064751614/
I put Sisyphus in the most hard to sustain position, to emphasis the difficulty and impossibility of his task and punishment.

Adam and Eve
Oil on Canvas, 30″ x 40″, Completed in 2008
http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthewfelixsun/3835030818/in/set-72157622064751614/
Adam and Eve were portrayed as sad and resigned figures. Adam cast down his eyes, as if he was trying to avoid eye contact with viewers, or his judges, while Eve reached out to Adam tentatively with right hand, whilst shielding her guilty face with her left hand. A heavy, lead-colored cloud hanging directly above them, shaped like a giant question mark. It also functioned like Damocles’ sword, threatening to crush them both.

Annunciation
Oil on Canvas, 36″ x 48″, Completed in 2002
http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthewfelixsun/3835030876/in/set-72157622064751614/
Virgin Mary, on learning her pregnancy by the holy spirit, wailed for herself and the fate of her unborn son Jesus. She howled in grief beyond console. Perhaps, she was grieving for the entirety of humanity - by then, she must have learned the burden on her shoulders.

Jingwei Filling Up the Sea
Oil on Canvas, 24″ x 36″, Completed in 2008

http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthewfelixsun/3856364733/
Jingwei, in Chinese mythology, perished at a young age in the East Sea. After her death she chose to assume the shape of a bird in order to exact revenge upon the sea by bringing stones and small twigs from the mountains nearby over the sea in an effort to fill it up. Jingwei even has a short dialogue with the sea where the sea scoffs her, claiming that she wouldn’t be able to fill it up even in a million years, whereupon she claims that she will then proceed to take ten million years, even one hundred million years, whatever it takes to fill up the sea so that others would not have to perish as she did.
Again, I grouped a few events together to contain the cycle of the story in one canvas. The predominant feature is a sad fish with large tear. Here, the struggle is between elements and human activity and I tried to give sympathy to both.

Nüwa Creating Humans
Oil on Canvas
30″ x 40″
Completed in 2007
http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthewfelixsun/3848229487/in/set-72157622064751614/
Nüwa is a goddess in ancient Chinese mythology best known for creating mankind and repairing the wall of heaven. This painting is the tribute to my heritage. What can be more fitting then credit a female god as the creator of humans? The sad twist in this canvas is that the humans she created resembled, unfortunately, robots. No creation would be perfect.

Nüwa Patching Up the Sky
Oil on Canvas
30″ x 30″
Completed in 2006
http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthewfelixsun/3834238745/in/set-72157622064751614/
Two powerful gods quarreled and caused the collapse of the pillar which supported the sky and rain powered down to drown the living creatures on earth. This is the independent corroboration of the deluge in the Bible. Nüwa cut off the legs of a giant tortoise and used them to supplant the fallen pillar, alleviating the situation and sealing the broken sky using stones of seven different colors, but she was unable to fully correct the tilted sky. This explains the phenomenon that sun, moon, and stars move towards the northwest, and that rivers in China flow southeast into the Pacific Ocean. She also melted five-colored boulders to seal off the cracks of the sky. Other versions of the story describe Nüwa going up to heaven and filling the gap with her body (half human half serpent) and thus stopping the flood. The image I put forth was an earth-toned large woman, floating against cobalt blue boulders and running water in between, struggling to maintain her balance, in order to finish her Herculean (or shall we say, Nüwaian) job.

Matthew Felix Sun

Sonette an Orpheus

I just finished re-reading Sonette an Orpheus (Sonnets to Orpheus) by Rainer Maria Rilke and am in a trance. I have just started a painting on the subject of Orpheus - I cannot tell if reading Rilke triggered the project or the project propelled my reading.

Out of the fifty-five poems, the one really impressed into my mind is the last one (No. 26) of Part I:

Du aber, Göttlicher, du, bis zuletzt noch Ertöner,
da ihn der Schwarm der verschmähten Mänaden befiel,
hast ihr Geschrei übertönt mit Ordnung, du Schöner,
aus den Zerstörenden stieg dein erbauendes Spiel.

Keine war da, daß sie Haupt dir und Leier zerstör.
Wie sie auch rangen und rasten, und alle die scharfen
Steine, die sie nach deinem Herzen warfen,
wurden zu Sanftem an dir und begabt mit Gehör.

Schließlich zerschlugen sie dich, von der Rache gehetzt,
während dein Klang noch in Löwen und Felsen verweilte
und in den Bäumen und Vögeln. Dort singst du noch jetzt.

O du verlorener Gott! Du unendliche Spur!
Nur weil dich reißend zuletzt die Feindschaft verteilte,
sind wir die Hörenden jetzt und ein Mund der Natur.

An online English translation is available:

But you, divine, to the last resonating
when swarms of scorned maenads were bent on your murder,
you drowned out their shouting with beautiful order,
from out the destroyers rose uplifting playing.

No one there damaged your head or your lyre,
however they rushed you or rested apart;
and all the sharp rocks they threw at your heart
grew soft when they touched you and able to hear.

In the end they dismembered you, driven by vengeance,
but your sound yet lingered in cliffs and lions,
in forests and birds. Even now, you still sing there.

Oh desolate god! You unending trail out!
Only since blind hatred strew you about
are we now hearers and a mouth for nature.

This project will be the continuation of my Mythology Series.

Below is a quick sketch I made in Cafe Milano, Berkeley and the painting in the very beginning stage.

Crescat Graffiti, Vita Excolatur by Quinn Dombrowski

Crescat Graffiti, Vita Excolatur is a project by Quinn Dombrowski documenting graffiti in public study areas in the Regenstein Library, the main library at the University of Chicago. Started in summer 2007, the collection contains over 700 pieces of graffiti. All photographs are free to reuse and remix under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike license – in fact, there’s a RegRemix contest going on through December 20th. There is link to the full collection of the intriguing graffiti.

The book is a fascinating collection of graffiti and the cross-culture references are both amazing and amusing. It is beautifully produced and a fun read, yet a seriously scholarly book. I am proud to have contributed a little bit to this wonderful project when Quinn asked me to help with translation of some of the Chinese graffiti.

According to book's official website, "Crescat Graffiti, Vita Excolatur: Confessions of the University of Chicago (ISBN 978-0-557-17205-4) is a selection of the best of the 700+ pieces of graffiti from the Regenstein Library collected between 2007 and October 2009. Support the project (and help Quinn pay off the publishing costs) by picking up a copy of the book, or a t-shirt/coffee mug/etc. from the store.

Book copies purchased from this site will be signed, and will come with a Go to Italy, be a cobbler button. If you’re in Chicago and want to pick up a copy and pay with cash, e-mail Quinn at quinn – at – crescatgraffiti.com to arrange something.

Congratulations, Quinn!

Career advice
Originally uploaded by quinn.anya