Matthew Felix Sun - Art · 文化 · Kunst

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Rodin and Richard Serra in Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University

Cantor Art Museum, Stanford University, California _ 0674

Cantor Art Museum, Stanford University, California _ 0653

Two weeks ago, before I went to Palo Alto for the opening of "Scapes" juried exhibit at Pacific Art League, which included my painting "Lake", I stopped by the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University briefly.

I had visited the museum many times, including accompanying my visiting parents from China, and saw many wonderful permanent collections and special exhibit. This time, since I had little time, I was really only skipping along the surface; even so, I still managed to record many amazing pieces.

Cantor Art Museum, Stanford University, California _ 0655

Cantor Art Museum, Stanford University, California _ 0658

The special exhibit was "Rodin and America: Influence and Adaptation" (through 1 Jan 2012), which juxtaposed many sculptures, sketches and works in other media by Auguste Rodin and other American artists under his influences. The work I admire most was Lorado Taft's extremely dramatic "The Blind", which predated Jose Saramago's Blindness (The City of Blind):

Cantor Art Museum, Stanford University, California _ 0660

Cantor Art Museum, Stanford University, California _ 0668

After that, I did see some of its famous Rodin collections:

Cantor Art Museum, Stanford University, California _ 0669

I was mostly enchanted by the "Spirit of Eternal Repose", a 1898 Plaster work:

Cantor Art Museum, Stanford University, California _ 0719

Cantor Art Museum, Stanford University, California _ 0715

Cantor Art Museum, Stanford University, California _ 0725

Other sculptures stood out are:

Cantor Art Museum, Stanford University, California _ 0671

Horse, bronze, Deborah Butterfield

Cantor Art Museum, Stanford University, California _ 0700

Untitled, 1989, Welded and rusted steel and rubber, Mark Lere

Cantor Art Museum, Stanford University, California _ 0706

Granite Circle, Richard Long (on the balcony)

I didn't have much time therefore only looked permanent painting collections very quickly and these are Admirable paintings inside the museums are:

Cantor Art Museum, Stanford University, California _ 0709

Front: Pink Companion, 1991, Cedar and graphite, Ursula von Rydingsvard; Left: Angel, 1983, Oil on Canvas, Sean Scully; Right: Untitled #14, 1969, John McLaughlin

Cantor Art Museum, Stanford University, California _ 0678

Rodin and the Dancing Body: Tracing a Lineage

Cantor Art Museum, Stanford University, California _ 0704

Man with Hand to Face #2, 1960, Oil on canvas, Nathan Oliveira

Cantor Art Museum, Stanford University, California _ 0707

Window, 1967, Oil on Canvas, Richard Diebenkorn

Then, there would always be the meditative "Stone River" by Andy Goldsworthy:

Cantor Art Museum, Stanford University, California _ 0727

Stone River, Andy Goldsworthy, Cantor Art Museum, Stanford University, California _ 0737

And the last, the new temporary addition to Cantor Art Center, the rusty steel sculpture "Sequence" by Richard Serra. It was amazingly large, rustic yet sensual, almost echoed the Diebenkorn's "Window" (above):

Cantor Art Museum, Stanford University, California _ 0702

Cantor Art Museum, Stanford University, California _ 0696

Sequence, Steel, Richard Serra, Cantor Art Museum, Stanford University, California _ 0690

Sequence, Steel, Richard Serra, Cantor Art Museum, Stanford University, California _ 0665

Sequence, Steel, Richard Serra, Cantor Art Museum, Stanford University, California _ 0666

linda cicero / stanford university news dept.

Richard Serra's 2006 "Sequence"
at Stanford University's Cantor Arts Center
will move to S.F.

Image source: SFGate.com

Then, yesterday, SFGate.com reported that Richard Serra's immense sculpture "Sequence", "the interlocking steel spirals - which are 13 feet tall and together weigh a whopping 235 tons - will reside come 2016 in the Howard Street gallery of SFMOMA's new wing [Fischer Collection]. And since the addition's ground floor will be clad in glass, the much-praised "Sequence" should be visible even when the museum is closed.

As for 'Sequence,' it's not far away if you want a peek before 2016: This summer it was installed outdoors at the Cantor Arts Center on the Stanford campus."

My time at Stanford this time was too short for me to enter into the swirls. I definitely would get inside them before it moved to San Francisco. It looked amazing on Stanford campus and it is intriguing to see how it looks in San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA).

Related article: Second Thoughts on the Sculpture "The Blind" by Lorado Taft

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Another Farce - Vladimir Putin Awarded Confucius Peace Award

Another farce just staged in Beijing, where Confucius had been denounced in 1960-1990s and was invited back to buttress the legitimacy of the ruling Communist Party, when the Confucius Peace Award Committee announced that the second such prize was to be awarded to Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin.

Mr. Putin, a favorite world leader in China for his telegenic appearances, was cited for resolutely fighting back the separatists in Chechnya, and for vocally opposing NATO's air bombing of Libyan arm which under Khadafi's command was killing Libyan people.

The committee's legitimacy in China is quite murky. After the first such award given to a Taiwanese politician, who didn't attend the ceremony and a large bundle of cash was given to a little girl, people know nothing about, Chinese government determined that such committee didn't have the right permit to exist.

The current committee is either a reincarnation in China or in Hong Kong, consists mostly of die-hard Maoists scholars, who continue to champion the legacy of Mao Zedong, whom more and more Chinese deemed a tyrant who drove Chinese people to utter misery.

The news of Putin's win apparently has been greeted by Chinese people with a collective jeer and suppressed by government run media. Micro-blogs posted in many Chinese language sites even proposed to award future Confucius Peace Award to Hitler.

It is a farce indeed. Hopefully, Mr. Putin would attend the ceremony this time and hug his big bundle himself.

Monday, November 14, 2011

Student Exhibits at Worth Ryder Gallery, University of California, Berkeley

Last week, I attended the opening of two simultaneous student exhibits at Worth Ryder Gallery, University of California, Berkeley. The gallery was affiliated with Art Practice Department and it showcased the many young talents, yearning to make marks on the art scenes.

The first show was a sculpture (aka installation) exhibit. The topic for each artists were written on a piece of paper and put into the "oracle" bucket (see picture below) for drawings. The often deceptively simple labels were to inspire and challenge the students to come up with their own take on these themes.

Worth Ryder Gallery, University of California, Berkeley _ 7915

"Oracle" Bucket

The below installation/photography were dictated by the label of "Domesticate". The photos showed the little fence in different locations:

Worth Ryder Gallery, University of California, Berkeley _ 7893

Fence

Worth Ryder Gallery, University of California, Berkeley _ 7892

Fence

Worth Ryder Gallery, University of California, Berkeley _ 7897

Domesticate

Other visceral installations are the tree trunk below and some nets and deconstruction of different objects, such as a backpack.

Worth Ryder Gallery, University of California, Berkeley _ 7926

Tree

Worth Ryder Gallery, University of California, Berkeley _ 7890

Tree

Worth Ryder Gallery, University of California, Berkeley _ 7891

Net (Theme: Gender)

Worth Ryder Gallery, University of California, Berkeley _ 7927

Net (Theme: Gender)

Worth Ryder Gallery, University of California, Berkeley _ 7923

Deconstructed Single Backpack

Worth Ryder Gallery, University of California, Berkeley _ 7924

Birdcage

Worth Ryder Gallery, University of California, Berkeley _ 7905

Bubbles

The second exhibit was called "Falling Below" which featured some smaller scaled, but no less forceful, installations (or multimedia projects). They were very intriguing and even pretty to behold (artists might hate this but it was true).

Worth Ryder Gallery, University of California, Berkeley _ 7898

Eagle

Worth Ryder Gallery, University of California, Berkeley _ 7916

Birds

Worth Ryder Gallery, University of California, Berkeley _ 7917

Rooster

Worth Ryder Gallery, University of California, Berkeley _ 7899

Bird Curtain

Worth Ryder Gallery, University of California, Berkeley _ 7900

Money Bills

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Coastal Northern California and Wine Country - Oregon Trip, Part 11 (The End)

After Ashland, we went north a little bit then turned west towards the coast and traveled along Highway 101 for a while. There were many things to see - redwoods, elk's feeding ground, beach, old towns and then we cut across the wine country Sonoma heading home in Berkeley. Before we headed home, we stayed for one night in Arcata, which I discussed in the last post of this series.

Before we reached Arcata, we passed Crescent City, a working-class coastal town, which reminded me much of the serene and melancholic Netherlands.

At the harbor of Crescent City, we saw a nice woman feeding many feral cats - they were very adorable and quite domesticated to me:

Away from Crescent City, we traveled along the coast for a while and had wonderful sights:

Then, we passed a relatively small redwood park and a feeding ground for elk, but we was not lucky enough to sight them. However, the field was very beautiful:

Redwood Forest in Coastal California _ 6976

We traveled along and saw more wonderful waves before we entered Arcata:

After not so restful Arcata, we stopped by Eureka briefly and saw large sea birds at the harbor:

Afterwards, we veered away from the coast and entered Humboldt Redwoods State Park, California to see the "Avenue of the Giants" - huge redwoods and they were giants indeed:

Avenue of the Giants, Humboldt Redwoods State Park, California _ 7460

Avenue of the Giants, Humboldt Redwoods State Park, California _ 7466

Avenue of the Giants, Humboldt Redwoods State Park, California _ 7536

Avenue of the Giants, Humboldt Redwoods State Park, California _ 7513

Avenue of the Giants, Humboldt Redwoods State Park, California _ 7542

At the junction of Highway 1 and 101, we took the coastal route so I could see Mendocino, a famed California destination. Before we arrived, the coastal got quite lovely already: