Unsettling "Subterrane”

When I made figurative paintings, I was often drawn to unusual and striking settings, manifested in my 2020 oil painting Subterrane. This urban painting featured a young man in red and blue, standing in the foreground of a dark underpass, whose massiveness dwarfed and weighted down the slight person who peered at the viewers quizzically and uncertainly. Through the far end of the structure, bright light penetrated into the gloomy underpass and shone the ceiling, the floor, and the tilting walls in bold gestures. In complementary colors, some trees and block buildings they protected could be gleaned at the opening of the structure, counterbalancing and stabilizing the hesitant figure, whose hunched posture suggested something unsettling within.

Subterrane
oil on canvas
20"x24"
2020

 

Originally posted on matthewfelixsun.com  

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A Glimspse of Salesforce Transbay Center in San Francisco

Several weeks ago, the multiple-billion dollars Salesforce Transbay Center in San Francisco opened with great fanfare. On August 25, I took a transbay bus and caught a glimpse of the wonderful building, and the rooftop garden, before two cracks on steel beams forced a hopefully temporary closure two days ago.

The most dominating part of the complex was the slick and phallic Salesforce Tower, which was actually not part of the terminal, but did provide an interesting contrast to the delicate, veiled exterior of the horizontal Transbay Center.









Our bus came to the center via an exclusive bus bridge, at an extremely low speed.





Once entered the building, we had another view of the lattice façade from inside. Intriguing.













There was a certain "public art" inside the terminal building, such as the LCD display, and the tower itself.





The best part of the complex was the rooftop public space - gardens, walkway, theater, etc.





What a shame that two cracks of the supporting steel beams at SF Transbay Transit Center forced its closure. Hopefully, it would be deemed safe soon. But, could we ever trust it? Just as the troubled San Francisco Bay Bridge.


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Classical Concert in Shenyang, China - Ying String Quartet, Eastman School of Music

Three years ago, my hometown Shenyang, Manchurian city in northeastern China, opened a new complex for performing arts - Shengjing Grand Theatre, which consisted of an 1800-seat opera house, a concert hall, and a multiple-functional playhouse. During day time, the diamond shaped dark complex looked like a squatting tortoise; when the night arrived, the many lights dotting its transparent surfaces gave it a look of a giant gemstone, though the constant shifting of the colors of those lights was rather cheeky.









In October 2017, I had an opportunity to attend a chamber music concert in the concert hall situated on the 7th floor of the complex.



Once having entered the complex, audience members had to go through security check — apparently the common practice in China now, in most public places, such as theaters, train terminals and subway stations.



The front lobby was simple and traditional — welcoming without overwhelming.





On the second floor, the odd-shaped and vast lobby, sandwiched between the curved wall of the opera house and the trusst structure of the transparent outer shell, was pleasantly airy and intriguing, enticing theater goers to gawk and socialize.







The 7th Floor was very subdued and had an atmosphere of modern day church, preparing audience for an experience of near spirituality.







The arena-styled Concert Hall had only one floor; apparently, the designer and management were convinced that more seats were not needed for this industrial city, which could boast only rather modest history of classical music.











The concert I attended was performed by Ying String Quartet from the excellent conservatory in the USA — Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester. All the performers were faculty members from the music school and each taught the instruments they performed.

The theater provided no information as what the program was, neither online, nor inside the theater, and the ushers were of no help either, though they did know the length of the performance.





Once on stage, the viola player introduced themselves and the program - string quartets by Borodin, Ravel, and Dvořák. The speaker spoke only in English and no translation was provided; though many audience members seemed understood well and responded at the right timing. Not everyone understood English for sure, including my parents, who was left in the dark, but applauded politely when cued.

The acoustic of the hall proved excellent, with good combination of clarity, warmth, and immediacy. The hall was barely half-full and many people played their mobile phone, during the performance, taking photos or videos of the performance, sometimes even selfies, or just chatting with friends.

For the encore, gratefully, Tchaikovsky String Quartet No. 1 Op. 11 - II. Andante cantabile movement was performed, instead of gratuitous local flavored offerings, and cemented a night of solid music making.


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More Impressions of Austin, Texas

In this final report of my trip to Austin, Texas in the past June, I'm going to round up the fine impressions it made on me.

St. Mary's Cathedral - it was not very big and grandiose; it impressed with its fine details contained in its intimate interior - well balanced and nothing was amiss:







 











Architecture - there were many impressive building in downtown Austin, and besides the already reported State Capitol and Driskill Hotel, below are a sample of some impressive buildings, in broad styles ranging from neoclassical to ultra modern:


6th & Colorado Streets, Littlefield Building, and N. Congress Avenue


Omni Austin Hotel Downtown


Omni Austin Hotel Downtown (l), Frost Bank Tower (r)


Frost Bank Tower (l) & Convention Center (r)


Convention Center


United States Federal Courthouse






The University of Texas at Austin


Parking Garage in the University of Texas at Austin

Museums - besides the impressive Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas at Austin, I visited several other museums in Austin.

The Contemporary Art Museum had no permanent collections but the small exhibition was engaging enough, though the long last impression was made rather by its interesting façade:







I stopped by the Bullock Texas State History Museum briefly while waiting for the Blanton to open, mostly admiring the building, particularly its rotunda:







Near the Convention Center where I attended the DrupalCon, there were two small museums each resided in a modest historical house - the O. Henry (William Sydney Porter) Museum and Joseph and Susanna Dickinson Hannig Museum.

I like the period decorations inside O. Henry Museum and I was very delighted to see some of his unpublished manuscripts on display, and it was fascinating to hear the author's recorded voice.










Unpublished Manuscripts



The official website of the Joseph and Susanna Dickinson Hannig Museum informed us that: "The 1869 home of Joseph and Susanna Dickinson Hannig was saved and deeded to the City of Austin in 2003. Joseph Hannig built this home in 1869 for his new wife, Susanna Dickinson. She survived the Battle of the Alamo and carried the news of its fall to Sam Houston, which ultimately led to Houston's defeat of Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto and won independence for the Republic of Texas. For this deed, Susanna Dickinson became known as the 'Messenger of the Alamo.'" Below are a few photos I took at the museum:









Downtown Austin was full of clubs, bars and restaurants in its multiple "Entertainment Districts", and strolling along these historical streets was very pleasant, be it in quiet morning or at exciting night:


Entertainment District, Austin







Austin was also a very "green" city, manifested in its convenient public transit systems, shared bicycles, and colorful rickshaw taxicabs, which can be seen in the video above.

 
Shared bicycle station in Downtown Austin

 
Shared Bicycle station near the University of Texas at Austin


Bicyclists in Austin


Metro






More on Austin, Texas Trip, June 2014

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