kpih
02-20-2005, 04:22 PM
I just came back from the Coconut Grove Arts Festival. It is billed as one of the biggest street festivals for the arts in the United States. It is literally 20 yards from my apartment, and I happen to like paintings and sculptures. So I paid the five bucks to check it out. Throughout the show I made some observations and came up with several major rants on Asia, Asian Culture, Asian Americans and Asians in the context of the American art scene.
Firstly, it seems that a herd of white photographers are swarming the Chinese country side to take pictures of toothless Chinese old people. You know, one of those photographs with two wrinkled old people smiling and showing no teeth behind the window, or some child with dirt on his/her face in the streets. All the photographs look the same. So once again Chinese folks are these backward people who live their lives harmoniously with no running water…
Second. As I approached one stall I saw a flag that says “jade design” with a big ying-yang sign on it. I thought to myself (almost saying out loud) “gotta be a white guy.” Sure enough, white dude with a pony tail in a Chinese shirt and lame jade pieces. Can it get any triter please? I just busted laughing. I guess the fung shui of that stall was particularly good.
Third, there was a Chinese artist (judging by her last name, which I forgot). Her style was more classical Rembrandt kind of deal. Most of her work displayed was stills of fruit baskets. Yet, of course she was wearing this Chinese style shirt, even though her technique and themes was completely Continental in the influence…
It could be the location of the show, given this is miami. However a lot of the artists come from NY or even CA. I guess original art by Asian American artists is still quite far from reaching the mainstream...
The whole show was just a glorified flea market for middle class folks to come spend a few hundred (or thousands) of dollars to acquire some culture and brag at the office or to their friends. I like some of the photographs, but I was quite unimpressed. Some of those 'sculptures' were major health hazards to the public with their sharp edges and pointy ends. Well I have to concede that it is a commercial art show and not a museum. Still, I was hoping to be struck by a piece or two, instead of just pedestrian conversation pieces.
But then again who the hell am I to comment on art. I am just an asshole walking around with a Starbucks coffee…
Firstly, it seems that a herd of white photographers are swarming the Chinese country side to take pictures of toothless Chinese old people. You know, one of those photographs with two wrinkled old people smiling and showing no teeth behind the window, or some child with dirt on his/her face in the streets. All the photographs look the same. So once again Chinese folks are these backward people who live their lives harmoniously with no running water…
Second. As I approached one stall I saw a flag that says “jade design” with a big ying-yang sign on it. I thought to myself (almost saying out loud) “gotta be a white guy.” Sure enough, white dude with a pony tail in a Chinese shirt and lame jade pieces. Can it get any triter please? I just busted laughing. I guess the fung shui of that stall was particularly good.
Third, there was a Chinese artist (judging by her last name, which I forgot). Her style was more classical Rembrandt kind of deal. Most of her work displayed was stills of fruit baskets. Yet, of course she was wearing this Chinese style shirt, even though her technique and themes was completely Continental in the influence…
It could be the location of the show, given this is miami. However a lot of the artists come from NY or even CA. I guess original art by Asian American artists is still quite far from reaching the mainstream...
The whole show was just a glorified flea market for middle class folks to come spend a few hundred (or thousands) of dollars to acquire some culture and brag at the office or to their friends. I like some of the photographs, but I was quite unimpressed. Some of those 'sculptures' were major health hazards to the public with their sharp edges and pointy ends. Well I have to concede that it is a commercial art show and not a museum. Still, I was hoping to be struck by a piece or two, instead of just pedestrian conversation pieces.
But then again who the hell am I to comment on art. I am just an asshole walking around with a Starbucks coffee…