Day 19

Since Leslie was leaving that afternoon, we decided it would be a chill-out day. Leslie worked at the computer and did some reading and I briefly worked with Mung on finishing some of the new glass sculptures. Feng came by with the finished steel connecting units. I then went to the bicycle repair store to buy and install a new battery as it was clear that the existing battery was failing badly. Leslie and I went for a final lunch at the Piking Duck restaurant near 318 Art Park. We were able to order half a duck and some delicious razor clams with a special sauce, accompanied by cold spinach. Washed down with beer, it was an exceptionally good lunch.

We then went to the airport and I tried to change my ticket so that I could stay in Beijing for an additional two days. However, there was no availability on the Saturday flight and to pay the extra $250 to come back one day later, with a seat in the middle, was not appealing, so I decided to keep my original return ticket.

After taking Leslie to the airport, I came home, did some more work on the sculptures. I received an email from Rose Jie of Art Channel stating that she wanted to come over and see my works. We set up a tentative time for the following morning. I then went into town to have dinner with Xi Dixue and her friend Annie. Dixue was interested in purchasing one of the original sculptures, and I suggested that she come over and look at the new spermoids as well. We had dinner at some hip Chinese regional cuisine restaurant. There were many Westerners in the restaurant. The food was fairly good, but much more expensive than eating locally. After dinner we returned to my studio so that they could look at the sculptures. We had some tea. At 11:00 p.m. they left so that I could go to sleep.

Day 20

I needed to run some errands so that I could complete a reasonable number of the new glass sculptures before I left. First, I needed to locate bubble wrap and tape to wrap the finished sculptures for transport. I could not find the local bubble wrap place which Li Gang told me about. After speaking with Li Gang on the telephone, he directed me to the place to buy a large roll of bubble wrap. It is much cheaper when you buy a large quantity. If you did not know exactly where the place was, you would never be able to find it, but we did. I got additional hooks from the frame store vendors in the flower market to hang the sculptures, some sand and an incense holder and certain other miscellaneous items. Huang then drove me back to the studio. I used his car service because I thought it would be much quicker than going by electric bicycle and I was running out of time. Unfortunately the traffic going back to the studio was awful. Where the electric bicycles could get through the stalled traffic easily, cars could not. Rose Jie sent me an email that she was tied up in the morning and would try to come at 4:00 p.m. I started preparing to close the house, since I was leaving the next day. I also did some packing. Rose called at about 4:00 and told me that there was a problem because she did not know what to do with her six year old son. I suggested that she bring him along. She was concerned because there were glass sculptures all over the studio. I told her not to worry, that he would be fine.

They were to come over at around 5:00 and I asked Mung if she could stay a little late because I wanted to put epoxy on the sculptures we had recently completed finishing and a second coat on the first group of sculptures, to which I had previously applied epoxy after Rose and her son left.

In anticipation of Rose coming over, we decided to hang some of the new sculptures; however, the epoxy had not dried on one of the large brown and gold sculptures and it crashed. One less sculpture. I put it out with the garbage and within 30 seconds Lau Shan had picked it up and said he was going to take it home. He said he could fix it. Even if he couldn’t, he liked it in its broken form.

Rose finally came at about 5:15 with her son, Jolie. Jolie was fine. In fact, he loved some of the small bronze sculptures. I took them off the wall so that he could play with them. He also liked the new glass sculptures. Rose said that I should send her pictures and that she would show the pictures to some of her clients. She was concerned about the effect of the U.S. financial crisis and its impact on the art market, but thought that there still may be a good market for the second spermoid series. I thanked her.

Rather than driving away, she reappeared on my doorstep five minutes later saying that she had thought about it, and she would like to take two sculptures on consignment. In addition, she said I should send her email images of the other sculptures. I told her to pick out any two and that we would then discuss pricing. She picked out two sculptures. Jolie disagreed with one of his mother’s choices, and said he saw one that he thought was especially nice, and that was one of the sculptures his mother should choose. They talked for about five minutes and apparently Jolie prevailed. In fact, I think he selected the nicer sculpture. We wrapped the sculptures and put them in her car. She then came back and we negotiated our arrangement, which I subsequently confirmed by email.

Five minutes after Rose and Jolie left, a big dog bounded into my studio. I was a little concerned that with all the glass sculptures on the floor the dog would create havoc. I got the dog to keep me company while I petted and played with him. A few minutes later its owner showed up. Shilan was the managing director and owner of AFA Beijing Contemporary Art Centre, a new gallery that was part of the 318 Art Park complex. She explained to me that her principal gallery was in Macau. She was just getting started in Beijing and said she liked the new glass works and asked if she could come back later in the day since she was on her way to a meeting with Shen Jing Dong, who is a painter and resin sculptor whose work I am familiar with. Not only did he have a piece in the gallery section immediately before the 318 Art Park, but he had sculptures on the main corridor of the Sheng Sheng, which were right in front of the room in which I had my installation.

I then applied the epoxy to the second group. When we got to the last sculpture we ran out of epoxy. In reloading the epoxy gun, I somehow screwed up and the nozzle came off, so I held the nozzle by hand so that the epoxy would mix properly and I could put it on the last sculpture and add a second coat to strengthen the bonding on the original sculptures. It was a very messy way to apply the epoxy. Unfortunately, it was dark in the studio portion of my unit and unknowingly some of the epoxy dripped over the sides of some of the sculptures, so when we looked at the sculptures the following morning many of them had blotches of bubble wrap and/or the epoxy on the front of the sculptures. Mung wanted to file the offending material off. I told her to stop. When I got back to the states I would investigate whether or not there was some type of solvent that could loosen this type of epoxy so that we could remove it easily without damaging the sculptures.

We finally finished this task at about 7:00. I washed my hands to have a quiet dinner of duck stew and spinach at the duck restaurant. I just wanted peace and quiet, since this was my last night in Beijing. I also knew that I needed some time to fix the epoxy gun and use the remaining tube to insert a follow-up sealant on the metal hangers and gloss on the underside of the sculpture. I got back home at 9:00, figured out what I done wrong and used the last tube of epoxy to put on a final coat of sealant on all of the sculptures that had been finished up to that point. It was close to 10:00 and I was dead tired.

I spoke to Leslie on Skype and told her I was going to sleep after I spoke to Eric and Caleb. Skype is terrific. I was able to talk to Eric and Caleb and see them at the same time on the attached video unit to their computer. We were having a good time talking with each other and Caleb was making all kinds of faces pretending that he was still play acting various characters for Halloween. While I was on the Skype, Shilan and two artists knocked on the front door.

I invited them in and they joined in the conversation with Caleb. It was really cool. One of the artists had to leave and I sat down with Shilan and Shen Jing Dong. We talked about art, life, etc. over cold beer. Shilan asked to see the new sculptures in greater detail, so I gave her a guided tour. She saw something on the bookshelf she liked. I suggested to her that because of all of the glass sculptures on the floor in front of the bookshelf, I would walk around and get it for her. She said not to worry, that nothing would happen. Guess what; she stepped on one of the glass sculptures and broke its tail off. She said she felt badly and said she would pay for it. She asked how much. I told her the retail price I had agreed with another dealer and told her to take off 40%, which was the wholesale price. She that would be no problem, she would see me tomorrow morning to pay for the damage. Fifteen minutes later she was telling me that she would get friends to come over and buy my sculptures. Finally, at about 12:15 I told them I had to pack, since I was leaving the next day and I needed some sleep.

Before excusing themselves, Jing Dong asked me to quickly come to his studio because he wanted to show me what he was working on. It was very cold and I didn’t have a jacket, so we ran to his studio. He showed me the drawings he used for the sculpture that was in the corridor of the Sheng Sheng. He is essentially a painter, but some of his images have been cast in resin. He told me both were selling well. I was also aware that he had been extensively interviewed by the Chinese art magazines. I told him that I had to get back to the studio to finish packing and that I had not locked the studio, so I was concerned that people could come in while I was not there. I finally got back to the studio at about 12:45 a.m. and spent the next 45 minutes packing and organizing for the return home tomorrow.

Day 21

I got up early in the morning. It was another bright, sunny day in Beijing. I did what I had to do around the studio to close it up while I was gone. I also worked with Mung on finishing some more of the new sculptures. Lau Shan came over and we spent the morning hanging the new sculptures in the studio.







I decided that it would be appropriate to have lunch, because I did not know what time Continental would serve the meal on the plane. I went to the local restaurant and had eggs and spinach. After I ordered, I saw the cook take off on a motor scooter. Two minutes later he came back with some spinach. I was served my dish five minutes after the arrival of the spinach. I then went back to complete packing.

Huang’s car had broken down, so he sent his brother to take me to the airport. He kept hovering and I packed as quickly as I could because he was making me nervous. The last time he took me to the airport he forgot my suitcase in front of the studio and we had to go back to load the suitcase in the car. In any event, as I later discovered, I forgot my Blackberry, which is still at the studio. We got to the airport in plenty of time and the flight home was uneventful.

My main concern was that the two new glass sculptures I had taken with me get home safe and sound, because I wanted to hang them at my office or my home. Everything went smoothly, including the car service being at the right time and place in front of the terminal at Newark Airport. We listened to 1010 WINS. Because of the tie up at the Lincoln Tunnel and the West Side Highway, we decided to take the GW Bridge and the Harlem River Drive to the East River Drive. What could have been a two to three hour trip because of traffic was, in actuality, less than 35 minutes. It was good to return home. Leslie had bought celery and onion so I could make tuna salad as my way of knowing I was back in New York.

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