Day 13

Again, the sky was clear but the day was very cold. I noticed that we were running out of coal and called Lao Shan. He came over and we worked out how much additional coal I needed to get through the winter and the cost. The cost of coal had gone up dramatically since the prior year, but I had no choice since replacing burst pipes and the related damage is much more expensive. We then discussed whether I was going to convert my front area to a sculpture/meditation garden or was I going to leave it so he could grow some more vegetables. I was not able to come to a decision. If I renew the lease, then I will probably go ahead with investing the time, money and effort to create a sculpture/meditation garden. If not, then I would rather see the land being put to good use, especially since Lao Shan no longer had a full-time job as the head carpenter for Li Gang. Since Pickled Arts was closing and Shan being over 50, his chances of getting a comparable job are not good. But he is very enterprising and I am sure that he will find a way to make ends meet.

I then did some sketches for some potential woodcuts as well as some installations for the glass sculptures. The sketches were not very good. In fact, they were so bad I threw them out. Within 10 minutes someone had come by my garbage area and taken away the thrown out sketches but left all the other garbage. I showed the Chins how to get to the Green T House Living Room, which is a stunningly beautiful restaurant right next to our compound. It is a real experience to view this facility. It is very graceful and quite stunning. If only the food could match the setting! Forewarned the Chins decided to have lunch there anyway. I was not in the mood for a big meal and begged off. Andrew agreed with my assessment that this was probably one of the most beautiful restaurants he had ever seen. He thought the food was fairly good but was shocked at the cost. I said welcome to the Four Seasons restaurant in Hegezhuang.

After lunch, Huang drove me to B&Q as I needed some more tools and work supplies. I could not find the right kind of spackle to fix the holes in the walls of my studio as I wanted to rearrange some of the spermoid installations. We then went to some local hardware stores and I struck out there also. However, I was able to find white matte spray paint. I intended to use that to paint the inserts prior to applying the epoxy to the spermoid series, as I thought this would look better. On Canal Street I was unable to find the appropriate size clear plastic rod to use as the material for the insert. Also, I was unable to get an answer for what type of epoxy to use that would work for glass, clear plastic acrylic and a metal hanger. My idea was to drill some very thin holes at different angles in the clear plastic rod portion of the insert so that the spermoid sculptures could be hung from the ceiling without the distraction of a steel or a painted insert. Using white spray paint was the best I could come up with at this time. I will know how it looks when I come back to Beijing.

We decided to stop in Jenny Lus to load up on some more cheese, snacks and other foods with the idea of throwing an impromptu cocktail party . When we got back I called Shen Jingdong and he said he would like to come. Yisi was working at the Egret Gallery and would be a little late. I got another call from Zhu Li and she and her friend said they would join us. It turns out that Jingdong and Yisi have known Zhu Li for a number of years.

Jingdong and spent 20 years in the Chinese army working as a painter in its propaganda department. He retired as a captain approximately 4 years ago when his art starting to catch on with the general public. In fact, when we were at Pan jia yuan market this past Sunday we saw a number of copies of his work. He, along with Ai Ai Wei, seemed to be the two most popular contemporary artists that were being copied. The artists in this market insisted that these were originals, but the copies were poorly done and the copiers didn’t understand some of Jingdong’s trademarks. He generally uses colored backgrounds, the copies all have white background. His figures have thin white lines to emphasize certain facial features, the copies generally used black lines that were poorly done.

After an hour of drinking, it became clear that no one was interested in going out to dinner. Jingdong was not going to drive because he had been drinking. Zhu Li did not volunteer the use of her car, so, realizing that we were running out of food Jingdong went back to his place to get some Nanjing duck. Rose volunteered that we had peanut butter and they had bought some bread. There was now enough food to go around.

My next-door neighbor Hong showed up with her male assistant, who lives full time at the studio. They hung out with us for about a half an hour, but did not want anything to eat or drink. I thought it was strange. She is an art teacher at a local college and she comes to her studio at night or on the weekends, when she is not too tired from teaching. Most of the professors I know have studio facilities on campus. Hong is a classic clay sculptor. Her studio is very spare and only has three or four of her pieces.

She had decided not to use my contractor for the construction of her studio. But everyone in the neighborhood was very happy that she had replaced Li Gang’s prior studio that had been occupied by Lau Shan and his wife. But, other than the disastrous condition of the studio, Shan and his wife were good neighbors and it was very comforting to me to have them as my next-door neighbors when I was back in the United States. They were watching my place for me. In the summer, they had a vegetable garden in my front yard, and in the winter they were being paid to make sure that the studio was properly heated so that the pipes would not crack.

Three hours later we wandered off to Jingdong’s studio as he wanted to show Zhu Li and her friend his new works. We had tea and everyone, except Andrew, sobered up. The party ended about midnight.



Day 14

Again, it was another nice sunny day. That morning we were going to see the Chang Di art area before visiting Art Channel and then we were to have lunch with its owner, Rose Jie. I believe that some of the better galleries are located in this area. It is not as touristy as 798 and the art is generally of much higher quality. Rose Jie could not join us for lunch because she had an appointment with the contractor who was building her new gallery across the street. Rose and I discussed a potential future show, but she was focusing on the construction of her new gallery and doing as little as possible until the environment for contemporary art changed for the better. I also had a discussion with her assistant on how to hang the two sculptures that we unpacked earlier.

We walked through the area on the way to find a restaurant in the village. One of the restaurants appeared to be very clean and was still busy at 1:15 p.m., so we decided to try it. The food was sensational and quite reasonable. I hope I can find it the next time I am in the area, as it was much better than the restaurant I had been to after the opening of the show at Art Channel about a week before. After lunch, we visited a few high-end galleries and I gave directions to Andrew and Rose to other galleries in the area and how to get home as I had a business meeting downtown with Ching Tao, an investment banker.

She had chosen a wine bar which was ideally situated for her and her boyfriend. She used to be married to an American lawyer who worked for a big firm in New York City and lived in Brooklyn Heights. When that did not work out, she arranged for a transfer and came to Beijing with her two children. Steve, her boyfriend, is in the investment department of a large international company. He was not able to join us because of a last-second emergency. She was thinking of transferring her kids to the elementary school in Hegezhuang because it was reputed to be the best public elementary school in Beijing and she could not afford the Western Academy. She also liked Sunday brunch at the Orchard, another high end restaurant in my area. She did not realize that my studio was in Hegezhuang. She enjoyed raising a family on her own in Beijing. She had been transferred internally to a management position and was still deciding if this promotion was a good thing for her. It did mean less travel time away from her kids.

I had been trying to coordinate the delivery of my sculptures from Aimei. The Beijing shipping company advised me that the sculptures would not be delivered for a few days and five of them had been broken. I called Sun Yan Hao and confirmed with him that the sculptures were to be shipped in two days and that he should not destroy the broken sculptures as I wanted to study why they were broken. Maybe there was a problem with my design. Also, almost all of my metal sculptures are made from scrap that no one else wants. I would come up with the use for the broken glass sculptures.

I then returned to the studio and we went out for dinner. Everything was very quiet at 318 Art Park. People tend to hibernate in winter in Beijing. One of the studios was being rebuilt on my street. I watched the carpenter construct a porch with a wooden entryway using only the most primitive tools, the only exception being an electric hole saw. The Chinese do not use screws or nails in the construction of their homes, furniture or wooden floors. They use a system of joints and glues. It was fascinating to watch how this carpenter was putting together this intricate structure.

The sculptures were delivered. However, instead of 12 boxes containing approximately 80 sculptures, including five broken sculptures, there was only one box with 8 sculptures, two of which were broken. I was not happy. I asked the shipper to pack up two boxes of sculpture that I had previously finished to take back to the United States as my baggage. We were supposed to have dinner with Laurens Tans, but he called to switch it to the following night as he had something come up that could not be avoided.

We walked to Jinbaiwei and had a delicious meal. I introduced the Chins to a new type of duck stew and dumplings, which we had after Beijing duck. It was a one mile walk in either direction and it was very cold out, but it was good exercise.

I had decided that I would smash up the two sculptures that were damaged, after photographing them because I thought the damage was deliberate. I would then rearrange the broken pieces on some painted wooden boards. I also wanted to go to the art stores near the Central Academy to look for new kinds of hinges to hang the glass sculptures. I made a list of what I need and suggested Andrew that he do the same so that I could get them started. We walked over to Shen Jingdong’s studio and he made arrangements to send someone over the following afternoon.

Day 15

We went over to the Central Academy area early in the morning. I could not find the right series of art stores so I called Li Gang and he was able to direct us over the phone to the entrance to the stores that we needed. I had been there before on a number of occasions and usually when I have been somewhere once I can find it again, but not this time, although I was in the right area. There must be 20 stores within this one four-story building selling various types of art supplies. First, I wanted to make sure that Andrew had the right supplies for his project. It wasn’t easy because he really did not want to start a project but we eventually found the right canvas, prepared correctly and cut to the size that he needed, the right brushes and a right paint.

Then, I could focus on finding the right kind of material to mount the shattered glass on the sculptures. Canvas would not work because it was not strong enough and too flexible. I then came across some framed wooden pieces. They appear to be strong and rigid enough. Andrew, who is a painter, help me pick out the right kind of paint to use as a background. I purchased white acrylic as a primer and bright yellow as the background color for the damaged dark blue sculpture from one of my earlier series. I then made arrangements for Lau Shan to buy one of the classic large Chinese paper/rag bags used by many Chinese in lieu of suitcases. They are inexpensive and strong enough to hold the shattered glass when I smash the already damaged glass sculptures.

I was on a mission. I painted the wood and when it was ready, I would then smashed the glass. I had created an entire ceremony to do the smashing. The Chins decided that standing near me to watch this was not safe as they did not trust that the Chinese bag would prevent the glass from scattering all over the place. I borrowed a ladder from the carpenter who is making the porch for my neighbor. I had saved three pieces of heavy concrete slabs to do the smashing. I was able to get one of the slabs up the ladder. After going through my meditation, I dropped the concrete slab, which weighed about 20 pounds on the glass spermoid enclosed in the bag. The concrete was now in many pieces and the glass sculpture was still intact. So I repeated the ceremony; the same result. I then took out my brand-new hammer and that eventually did the trick.

I then took the pieces inside and rearranged them in various patterns on the painted board. Once I had come up with a pattern that I thought would work, I left it there to come back to look at after dinner. We went back to the Sun Li Tan District to meet Laurens Tans and his friend Molly and other people that were at Lauren’s apartment who are possibly going to join us for dinner. We found the restaurant and everyone else was a half an hour late. This was a Thai restaurant and I decided to order a straight vodka while waiting for the others to join us. We got tired of waiting for our drinks so Andrew went up to the bar and showed the bartender how to pour a straight bourbon on the rocks. Somehow it was a triple. So I followed suit with the vodka.

Since Laurens knew the restaurant we left the ordering to him on the understanding that we would split the check amongst us. This was obviously an in place with a lot of very well-dressed, hip customers, many of whom were Westerners. The food was pretty good. After dinner Laurens wanted to show the Chins the famous Bar Street. Molly left us to go home. The Bar Street is not very large and reminds me somewhat of Times Square before it was cleaned up. We had trouble finding a taxi to get home. I was running out of time and had a lot to do.

When I got home I made some more changes to the shattered glass and then decided to put on the first coat of a epoxy between the board and the glass pieces. Because we were leaving in two days, I decided to stay up until the epoxy dried and prepped the next board for another smash. By the time I finished prepping the second board, the first was ready for its second follow-up’ epoxy. Almost all of the pieces were in place after the first coat. But for safety reasons I wanted a second application of epoxy. Andrew was busy in the back room of the studio drawing out his piece, which was a 12' x 6' acrylic on canvas American hamburger “fighting” a Chinese stuffed bun.

Day 16

I was up bright and early the next day because I needed to get the necessary materials so that Mung could properly prepare the metal inserts, finish the sculptures that had just been delivered etc. I also had to go to the Internet facility to renew my service contract which expires at the end of May. We were able to find the place and after waiting in line was told that I have to come back because they did not have my passport even though they have all my information in their computer.

We returned to the studio and brought my passport back to China netcom. This time I was told that I was too early and could only renew within one month of the expiration of my current contract, which did not expire until the end of May 2009. I tried to explain to them that by paying them now they gain the use of my money free for three months. I was unsuccessful. I would have to come back in May to ensure that my Internet service would not be terminated. I do not want to go through this again as it took me three days to reestablish my Internet service the last time this happened. So I see a trip to Beijing in late April or early May.

I came back to the studio and did more work. Andrew was feverishly working on his new piece. We decided to clean out the refrigerator so that we would use up all of the food for our dinner, rather than going out for dinner. I worked until midnight. I left Andrew still working.

Day 17

I made arrangements for two sets of cars, because the Chin’s had so much luggage and I was bringing back two boxes of glass sculptures as my luggage. There was no way we could fit in one car. I made sure that the Chin’s left first, because I know Rose is extremely nervous about getting to the airport on time.

Prior to leaving, I finished some of the boards for future sculptures in the smash series and made arrangements with Mung on the way to finish the rest of the shipment of the third series from Aimei in my absence. We reviewed what supplies and equipment she would need. Certain things were missing, so I got on my electric bike and made a run to the local stores to make sure that she had everything. Packing for me is relatively simple, since I leave all my clothes in Beijing. I put everything into the owners closet, but the key to the closet did not work. I recalled possibly losing some keys when I was in Zibo, and my fear was the one of those keys was for the owner’s closet. I gave Mung 100 rmb to have the lock fixed or replaced in my absence. I made a special check for all of the electronic equipment and phone, since I did not want to leave my US Blackberry in China like I did the prior time.

The trip home was smooth. All of the sculptures, which were professionally packed in two boxes, were sent as baggage. They arrived intact. It was good to be back.

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