Day Three
On Monday, I rode my electric bike to the local bank
to pay the telephone bill for the Internet
connection and to put more money into my cell phone.
I also needed to find a place to repair the front
brake. The bank did not until 9:00 AM., but there
was already a long line. I saw people going up to
get a number from a machine outside the main
entrance, so I followed suit and took a number too.
Unfortunately, unlike the Bank of China, this bank
did not have an electric sign showing which number
was next, which meant I had to listen carefully and
keep my eye on the person who had taken a number
just before me. It was very cold, so I decided to
buy a wool hat keep me warm when I rode my bicycle.
Back home, I dictated the beginning portions of the
diary and reviewed the drawings I made the night
before. Before lunch I decided to visit the Spanish
artist Ramon Roig, who was on a three-month artist
in residence program at New York Arts. He thought it
was an unbelievable experience and he and his wife
were already planning to come back to Beijing. When
I visited, he was waiting for a photographer to
shoot his large oils for an upcoming show in
Shanghai.
I then went back to my studio to get ready for
lunch. But just as I was leaving, Li Gang’s
assistant arrived with a driver to take me to the
Central Arts Academy for the two o’clock opening of
the chair show. They were an hour and a half early.
I figured we were having lunch first, but I was
mistaken. We went to Tracy Heneberg’s show first.
Although, it was showing the same pieces that I had
seen the day before, I enjoyed them all the same.
An Iranian film maker living in Sydney joined us.
Mamoud was very interesting and had a very dry,
excellent sense of humor. Li Gang then took us on a
tour of some of the facilities at the Central
Academy, such as the metal shop, the ceramic
facilities and the bronze casting facility. He had
originally designed the metal shop. One of my
projects on this trip was to design and begin
installing equipment for the metal shop portion of
my studio.
We then went to the chair exhibit at a gallery next
to the student bookstore. Every inch of the student
bookstore was crammed with people looking at art
books to buy. The show was supposed to open at 2:00
p.m., and there were hundreds of students waiting to
get in. However, there were welcoming speeches by
dignitaries that preceded the opening of the exhibit
for the general public. I was very tired and wanted
a place to sit, but there was nowhere I could do so.
Mamoud and I had a wide-ranging discussion on
creating art. At about 2:30 they opened the show.
There were a number of interesting chairs in the
exhibit. Two of the pieces were chairs with no
seats, others were very sleek and others definitely
made statement. Eventually people began to sit in
some of the chairs. Some were very comfortable, but
many were not. One interesting idea was a group of
small bullet shaped metal magnets that molded itself
to different shapes depending on who sat on the
chair. Li Yonglin’s concept was quite interesting.
Also she brought her five-month-old son to the show.
Mamoud wanted to leave at about 3:30 p.m. and Gang
wanted to go to the print shop. I opted to join
Mamoud for a ride home. A nap was definitely in
order.
Dagao and Grace came over at about 5:30 p.m. After a
nice visit, we went to the remodeled Beijing duck
restaurant about a mile walk from my studio. They
are thinking of buying an apartment in Beijing
because they are tired of renting, and are not happy
with their apartment which is in an older building.
We discussed the real estate market in Beijing. Both
of them feel that the market will only get stronger.
All of the good universities are located in either
Beijing or Shanghai. Upon graduation most of the
students prefer to stay in these two cities, rather
than relocating to a smaller city, even if the pay
is more. These two cities have the best
opportunities and the most to offer. The walk home
was invigorating. Even with no streetlights, the
streets feel safe. I returned to the studio to
sketch some more ideas before calling Leslie. My
first two calls did not go through on Skype. I tried
one more time and then went to bed as I was very
tired. As I drifted off to sleep, Leslie called me.
It was great to hear her voice, but I was so
exhausted that I was incoherent. I felt badly
because we have not spoken since I left New York
City. |
