Day Eight
I went over to Imagine gallery to visit with
Tung-Wen Margue, who apologized profusely because
our planned luncheon meeting the prior day did not
happen, as he was in transit. He was on his way to
Shanghai because he was exhibiting through his Paris
Gallery and was packing paintings he had created in
Beijing for that show. We decided meet later that
day at an opening in the Two Lines Gallery. I then
went to do some errands. Before the opening I wanted
to buy gifts for Leslie, the grandchildren and
Spring’s numerous nephews, but the taxi driver and I
could not find the proper store, so I went directly
to the opening at 798.
Yang Xiao-Jian’s one man show was show was a series
of large black and white ink paintings. The Two
Lines Gallery was extremely cold. The heating system
for 798 is controlled by the government, which means
that heat does not officially come on until November
15th. Li Gang had made arrangements for Peter Lewis
to join us for dinner, but in the interim, Peter had
gone to IKEA to buy some things for his new studio.
We waited for over an hour and everyone was chilled
to the bone. Heying wanted to go to a “hot pot”
restaurant near where they live on the theory that
food like that would warm everyone up. Although it
was my farewell dinner, I wanted to give Heying the
choice of where we went for two reasons. First, I
didn’t want Li Gang to spend too much money and
second, I brought over the Serra book for Li Gang,
but I did not have presents for Heying and Wendy on
this trip. Wendy was at the gallery and was joining
us for dinner. The meat used for the hot pot is
sliced very thinly, but has a lot of fat. I knew
that as a result of this meal I would pay the price
in jet lag, but it was good.
After the meal, Peter and I went to visit Wayne
McCullough, the Jamaican ambassador to China. Wayne
lives in triplex at the top of a luxury high rise,
with views that overlook the entire city. His
apartment is spectacular. When I arrived, there were
two other Jamaicans, one who specializes in video
production and Courtney, who is getting his
doctorate in art at the Central Academy. Peter,
Wayne and Courtney were planning a show to be
sponsored by the Jamaican Embassy, in cooperation
with the Chinese government. Interestingly, if the
show is called an event, then no government
approvals are required. However, if it is called an
exhibition, government approvals are required. Wayne
discussed how the Embassy would approach the Chinese
government to sponsor an exhibition showing the
growth of Jamaican art. Wayne thought that the
exhibit should present the historical development of
Jamaican painting for at least the last 100 years.
He wanted to get the Chinese government to fund the
transportation of and insurance for these paintings,
which were to be gathered from all over the world.
It was already 10:00 p.m. and neither Courtney nor
Wayne had eaten supper. But before they ate, Wayne
and the two artists wanted to go to the Hilton Hotel
view over the area for the upcoming Jamaican event,
which was to include Peter’s, Brian’s, and
Courtney’s paintings. They needed to decide the size
of the paintings that would work, how many could be
included, etc. After that, Wayne decided they should
go to the hotel dining room, since it was open all
night. At that point, it was already midnight.
Although there was a placard on the table describing
breakfast, when Wayne and others tried to order
breakfast they were politely told that breakfast was
not being served until 6:00 a.m. Nonetheless, they
persisted in trying to order breakfast. Eventually
they settled for something from the late night
dinner menu.
Wayne and I had an interesting discussion about
companies, platform economics and the role of the
Jamaican embassies. Until this discussion, I was not
aware that Jamaica has only a total of approximately
twenty embassies and chargé de affairs in the world.
Because Jamaica is a small country with limited
financial resources, it has to carefully pick and
choose where it wants foreign representation.
Originally, Jamaica had imported Chinese slaves to
work on the coffee plantations, so there had
historically been a very good relationship between
Jamaica and China. The Jamaican embassy in China was
considered a plumb assignment.
At about 2:00 in the morning, both Peter and I were
fading, so we excused ourselves and went back to our
studios. Peter’s studio is right around the corner
from mine.
Day Nine
In view of Zhu Li’s temper tantrum regarding who was
paying for the electric hot water heaters, I
realized that Li Kogen was not going to come back to
clean up the yard, as promised. I made arrangements
with Le Shan to accomplish this. Within 10 minutes
there was a truck and four workman. Once the yard
was cleaned up, the large sculpture and the entire
unit looked much better. I also had to find, Lao
Wang, the contractor who was installing the new
outside gate, to finish the job. I knew the other
unit he was working on and found him. I explained to
him that the gate still needed another coat of
paint, which he had promised. He agreed and sent
over his painter to finish the job.
After some limited packing, Professor Wang and his
wife, Weng Pei, arrived at my studio. He brought a
gift for Leslie and a bottle of special Chinese
whiskey for me. We had a nice visit and discussed
his trip to Chicago, where he was an invited guest
of SOFA. After Chicago, he had gone to visit his
daughter, who is studying law at the University of
Indiana in Bloomington. Weng Pei was not able to
visit her daughter because of her position. She
showed me her business card, which lists her as a
vice president of investments for a company, but
also as a vice secretary of the Communist Party.
Because she has such a sensitive position, the
government would not issue visa to her so that she
could accompany her husband on his trip to SOFA and
visit her daughter in Bloomington.
Professor Wang and his wife had many questions about
New York City. I again offered the use of my
apartment to his daughter, and I explained that I
would move into Leslie’s apartment for the few days
she was in the city. She is coming not only as a
tourist, but is also investigating some type of
field work.
We then drove to Professor Wang’s studio, which is
under construction, and got lost. I was able to
direct them back to the Airport Expressway and we
were able to find his studio. It was close to the
metal fabrication studio near Jinzhan I used on my
first visit to Beijing. That studio was were far and
away the best metal fabricator that I found in
Beijing. Li Gang told me that he no longer uses
them, but he did not give me a reason why nor would
he give me their address or phone number.
Professor Wang’s studio in Dong Yao is really a
compound. There are approximately 10 rooms on two
floors, with an adjacent kiln building. The studio
is adjacent to a proposed gallery. In front of his
gallery I saw a pile of loose stones which were
being used as part of the construction. I took a few
because they are the type of stones I want to use
for my sculpture garden. We then went to the same
restaurant in Jinzhan that I went to during my first
visit to China as a sculptor in residence. We
ordered the house special – river fish. The fish are
boiled in a hot oil with lots of chile peppers and
some mung beans. We also had a nice salad.
It was then time to make the final preparations to
close down the studio, assuming that I will not a
return until springtime. This meant making sure that
I paid for the coal and stoking in advance. Le Shan
and his wife would be sure there was enough heat so
that the pipes would not burst. There was a
misunderstanding about the amount of money I was to
pay them, but one of the artists acted as an
interpreter and we straightened it out. Everything
was done on a handshake. Then it was off to the
airport for the return flight.
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