Day 4 - June 30

It was an incredibly grey morning. I decided the new type of picture hooks worked better than the cement nails – easier to install and not as messy. I spoke to Peter and when he complained about the damage caused by the cement nails in the gallery, he came over to look at my use of the new type hangers. Since I was going to the store to buy 40 more picture hooks of that type, he asked if I could pick up a 100 for him. Four framing booths later I had 100 hangers and then I went to the sign maker. I sort of knew where it was but was not absolutely sure. After explaining what I want to do, the first place I visited took me to another store, two stores away. I drew a sign to put next to my sculpture on a computer screen and we designed the nameplate and a brief description of the philosophy underlying the creation of this sculpture. We worked everything out in about half an hour.

I then rode my electric bicycle to Zhao’s metal fabricating facility. He was not there, but his wife was. Although she does not speak any English, we worked out when her husband should come to my place to do some repair work on two large sculptures, one in which was to go into the show at 2 Lines later that week. After doing some more work back at the studio on the woodcut and the diary, and hanging the double woodcut, it was time for lunch at the local restaurant in Hegezhuang.

I wanted time to think, so I ate alone and roughed out some ideas for future projects. I then went back to the fabricators. Zhao was there. He took his car and we went back to my place to go over what needed to be done, how it was to be done, who was to do what and the time frame. We went back to his place. I then rode my bicycle to run some more errands. First, I needed to add more money to the cell phone. Second, since that store was right next to Jenny Lou’s, I purchased more wine and cocktail goodies.

It was still very gray, so this was an ideal time to take a nap. When I got up and tried to get on the Internet and there was a problem with my modem. I called China Netcom and was told that the English translators for the repair service/help line were not available after four o’clock. Peter called and told me that his IT guy from France, who was a genius, was freelancing in Beijing.

Frank was working on making Peter’s setup totally wireless. It was raining very hard so Peter, Brian and I drank wine and talked, since straight rum was not to our liking. Peter insisted on going to the Green T Room for dinner. Brian and I objected for two good reasons. Brian’s bank would not let him use an ATM card for the first seven days he was in Beijing and he was cash poor. I thought the food was overpriced and not very good. But, for some reason, Peter wanted to impress Frank so we worked out a deal that we would each pay for what we ate, since Brian and I intended to eat very little.

Frank then came over to my studio to look at my Internet problem before we went to dinner. Two touches to the computer and the modem went totally dead. It was time to go back to Peter’s and go to dinner at the Green T. Room. I had a salad, which was fair but very small. It cost what it would have in the most expensive New York city restaurant. I also had a sausage sandwich which was awful. The miniature baguette was deep fried. It was served with crumbly cheese with no flavor and some spicy sausage. Because the baguette was fried it did not properly work with the spicy sausage. Spicy sausage with crumbly flavorless cheese on fried bread, which was too small to make a sandwich, was a gastronomic disaster. To boot, it cost about the same as an entre at a good New York restaurant. After dinner, I briefly said hello to Yaiko, with whom Peter had been feuding, and then it was time to call it a day.

Day 5 - July 1

Peter came over in the morning to work out details for installation of my sculpture at 2 Lines Gallery in 798. I ran a number of errands to do what I need to do to refurbish the sculptures. I stopped at Gang’s to get the name and address of his friend, who owns the printing press that I previously used for my woodcuts, with whom he was now fighting. The metal fabricator then came over with a worker and started refurbishing and rebuilding two of the large sculptures which had been damaged in moving or by the Beijing weather. I also did more work on the deep sea creature woodcut.

Then I took my electric bicycle to the fabricator, because the workmen had not yet arrived and I was concerned that the sculpture would not be ready to be moved on July 3. Zhao’s car was there, but he was not. I tried to explain to his wife the time constraints, but she did not speak English and did not understand my Chinese. On the way back I took a short-cut through Hegezhuang and I bumped into Yaiko. She was on her way to have her telephone replenished. Since I did not know where to replenish my China Mobile phone in Hegezhuang, I asked if I could accompany her. She got on the bike and showed me where to get the phone replenished. It is within walking distance of my studio, and the place I normally go to is next to Jenny Lou’s, which is three miles away.

I went back home to work further on my woodcut. We decided that we would meet at my studio to go to lunch at the local restaurant. She wanted to talk. I listened. The moral of the story is, have your own studio space and don’t share it with someone else. Peter and Yaiko had apparently worked out the construction amicably, but co-existing in the studio at the same time was not working out for either one.

I worked on the large metal sculptures and the woodcut that afternoon. I also installed the five red glass sculptures in the second bedroom.

In addition, I called Century 21 about leasing my place for the Olympics. My contact had not responded to my prior emails. When I spoke to him he told me that he had left Century 21 over a month ago. He eventually game me the name of someone who could help.

Assuming there were no problems, Peter was going to join me for supper. It began to rain heavily. Peter was stuck at the gallery. Brian’s telephone wasn’t working and this was the perfect evening not to be soaked in another torrential rain. I noticed a taxi on our street dropping someone off, so I rushed out, grabbed the taxi and rode to the local duck restaurant. I brought a book on calligraphy and my sketch pad with me. I had black fungus and a duck wonton soup/stew that was delicious. I was totally stuffed. The rain had stopped, so I decided to take the mile plus walk back to the studio. Just as I got home, it began raining heavily again. I listened to WQXR, did some additional work on the woodcut and spoke to my office and Leslie on Skype.

Day 6 - July 2

When I opened my emails in the morning, the Wangs told me that they wanted to stop by at 9 a.m. They arrived promptly at 9, which was before I had a chance to eat breakfast. He was traveling to the U.S. to move his daughter Xiaoo to New York. They had lots of questions about the availability of suitable apartments, what areas would be appropriate for their daughter, etc. We had lots of tea. He had a bad head cold. After an hour and one-half, we decided that we should end the visit and get him home so that he could feel better. We made arrangements to see each other on Tuesday night, the day before I thought I was to leave.

The fabricator still needed to do some more work on refurbishing the two large sculptures, so I rode to his facility. He was not there. I again explained the time constraints to his wife.

I then went to drop off some shirts at Jenny Lou’s, and get the cell phone replenished again. I came home and did some more work. When no one from the fabricator came by 2:30, and realizing that I needed the sculpture done before they picked up the sculpture for the show on the next day, I went back to the fabricator. Zhao was still not there. I went to locate the worker who had worked on the flag before, and explained why I needed him to come over immediately. He indicated that one of his co-workers was the right person to do what had to be done, which was to reweld certain of the stars which had been knocked off when he stripped the paint before refinishing it. Twenty minutes later and after speaking to the wife, they borrowed Zhao’s car and followed me to the studio. They began working that afternoon and I explained to them that people were coming the following day at 1:00 p.m. to pick the sculpture up to take it to the gallery in 798. They understood the urgency, so we worked together until about 6:00 p.m.

Day 7 - July 3

The workers came back the following morning to continue working on the flag which was going into the show. I needed time to polyurethane the repaired area. I made the decision not to repaint the stars in either the U.S. flag or the Chinese flag, leaving both the color of clean steel. First, it was my way of changing the sculpture to reflect the increased level of communication between China and the U.S. since the sculpture was first created. Second, I thought it looked better. I also hung some more of the glass sculptures. In the second bedroom I hung five blue spermoids with a red spermoid ready to swim in.

I also slightly rearranged the installation in the sitting room off the master bedroom and the third bedroom by adding a blue spermoid swimming into the five red spermoids.

I then spoke to Lao Shan about cleaning up the front yard. He could continue to grow vegetables until I set up the sculpture garden.

It was then time to get dressed to meet Michael Liu for lunch.

I had lunch with Michael Liu near his office. I put on my new suit in the 100 degree weather and went downtown. Although he is in a well-known office building, taxi drivers cannot find it. Eventually we did. We had a nice lunch and I invited him and his daughter to the gallery opening. Then I went to 2 Lines Gallery to supervise the hanging of “A Journey ...”. Because of the configuration of the stairway it took eight people to lift the sculpture. They finally did get it up and, although it was slightly slanted when finally installed, I did not have the heart to ask them to reinstall it to move one side up approximately three inches. It was what it was.

It was getting close to dinner time and Peter was feeling extremely pressed for time setting up the show. I suggested that Lorenzo Pase join me, as I was meeting Laurens Toms for dinner. When I called Laurens he told me that he was working very hard and was cooking pizza at home for a friend of his and whomever I got to join us. Laurens’ directions for the cab driver were excellent, and we arrived at his home. The pizza and wine were good; the discussion was lively. At about 10:00 p.m. everyone was beginning to fade, especially Lorenzo since he had only arrived a few days earlier. When we got outside I asked Lorenzo if he would like to take the 988 bus back to Hegezhuang, or if we should get a cab. He said he would like to take the bus, which we did. It was extremely crowded. When it got to Hegezhuang it made a turn into another subdivision. We got off and walked the mile and one-half back to the studio. Although it was extremely hot that night, the walk was pleasant. I was drenched in sweat, so I took a cold shower before going to sleep.

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