Day 8 - July 4

It was dark and overcast and I did a number of errands before going to visit Zhu Li and Ye Dongsheng. On the way to their studio I stopped by Torsten Jurells, since Zhu Li was very specific that I should arrive after 10:00. We had tea and he described various alternative techniques to the traditional press for printing woodcuts. The more I listen to other artists, the more I realize that there is a lot to learn by going to art college, living full-time in an art community and being exposed to other mediums rather than the one or two in which you work. I then met with Zhu Li and Dongsheng. Dongsheng was in a one-man show at 3 Artspace in 798. We decided on an outing consisting of going to Dongsheng’s one person show, having lunch and then seeing my work at 2 Lines. 3 Artspace was closed and they felt that my sculpture needed to be in a much larger, open space. I responded that because of the construction at UCCA the curator was concerned that my sculpture would be damaged if it was hung over the front entrance way, which is where it belonged. We decided to put it inside a stairway leading up to the gallery. My philosophy is that getting out of the studio so other people can see it is more important than being fixed to one location with limited traffic. You need to optimize public access, especially since I am not in a position at this time to dictate my whims to curators and galleries.

I We had lunch at 6, which is in 798. I had been there before. The Mao sculpture at the bottom of the stairs is still pink. Peter Lewis was going to join us for lunch but when one of his workers did not show up he had to be in the gallery which would open at 12:00. What a difference in attitude between 2 Lines and 3 Artspace. After lunch, 3 Artspace was still closed, so we wandered around for 30 minutes until it finally opened. His works were nicely presented.

They wanted to return to BIAC where I had left my bicycle in the front yard. I wanted to wander around 798 and to show my works to MAGA Architectural Glass, a Korean gallery that had shown a prior interest. I could not find it since it was apparently no longer in its original space. I had received e-mail from them only two weeks ago, but I finally found out that they recently closed the gallery in 798 and were focusing their efforts on the galleries in Seoul, Korea and Tokyo, Japan. Also, Helen St. Bond’s Gallery had been replaced by a picture framing store. A gallery’s life in 798 can be very short. In the case of Helen’s Gallery which started off like gang busters, it can go out of business quickly.

I had a nice visit with Julie, the owner of Topredart. Fortunately, she decided to spend the afternoon at the front desk rather than her upstairs office so she would meet the people coming in the gallery, as she thought this would encourage more business. She said our meeting was karma. We had a very nice visit and I asked her to come to the show the next day. I then took a taxi back to BIAC. It was raining so I decided to visit Huang and Li Gang who were hanging out in Huang’s studio rather than riding home in the rain. Huang had a photographic print in the Boston High Tea show at 2 Lines, which was hung next to my sculpture in the hallway leading up to the gallery entrance. Lu Zinmong and a group of other artists, including a visiting artist from Seoul Korea, were just hanging out. We decided to go to dinner at a converted stagecoach post office in the Wanjin district, just off the Airport Expressway. Since there wasn’t enough space in the cars, Li Gang, his assistant and I took our bicycles. The restaurant was a series of private buildings surrounding a courtyard which was quite beautiful and interesting. From the outside you had no idea what this was a or what was inside. The food was very spicy. The rainfall was torrential, so we decided to stay until it stopped.

I wanted to take the long way home by myself. Li Gang insisted that I accompany his assistant, because that way would be much shorter and better lit. Therefore, we would be safer. After going about a mile, I could see that the roads on this back way were not in good shape and I wanted to turn back. Li Gang’s assistant told me that the roads would get better. Ho Chi Minh Trail, which is normally extremely crowded, was almost empty. That should have given me a clue. When we got to the railroad underpass there was a car backing up. We went around the car and the water in the underpass looked pretty deep. Rather than waiting, Li Gang’s assistant plunged right in. After hesitating I saw that he was in trouble, but he said it was okay and that we would get through. What a mistake! Three quarters of the way through the underpass electricity on my bicycle went off and I was in filthy water up to my chest. I pushed my bicycle out of the other side of the underpass. He then invited me over to his studio to look at his paintings. Apparently there was an agenda for me taking the back roads to accompany him home. I was furious and respectfully declined. It was 6 miles to my studio. I had to manually pedal this 50 lb behemoth in another torrential downpour, with lightening and thunder. I was not a happy camper but, fortunately, I made it safely home.

The outdoor sculpture lights were off so I knew something was wrong. A number of lights and certain fans would not turn on so I knew I had a problem with the fuse box. The problem would be solved tomorrow. I took a shower because I had no idea of what was in the water on the Ho Chi Minh road and went to bed. Still no hot water so I decided to call Li Kogen tomorrow to fix the problems with the electricity and hot water in the showers.

Day 9 - July 5

In the morning I went with Huang try to get the telephone and camera fixed since the prior night’s road mishap flooded out both. The repair man is located in a tiny booth at the entrance of a large appliance superstore. Three hours later, after making the repair man do it over three times, the cell phone finally worked for more than one outgoing or incoming call. I was admonished not to use the phone very much for the next seven days to give it more time to dry out. I was told the camera could not be fixed.

Professor Wang’s former student called to tell me that the stone for my sculpture garden could not be delivered for two months, since all of the large trucks had been requisitioned by the government for the Olympics. Also, those trucks could only operate on the roads between midnight and 6:00 a.m. Another project was delayed because I could not get the basic raw materials consisting of a special luminous paint in various colors. I have not heard back from the company in Australia or its agent in the U.S. about the whereabouts of the luminescent paint that was supposedly delivered to my studio before I arrived.

I tried to manually pedal my electric bicycle to be repaired. It was like moving a Mack truck. I thought a night to dry out would help. It did just the opposite. I walked to the local restaurant to meet Brian McFarlane for lunch. We discussed his political theories about how the United States lost a terrific opportunity to improve the conditions of the impoverished countries in the Caribbean; e.g. Haiti , the Dominican Republic. He also discussed how the IMF had destroyed the economy in Jamaica.

Lorenzo Pase hitched a ride with me to 798. Among his works is the black marble sculpture in the Federal Plaza, also known as Foley Square, in New York City. First we visited the Contemporary China Art Gallery which had a one-person show by Wendy Po. Her paintings are large almost comic looking characters based on her perception of what she looks like, to make political statements. Also, many of them have insects located someplace in the sculpture.

Lorenzo discussed his belief that the reason Chinese artists use the same form again and again with slight variations is cultural and historical. One of his examples was the Xian Terra Cotta Warriors. Other examples were the large cultural revolutionary paintings and posters showing repetitive images of Mao. We also talked about the use of space and its impact on the sculptor. For example, he perceived the surrounding large buildings in Foley Square as columns surrounding/enclosing his sculpture, whose theme was the slavery of the blacks in the United States. We discussed the use of space as a key component of my coral kelp series.

Lorenzo also told me that he had a dispute with then Mayor Giuliani because he wanted to have the opening for the sculpture in Foley Square on Columbus Day. Lorenzo felt that this was hypocritical since Columbus’ discovery of America began the whole process leading up to slavery in America. Lorenzo prevailed, and the opening was scheduled for another day.

We then wandered over to Sumner Gallery for an opening by a Chinese painter whose theme was utilizing some images of the 12 basic animals in Chinese mythology as a background for images in red, which were mostly women’s panties. All of the backgrounds used identical coloring. Apparently, the red panties and other small images superimposed on the background were a continuation of policies of Mao and the Red Guard. The food was good, but with all the people it was very hot in the gallery. Lorenzo had apparently met the artist the prior day while having coffee at the local café across from the entrance to the 2 Lines Gallery. The artist signed a catalog for me.

We then went to the opening at the 2 Lines Gallery. Michael Liu, his daughter, Merillion, and Professor Wang and his wife, Wang Pei, were already there. Lorenzo’s theory was that artists do not arrive at their own opening until an hour after the commencement time. I felt that I would break tradition, since these people were coming out of courtesy and respect to me. Merillion had never been to an art gallery before and he’d been so focused on his career and he had no experience or comfort with the arts. I explained my philosophy underlying the sculpture’s creation and how I changed this sculpture slightly for the show. In the original version of the sculpture created in 2004, the stars on the American flag were painted white, and the stars on the Chinese flag were painted yellow. But in the last four years the countries had been communicating much better, so by having the stars on both flags now the same color, a polished steel, was to me more appropriate. I also liked the look of the flags without any color on the stars.

Professor Wang suggested a variation in the lightning of my sculpture. I said I would talk to the curator after the show. Also, World Art Magazine, a Chinese owned publication, wanted to photograph the sculpture to use it on the cover of an upcoming issue. Julie of the Topredart gallery also stopped by and advised me that after the completion of the show, she would seriously consider showing it in her gallery. Her gallery is the first gallery on the left by the East gate entry. By putting it outside, it would be an attention-getting magnet to draw people into her gallery. It would be a terrific location for the sculpture. Hopefully she would be in a position to sell it and take any orders for similar sculptures which I do on commission, giving a cut to the gallery. It is a terrific location for a gallery. I got a call from Jim Boyce at about six o’clock saying he was getting a taxi to come over to the show, so I waited for him. Jim clued me in on his future plans to set up an objective wine website for China. He also said he enjoyed the show.

After Jim left, a few of us went to a dinner being thrown by Dongdong Wu who was curating her own show. Her show, which covered images of Buddha dressed in Western or other modern clothes was being shown at a gallery in an old wine factory. We had traditional Thai food with Great Wall Red wine at the Save the People restaurant. Peter had some errands to run after dinner and then wanted to join some people for salsa dancing. After the previous evening’s adventure, I was too tired and emotionally drained to party until two or three o’clock in the morning. I took a taxi home with Torsten and Imka, who got off at BIAC.

Much to my surprise, Leslie was on Skype so I could talk to her and the twins. Initially there was no answer because everyone was playing outside on the swings. However, they called in and Samantha and Lindsey thought it was very cool that they could see me on the video. I gave them a visual of much of the studio. When I pointed at their bedroom, their response was that they were going to sleep with Leslie and me because China was a strange country. My air conditioning was working well, but each time I put on the outside lights I was blowing a fuse. I decided to solve that problem tomorrow.

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