Charles Hecht | Writings

Day 5 Friday
August 18, 2006

I slept until almost 9:00 and went down to have breakfast when I got a call from Li Gang inviting me for breakfast at the Artists Inn where they had made up some fresh dumplings. At the inn I helped them create an English translation of the menu because many of the guests were not fluent in Chinese and almost all of the non-Chinese guests understood English.

I then came back to the apartment to dictate out my diary and work on the wood cut. I worked on the new wood cut until approximately 12:30. I then contacted Li Gang and he advised me that the foundry crew (two of them), would be over to work on continuing the patina work. Scrubbing with a wire brush and water so as not to scratch the bronze had still left a small amount of the mold residue. We then got fine sandpaper and sanded out those portions of the sculpture that still contained some of the mold residue in the crevices. When that was done we repatinaed the areas that we had used sandpaper. Originally Li Gang wanted me to use the sandpapered area for accents. I explained to him that I would rather have the sculpture 100% correct and then put whatever accents we wanted, if any, where I wanted them. He agreed to do it this way. That process took almost the entire afternoon. It was over 90 degrees and it was very hot working in the sun. Almost everyone else was taking their afternoon nap.

After that was done I went back to the apartment to work on the new wood cut. In the interim, to celebrate the “lighting of the sculpture” Li Gang had set up an informal banquet and party around that date. It was also to welcome St. Claire Cemin, a sculptor now residing in Paris. There were about 15 people there. We started out by having beer around the sculpture as night settled in and you could see the sculpture change its character as it got darker and the light changed the sculpture. Coral reef’s have a totally different personality at night and I wanted to capture that change in this bronze sculpture.

We had a very good meal. It was my turn to pay. St. Claire and I then had a long discussion about sculptures and finishing and his philosophy was much closer to mine than Li Gang’s. It was interesting hearing the views of an accomplished sculpturer who works in the same medium as I do. Also the Japanese sculptor who was visiting Abraham was there and he described his huge ceramic commission which was being fired while he was in China. It was very interesting and I asked to keep in touch with him so I can get a picture of the finished commission. There are so many ideas swirling around the SAC compound. It is a very active and vibrant arts community.

There was then a discussion as to whether or not my sculpture was masculine or feminine. The consensus was that it was masculine. My viewpoint is that the sculpture was what it is and that’s it.

That afternoon Li Gang had cleaned up the studio so that I could use it for printing the wood cuts tomorrow. The party ended at around 11:00 and I went home and went sound to sleep. Unlike the prior night the mosquitos didn’t bother me. I think there was a particular electronic device that I hooked up that managed to keep the mosquitos away. In any event, I slept much better.

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