stone yard visit--beijing

just one of several facilities of this size on the premises.  and yes, that's me looking pretty scruffy.  i'm pretty sure i was the hairiest man in china during my stay.  

stone yard visit--beijing

the craftspeople live amongst their work with their families.  at lunch time everyone stops at the same time, sits down and eats together.  never mind the micro powder dusty bits that permeated the environment.  

stone yard--beijing

stone yard visit--beijing

ceiling of one of the warehouse buildings at the stone yard.  what do they hang off of those strings exactly?  and why wasn't anything hanging at the time of these pictures?  strikingly suspicious in my estimation...

stone yard visit

need a location for your next horror slasher film project?

dinner at source in beijing

this was the primary reason for wandering into the hutong.  this place served one of many incredible meals i ate while in china.  i had heard it many times before i went there, but after experiencing it firsthand, i have to agree that "chinese" food in the u.s. is a poor imposter.  i'm not even sure how they can call it that.  i tried ordering sweet and sour pork everywhere i went, only to draw blank stares from waiters.  i wanted to believe it was because i was speaking in english but, in fact, i think i was just asking a stupid question.  and no, they don't have such a thing as fortune cookies in china.  another made up american food item. 

typical hutong courtyard

i'm sure this was dressed up a bit when it was converted to a restaurant, but this is a typical hutong courtyard.  

as seen in a beijing hutong

hutongs are the traditional neighbourhoods built in beijing.  they consist of smaller courtyard residences linked together by a series of glorified alleys.  often the homes are without plumbing and therefore share a neighborhood public bathroom.  i experienced one, and despite the squatting toilet, i found the facilities impressively pristine.  these neighbourhoods are increasingly being torn down to accommodate new roads and high-rise construction.  

the cars parked in the alleyways seemed to all incorporate an esoteric wheel protection system (speculative).  not really clear as to what function the placement of debris against the tires of a car might serve.  i think it must just be a chinese thang.

won ju lim: 24 seconds of silence at ucca

this was a fairly ambitious installation from the korean-american artist, won ju lim.  it was installed at ullens center for contemporary art, a non-profit exhibition space in the 798 district.  born from the collection of the ullens family, the space has been open for only one year and already boasts a strong exhibition history or contemporary chinese and asian art.  www.ucca.org.cn

interesting poster wheat pasted in 798 district.

i was talking to peachy peach about kissy kiss.

photo mural

not sure if this is an image from the recent earthquakes in china, but it's very powerful imagery either way.  

metal rocks!

an xiaotong at long march project

the same artist who created the small historical tableaus also had this 4 sided (pyramid) video projection of claymation type action.  some of the narrative was set in the environments from the sculptural objects and some took place amongst other original stage sets.  they reminded me of william kentridge drawings/films in their form (although scultural rather than drawn) and simmering political commentary.

an xiaotong at long march project

even in china we were inundated by daily news of the stock market going down the shitter.  it was interesting to find a scale model of the trading floor, complete with the famous bull sculpture, in a gallery in beijing.  the artist had several other tableaus that seemed to refer to specific, perhaps esoteric, events or periods of chinese history.  

living quarters near 798

this seemed like some workers quarters/apartments within the 798 district.

construction around 798

i like construction.  i like cranes.  i like china.  (if a and b, then c).  apparently a boutique hotel is being built in the area.  not sure if this is it, or not, but how long before beijing gets its version of soho?

luo brothers

take one part kitchy crafty chinese ceramics and throw in a healthy dose of western consumerism send ups and you get the luo brothers.

luo brothers

luo brothers

Luo Brothers

gallery interior in 798 district

this is the inside of the space with the concrete wavy doorway.  as i may have already mentioned, the spaces are sick.

construction scaffolding in 798

so i like building scenes...

and i like visual grids...

and i like the potential visual energy of impending disaster...

...so you know how when you are walking up broadway from union square up towards 23rd st.  there is a whole block of a new york standard--the union implemented scaffolding.  it's meant to protect the pedestrians passing underneath from being killed by any materials that might fall from the steel scaffolding above, which is being implemented in the surface renovation of some mid-range mid-town skyscraper.  it creates a sidewalk cocoon topped by corrugated steel and you feel relatively safe until you realize that the whole thing is being anchored by some plywood shims evening out the legs of the whole structure.  well in china, all the engineering is based on bamboo poles bound together by twine.  entire skyscrapers are built with a bamboo framework of scaffolding surrounding it from the sidewalk on up.  the chinese are either genius or they realize the exact social and economic cost of a workman in a country of 1.4 bill.

street area in 798 zone

interesting entryway into gallery--real nouveau neanderthal.
these yarn wrapped trees were scattered around 798

venus de milo meets zinedine zidane

unidentified gallery in 798 district

this is one of the smaller gallery spaces we saw and you are only looking at about a quarter of the space.  throughout the 798 the ceilings are soaring and skylights pour in great natural light (despite the generally overcast, smoggy air in beijing).

chinese chicks kick ass!

not to mention the fact that there are so many beautiful women in china--and i don't even have yellow fever.  chinatown in nyc has got nothin' on the ladies of mainland china.  

another massive gallery called "798 space" in the 798 district

note the original industrial tools (green bits on the far right of pic) that have been preserved from days of munitions manufacturing.  the space was designed and built by east german architects and engineers in the bauhaus style.  the light was amazing.

the original propaganda messages can still be seen on the vaulted ceilings.

street scene from 798 arts district

this area still has some of the industrial rawness and edginess that caused it to be a draw to artists and art collectives in the first place.  like most art scenes, this area was initially compelling to artists for its huge spaces and low rents.  nobody wanted it until the artists moved in.  of course, now you have big galleries jockying to get in the game.  seems china ain't immune to the gentrification game.