Saturday, December 20, 2008



There is only science and magic.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Dream Night of 13/12/08

People were trying to capture me in order to tattoo my entire body with the line drawings I've been doing. At first I was terrified, but after they captured me and I was waiting in a cell, I became really fond of the idea of being covered in my lines.
haha Maybe this is a sign I need a break from them? Or a tattoo?

Everything is Made Again

This Friday I took part in the exhibition Out of Place, featuring the work of the eight exchange students from this semester. My piece was a live drawing and removal titled Everything is Made Again.
The idea came from a wall drawing that I did in my studio a few months ago. It was during an open studio day, so many people were walking around. I starting doing one of my intricate line drawings on the wall to see how the drawing would look and feel to do in such a big scale. While making the drawing, I was fascinated by people's reactions. Naturally, almost everyone was surprised by my persistence to make such a large and detailed drawing on the wall, but the most interesting thing was their expressions of sadness in the fact that I would have to leave it behind in the studio when I left; that I couldn't take this drawing that I had spent so much time and effort on with me as an object. This sparked my interest in the piece being about temporality. I became extremely interested creating a piece of art that is not only a product of the space that it is in, but also the moment in which it exists. It wouldn't just have to be left in that specific place, but I would take it away myself. The personal construction/creation of the very tedious to be deconstructed/destroyed.

At the opening, I began drawing on the front window with ink at about 6 pm; the show began at 8 and most people arrived by 9.
Since this was the opening, people were very distracted, and some didn't notice my piece at all, even though I was standing at the front of the gallery, next to the entrance (sometimes on a chair) drawing it. I also had a table with a typewriter and a note on it, inviting people to record any thoughts or reactions they wanted to. I thought this would be more successful as it was an informal gallery setting and people are more likely to feel comfortable reacting to and interacting with the work. But disappointingly, not very many people seriously responded to it.
The process of ink on window was very fast, and I finished it around 930. I took a break, had a beer and walked around, pointing to the window when some people asked where my piece was.
Although people told me I should leave it up for people to look at longer, I think this missed the point of the temporariness, so at 10 pm despite objections, I washed it off.
I didn't feel overall like it was very successful, but I guess this was the first time I've done anything like this, and am still very new to the way you present this kind of piece and also the way you get people to participate with your work.
However, I think the most compelling moment of the night, was when I went to wash the drawing off. I went to the bathroom and came back with a tub of water and sponge, a girl I know from school (though we're not very close) came and stood between me and the window and said "What are you doing?"
"Washing it off" I responded, of course.
She shook her head at me in protest, "No, you can't do that. I can't let you do that." She seemed almost offended. This is what I wanted; I immediately instructed her to write on my typewriter.
A lot of people who missed the wash off were surprised that it was gone. Some wished it had stayed up for longer. My friend Christie took a video of some parts. But I guess now I just have to reflect a bit and refine the presentation and invitation so that I can make this a better performance/interactive art for next time. This will be in the BFA Show in March, so I have some time to improve it.
Any feedback you have would be appreciated.

Monday, December 8, 2008

Holy Shit V



Mark Schettler shared this with me: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanotechnology_Fail-Safes Pretty amazing.
Medicine, micro and biotechnology have become increasingly influential in my thoughts and work. I've also noticed, in an effort of humbling ourselves, we state how small and insignificant we are in the "grand scale" of things, that is in the scale of this massive universe we are part of. But there are these particles and processes and systems thousands and millions of times smaller than ourselves and our own, things that are part of us that go unseen and unnoticed in their smallness; absolutely not in their insignificance. So it seems inconsiderate to cast off our importance in this world just because we are not "the largest" or "the smallest" piece or system, because in a scale of infinite measure there is no such thing anyway. We are here too.

Actually, this is what I'm interested in for my graduate thesis.

Monday, December 1, 2008

Just an Update


Here's another silkscreen. Like the one posted before, but this wont be going in the book, just a print on its own on a single sheet of rice paper. Sorry it's a shitty image. Book is coming along slowly but surely, finished printing half the text, but the prints take a while because of all the preparation involved.

I'm very busy lately- 12 Dec is our exhibition in Das Bilt (really amazing little space) the student run gallery of HKU, 15 Dec the final evaluation. By Friday, I also have to write a response for my theory class concerning the article Art in the Age of Biopolitics (by Boris Groys) which is actually very relevant to my work at the moment. A brief writing on my art taking the form of performance up soon.
The BFA Graduating Exhibition/Reading applications (in March and May) are due soon as well. I can't believe we already have to decide what we want, I have an idea, but it's still so early. I'll let you know soon when the date soon if you'd like to come.