I've always thought that Shanghai has been purposely romantised because of its unforgettable yet vivid colonial past. A stereotype comes to mind when talking about Shanghai's past, is the lifestyle in foreign concession in the 1920s to 1930s (similar to the 'Roaring Twenties' in the West): the Jazz scene; the song 'Ye Shanghai' (below second video); Eileen Chang's beautiful, sorrowful love stories; 'The Blue House' in the family life of Shanghai; Ang Lee's controversial film, 'Lust, Caution' ... Adding romance to this city, are the poignant love stories of famous female artists including Eileen Chang (张爱玲, writer), Hu Die (胡蝶, actress/singer), Lu Xiaoman (陆小曼, painter), Pan Yuliang (潘玉良, painter), Ruan Lingyu (阮玲玉, actress) and Zhou Xuan (周璇, actress/singer), for whom you would feel sympathetic after knowing about the stories of their lives. 

Life in foreign concession in the 1920s

Ye Shanghai, Zhou Xuan

Rose, Rose, I love you, Yao Lee

Lust, Caution trailer

Left: Guang Sheng Hang adverting, 1931;
Right: Yin Dan Shi Lin advertising, 1930s

Until I spent my three days in Shanghai, I realised that to use the word 'purposely' is probably not accurate, or could be totally wrong. Anyhow, I have to admit, that when you are walking on the streets of Shanghai, breathing the cold air, it is impossible not to be romantic - the feeling is unexplainable but there is some poetic, spiritual quality about this city that makes it so romantic and lovable, that you only wish you could be in love with someone and wander in the city day and night (like the walking lovers in Takeshi Kitano's film, Dolls).

It could be that romantic. But in my reality, the three days of walking alone in my black canvas converse sneakers resulted a huge corn on my left foot, leaving a bubbly spot on this trip but gave me enough inspiration and encouragement to discover more about the world. Below are some interesting buildings in the foreign concession, a fascinating area that reflects the up and low of, not only Shanghai's cityscape but its culture and history. Most of the information was translated from Chinese by myself. Skip it if you think my translation is dull. Otherwise, enjoy.

French Concession: Xu Hui / Lu Wan / Jing An (徐汇 / 卢湾 / 静安)

It is too complicated to talk about the French Concession itself. For the area's history visit Wikipedia, Google or the library.

Cathay Mansion (华懋公寓), built in 1925-1929

Cathay Mansion was built by Sir Victor Sassoon, the fourth generation of the Sassons, one of the world's most wealthiest families who had a merchant empire spanning the continent of Asia. After moving to Shanghai in 1923, Sir Victor Sassoon brought to the city his flamboyant costume parties and greyhound racing; opened more than 30 companies; and constructed many properties including some of the city's landmark buildings, such as Broadway Mansions, Sassoon House, Palace Hotel, Cathay Cinema, Hamilton Building and Metropole Hotel, dominating Shanghai's business and real estate market in the early 20th century. 

Originally the stylish Art Deco Cathay Mansions was a hotel for English dignitaries. Later on it came under the government's control and was renamed 'Jin Jiang Hotel', appointed to be the hotel for the world's political leaders including Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, Fidel Castro, Zhou Enlai and Richard Nixon. Address: No.59, Maoming Nan Road, Lu Wan District, Shanghai. 

Left: Cathay Mansion, Shanghai. Photo by Danling Xiao @ The Flying Room
Right: Cathay Mansion laundry, 1930s

Mingfu Library (明复图书馆), built in 1931

Mingfu Library was home to the Science Society of China, a major science organisation in the modern history of China. It was also the birth place of the organisation's first publication, Science, the most authoritative academic journal in China in the 1930s. Although the interior of the library is quite simple, the exterior adopts a highly decorative style in both geometric and floral patterns. Address: No.235, Shanxi Nan Road, Luwan District, Shanghai.

Mingfu Library, Shanghai. Photo by Danling Xiao @ The Flying Room

Left: Mingfu Library, Shanghai. Photo by Danling Xiao @ The Flying Room
Right: Science magazine Vol. 1 No. 1, 1915, published by Science Society of China

Pei Mansion (贝轩大公馆), built in 1934

Pei Mansion was owned by the family of Pritzker Prize winning architect, I.M.Pei (贝聿铭, most famously known for his Louvre Pyramid in Paris). Pei Mansion is in Art Deco style but decorated with Chinese ornaments, such as dragon, coin, and Chinese characters. The garden design drew inspiration from the classical gardens of Suzhou, featuring a constructed landscape of natural scenery of rocks, hills and ponds filled with Japanese Coy. Pei Mansion is now run as a hotel. Address: 170 Nanyang Rd, JingAn District, Shanghai. 

Pei Mansion, Shanghai

Orthodox Church of Our Lady Hall, Shanghai (东正教圣母大堂), built in 1932

If the purpose of the round structure and floor-leveled iconography in Orthodox church architecture is to communicate to the soul the idea that 'the church is not so much pointing the way, but actually is heaven on earth', you would feel the closest to heaven when you encounter the Orthodox Church of Our Lady Hall on the street of Shanghai. Featuring five domes in peacock blue, the building is a classical Russian Orthodox church design, if not strictly the same. Initially painted with iconography, the murals had been covered in wall paints since the Cultural Revolution and was restored in 2007. Address: No.55 Xinle Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai.

Orthodox Church of Our Lady Hall, Shanghai. Photo via Flickr

Moller Villa (马勒住宅), built in 1936

The Scandinavian fairy tale house Moller Villa adds mysterious, dreamy quality to Shanghai's cityscape. Owned by Eric Moller, a Swedish shipping magnate who made his fortune in Shanghai by winning large sums at the horse races, Moller Villa was designed based on the castle Moller's youngest daughter had in her dream. The villa was also known for its ten years of construction - it is said that Moller kept adding bits and bobs to the buildings, because he was told that his fortune would befall him once the construction was finished.

Moller Villa consists six buildings with a total of 106 rooms. In distinctive Scandinavian style, the villa refers to ship design with interior resembles the structure of a ship; and finishes with Chinese touches, including Chinese glazed tiles at the top of the enclosing walls, Chinese antiques and decorations. Moller Villa is now run as a boutique hotel. Address: No.30 Shanxi Nan Road, Jing'an District, Shanghai. See more photos here.  

Moller Villa, Shanghai

Hungarian-Slovak architect László Hudec is one of the most important figures in Shanghai's architecture history. Active in Shanghai from 1918 to 1945, the Siberian prison camp escapee who jumped from a train near the Chinese border and made his way to Shanghai, Hudec has designed at least 37 buildings in Shanghai, including the city's most notable structures such as Park Hotel, Residence of Wu Tongwen (known as 'Green House') and Avenue Apartments, varied in different styles from Neoclassicism to Art Deco to Modernism. Below are a few Hudec's buildings that show the architect's versatility and artistic contributions to Shanghai's cityscape.

Former Residence of Ding Guitang (丁贵堂公馆), built in 1932

The former residence of Ding Guitang was the residence for the head of China's Custom Service, which by the time had been controlled by the British and French colonists for decades. During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Chinese Ding Guitang took over the position and moved into the house. When the Japanese troops won the victories in Shanghai, Ding was living in this house under the Japanese's surveillance before escaping to Chongqing. 

The symmetrical three-storey house is in traditional Spanish house style, featuring cream stucco exterior walls, red tile roof, arched porches and windows. Designed by László Hudec. Address: No.45, Fenyang Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai.    

Former Residence of Ding Guitang, Shanghai

Former Residence of Wu Tongwen / Green House (吴同文住宅), built in 1937

Once considered the most luxurious home in the Far East, the former residence of the Old Shanghai's 'Pigment Magnate', Wu Tongwen, was László Hudec's last masterpiece in Shanghai. Covered in green titles (thus also known as the 'Green House'), this modern house is characterised with streamlined curves and was predicted to still be at the forefront in 50 years from when it was built, promised by Hudec to Wu in 1937.

Seeing it as his 'Cherry Orchard', Wu vowed that he would never leave the Green House and in 1966, when the Communist Party was collectivising all private properties, Wu committed suicide with his wife in this house. Besides the Pei Mansion (mentioned above), I.M. Pei, Wu's nephew, also spent his childhood in the Green House, which might be another early inspiration for his legendary career. Address: No.333, Tongren Road, Jing'an District, Shanghai. 

Former Residence of Wu Tongwen / Green House, Shanghai

Avenue Apartments (爱文公寓), built in 1932

Opposite to the Green House is another design of László Hudec, who by the time could be in search of a new style under the influence of the modernist movement in Europe. Moving forward from his already known I.S.S Normandies Apartment (1924) and Estrelia Apartment (1926), Hudec came up with Avenue apartments with an emphasis on simplicity and functionality. Address: No.304, Tongren Road, Jing'an District, Shanghai.

Avenue Apartments, Shanghai. Photo via here

Nanjing Road / The Bund (南京路 / 外滩)

Park Hotel (国际饭店), built 1934

A prime example of Art Deco building, Park Hotel is Hudec's most iconic piece among the works he had created in Shanghai. Strongly inspired by the American Radiator Building, it embraced the straight lines of Art Deco skyscrapers, featuring dark brown exterior walls and ladder-shaped floors at the top of the building from Level 15. Park Hotel remained the tallest building in Asia until 1952. 

Interestingly, the building was rumoured to be Chairman Mao's favourite, however, most of the interior was deliberately changed by the Communists in the 1950s because the building's bourgeois style was against the Party's ideology. Since the 1980s, some of the Art Deco features have been restored and returned to the original designs. Address: No.170, Nanjing Xi Road, Shanghai.

Park Hotel (second left building) on Nanjing Xi Road, Shanghai

If Park Hotel alone shows a strong influence of Western culture in the Old Shanghai, The Bund must be an overwhelming symbol of Western imperialism, that forcefully throws the colonialists' ambition for power and money right in your face. The Bund's history is too complicated to be talked about here (just Google!). In short, The Bund had been a British settlement and later a British/American settlement between 1844 and 1943. It was a major financial hub of East Asia and attracted many banks, businesses and newspapers from the West to settle in Shanghai. On the dark side, it was a place for opium trading, prostitution and gangster killing.

I guess being in a place like The Bund, any Chinese would probably feel the strongest connection to his/her root - although I was born half century after the colonisation, miles away from this city, I still had a very intense, uncomfortable and sad feeling about The Bund when I was surrounded by those almost alien-made Neoclassical buildings that set foot in my motherland almost a century earlier than me. Therefore I took a few snaps and quickly left the area. Below I will only feature Peace Hotel, of which the name has been borrowed for the title of a Chow Yun-fat (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)'s film, a classic Hong Kong heroic bloodshed genre film set in 1930s' Shanghai. 

The Bund, Shanghai in the 1930s

Peace Hotel (和平饭店), built 1929 

Owned by Sir Victor Sassoon (mentioned above), Peace Hotel consists of two buildings, Sassoon House (Cathay Hotel) and Palace Hotel, separated by the busy Nanjing Road. Sassoon House adopts a distinctive Art Deco style with a 19-meter dark-green pyramidal copper top that has been a prominent symbol of The Bund. The south wing, Palace Hotel adopts a Renaissance style and was merged with Sassoon House to form Peace Hotel in 1965. 

Title 'Peace Hotel', Chow Yun-fat's heroic gangster film set in 1930s' Shanghai, could be a good watch if you want to learn about China in the old days but not so much about old glitzy glamour of The Bund. Watch trailer below. 

Sassoon House (North wing of Peace Hotel), Shanghai

Peace Hotel film trailer

Left: buildings on Yuanmingyuan Road, The Bund; Right: Anpei Foreign Firm
Photo by Danling Xiao @ The Flying Room

Left: building in The Bund; Right: Anpei Foreign Firm
Photo by Danling Xiao @ The Flying Room

Left: Industrial Bank on Yuanmingyuan Road, The Bund
Right: Everbright Bank entrance in maintenance, on Daming Road, The Bund
Photo by Danling Xiao @ The Flying Room

Building in The Bund
Photo by Danling Xiao @ The Flying Room

Left: Manhattan Business Hotel; Right: hanging clothes
Photo by Danling Xiao @ The Flying Room

Xintiandi (新天地)

Before knowing the trendy shops and restaurants in Xintiandi, one should learn about this interesting residential buildings called 'shikumen buildings', which have been traditionally resided by Shanghainese since the 1860s. Shikumens, meaning 'stone gate house', are two-or-three-storey structures resembling Anglo-American terrace houses or townhouses, with high brick walls enclosing a narrow front yard that was designed to suit the local Chinese's living habits. There were once 9000 shikumen-style buildings in Shanghai, comprising 60% of the total housing stock of the city. These buildings are also famous for being homes and studios for many leading figures of modern Chinese literature in the 1920s and 1930s. 

Today many shikumen-style houses have been replaced with high-rise apartments - inevitably the same destiny like many other historical buildings in China. Therefore it was quite delightful to see Xintiandi, a 2001 re-development project that reconstituted traditional shikumen houses and transformed the area to a successful car-free shopping, dining and entertainment district. The sad thing about the project is probably the displacement of 3,500 Shanghainese families - again that is another thing way too complicated to talk about in this post. Let's just enjoy all the beautiful details of the architecture for now.

Shikumen houses in Xintiandi, Shanghai

Left: interior of a private club in Xintiandi, Shanghai
Right: Shanghai Tang in Xintiandi, Shanghai
Photo by Danling Xiao @ The Flying Room

Shikumen houses in Xintiandi, Shanghai

Fragments of Shanghai is composed of three sections: Architecture Part 1, Architecture Part 2 and Arts. Stay tuned for the second part of Shanghai's architecture. 

Like us on Facebook or RSS our Blog to keep updated with our products and discovery in art and design industry.

First of all, naming this section 'Shops' but not 'Shopping' implies that this post does not encourage you to burn a hole in your pocket in this world-class 'shopping heaven' (as said in almost every travel brochure), but to learn about the energy, creativity and diversity in Hong Kong's retail scene, which I always find fascinating. In this post, I will walk through the most extravagant window displays in luxury stores at The Landmark; the most unique locally/internationally made designs in shops in Sheung Wan and Wan Chai; I will also share a few places where you can hunt some beautiful treasures like Stella McCartney jackets and Comme des Garçons dresses for half price. Well, just remember to bookmark this post for your next visit in Hong Kong. List of shops can be found at the end of this post. Enjoy!

Central

After a stroll in Central, being passively bombarded with mega shops and advertising, my mental exhaustion magically turned into some sumptuous hallucination - shops decorated in sparkling diamonds, fish covered in gold leaf jumping up and down in the sea of people. In contrast, I asked Sceroz how she felt, she told me about her usual Zen-like thought, "They look transparent to me. I don't think they exist." HA! Either way Sceroz and I seem to be sheltered by protective bubbles, watching the crowds' enthusiasm for limited edition handbags and the latest perfumes. Amazing.

Inside my bubble, I do love wandering in this lavish retail forest (I have to admit sometimes I do make a purchase or two, well, I have a door in my bubble). With boutiques of the world's top high-fashion brands like Celine, Kenzo, Balenciaga residing in the area, Central has the best window display and shop designs in Hong Kong. The best place to visit is The Landmark, the swankiest mall known as a shopping destination for almost 200 prestigious brands and the UK luxury department store, Harvey Nichols. Besides the collections, which would make you feel that you are reading a pop-up fashion magazine (half of which is filled up with ads from these brands), the window display design is understatedly beautiful and sculptural in the shops at The Landmark. If I ever hit the jackpot, I wouldn't mind burning a few holes in my pocket just to purchase that marble screen at Celine (below row 1, left) and the rose gold snake at Bottega Veneta (below row 2, left) - that will be the true ultimate shopping experience. The Landmark: 15 Queen's Road Central, Central, Hong Kong.

Just around the corner near Harvey Nichols, Ice House Street, where I.T's shops including Comme des Garçons, Ann Demeulemeester, Gareth Pugh, Isabel Marant, Mainson Martin Margiela and an I.T flagship store, is another of my favourite spots in Hong Kong - especially the I.T flagship store, which shares the basement space with Comme des Garçons, is like a labyrinth of avant-garde clothes taken care by ultra-stylish and friendly staff. If you are not familiar with Hong Kong's retail scene, I.T is the largest fashion chain in Hong Kong, carrying apparel from both international and local brands. Shops (in Hong Kong and perhaps mainland China) of the brands mentioned above, plus Fred Perry, A.P.C, Junya Watanabe, Hysteric Glamour, mercibeaucoup, Tsumori Chisato, A BATHING APE, Anna Sui, are all brought to Hong Kong by I.T! Moreover, the company also owns in-house brands including izzue, b+ab and :CHOCOOLATE. --> Hashtag: #Monopoly and #SuperSmartHongkers (really can't think of any other comments here). 

Left: Celine, Central; Right: I.T, Central
Photo by Danling Xiao @ The Flying Room

Left: Bottega Veneta, Central; Right: Fendi, Central
Photo by Danling Xiao @ The Flying Room

Left: Harvey Nichols, Central; Right: Rupert Sanderson, Central
Photo by Danling Xiao @ The Flying Room

Sheung Wan  

Similar to the galleries in the area (see Fragments of Hong Kong, 1/3), shops in Sheung Wan present themselves in a perfect balance between the Eastern culture and the Western influence, with a strong focus on product design, mixing with eccentric contemporary and vintage apparel from both international and local designers. My usual shop-visiting routine: start it with Gough Street, where one of the best home decor/furniture shops, Homeless, and the Florence/Hong Kong-based vintage fashion shop, Opera Opera, are located; go uphill via Aberdeen Street and visit Bang Bang 70's, Mushroom, Mustache; check out the shops on the way to Tung Street, where my favourite shop/gallery, Signed-by and ilivetomorrow are located.

My friend asked me once what I would curate if I was a curator. I thought about it for a minute and answered, 'Curiosities. Curating curiosities". Curiosities about anything, which makes it an impossible task, because there are too many things I don't know about and I will need a gallery space as vast as the universe. Owner of Signed-by, ilivetomorrow, and an architecture and design firm called '[dAZ[', Nicola Borg-Pisani probably has the same ambition as mine, and he has been actually building his galaxies for more than 10 years. Dedicated to experimental design and fashion, ilivetomorrow is a gallery exhibiting artworks of its collaboration with designers and artists, while Signed-by serves as a two-storey shopfront for the gallery, featuring design pieces on the ground floor, and selective fashion garments and accessories on the second floor. At the Beijing Design Week 2011, Nicola talked about the collaborations:

Our collaboration with designers, craftsmen and manufacturers is based on the synchronisation of past, present and future ... ilivetomorrow proposes to experience the production of fictional (not narrative) 'objects' and 'environment'. (via Core77)

ilivetomorrow collaborates with designers and artists, including Hong Kong design collective Closer by The Cave (Boltie bench, below row 1, right), Taiwanese designer Pili Wu (Loop chair, below row 2, left), Chinese designer duo Feng Feng + Biao Biao, French artist Freserique Morrel (tapestry taxidermy, below row 3, left), and Canadian design studio Molo; carries fashion brands including ffiXXed (below row 4), The Daughter K (below row 5), CCChu (below row 6), Digest Design Workshop, Anntian and Pete Sorensen. Signed-by, ilivetomorrow: 43-45 Tung Street, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong.

Left: 2by4 by Jesse Mc Lin and Obsessed magazine, at Signed-by
Right: Boltie bench by Closer by The Cave, at Signed-by
Photo by Danling Xiao @ The Flying Room

Left: Loop Chair by Pili Wu, at Signed-by
Right: Chair made from plastic at Signed-by
Photo by Danling Xiao @ The Flying Room

Left: Tapestry taxidermy by Freserique Morrel, at Signed-by
Right: Polka, Malwina Antoniszczak, at Signed-by

ffiXXed, Spring/Summer 2013
image via ffiXXed

The Daughter K, Autumn/Winter 2012
image via The Daughter K

CCChu, Autumn/Winter 2012, Nazunia & Stone
image via CCChu

Left: G.O.D, Central; Right: Aesop, Sheung Wan
Photo by Danling Xiao @ The Flying Room

Left: PLAY, Sheung Wan; Right: Konzepp, Sheung Wan
Photo by Danling Xiao @ The Flying Room

Wan Chai

I personally think that there is a certain kind of aesthetics shared by the shops in Wan Chai (I could be wrong): minimalistic, contemporary, less eccentric but more humble than the shops in Central and Sheung Wan - probably for people who would read Monocle ... and maybe that's why Monocle's shop is located in the area? Being a loyal reader of the magazine, I almost felt that it was a duty to pay the shop a visit when I was in town. A few other cool shops to visit include Kapok on both St Francis Yard and Sun Street (below row 2, left), where you can find the latest Mismo collection and the most handsome leather strap watches from Uniform Wares and Junghans; Architectz Factory (below row 3, left), of which the owner sources on-trend and vintage products directly from Japan and would always sell interesting pieces she found oversea in a limited amount; Chen Mi Ji (below row 3, right) and nlostnfound (below row 4) for authentic, local vintage collectables and antique furniture. I don't normally recommend restaurants, but if you are in the area, do visit Xi Yan Sweets - I think they have the most delicious Tantan-men (Dandan noodles) in the world.

Left: Carven, Wan Chai; Right: Lighting display in Wan Chai
Photo by Danling Xiao @ The Flying Room

Left: Kapok, Wan Chai; Right: 45rpm studio, Wan Chai
Photo by Danling Xiao @ The Flying Room

Left: Architectz Factory, Wan Chai; Right: Chen Mi Ji, Wan Chai
Photo by Danling Xiao @ The Flying Room

Left: nlostnfound, Wan Chai
Photo by Danling Xiao @ The Flying Room

The other must-mentioned shop is Liger on Pak Sha Road in Causeway Bay - for the experience of a wild, eye-opening ready-to-wear fashion adventure, I recommend that you should pay a visit when you are in town. Founded by Hong Kong's style icon and trendsetter Hilary Tsui, and stylist Dorothy Hui, Liger is a reflection of Tsui's fashion foresight and unusual taste, mixing with selective high fashion labels and niche finds that are probably two years ahead of the current trend. As Sussie Bubble recalled her first encounter with Liger, she said it was 'a breath of fresh air in the sea of Hong Kong's monotonous fashion retail scene'. For years Tsui has been sharing her daily outfits mixing with garments and accessories from Liger on her blog, which I find a very interesting watch too. Liger: 1/F No.11 Pak Sha Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong.

Hilary Tsui, image via Liger

Although Hong Kong is flooded with millions of visitors every year, most of whom is probably mainland Chinese shoppers, it is still a city of overabundance of goods because of its rapid pace. It is not healthy for a city but maybe not too bad for bargain-hunters. Horizon Plaza in Ap Lei Chau is home to furniture and fashion outlets, including the three upscale retailers in Hong Kong - I.T, Lane Crawford and Joyce. It is not too hard to find some 50% off goodies from brands such as Comme des Garçons, Mainson Martin Margiela and others alike. Horizon Plaze: 2 Lee Wing Street, Ap Lei Chau, Hong Kong.

The best thing about Hong Kong's retail scene is its diversity - you can easily get a five dollars PVC transparent raincoat from the local markets (normally a 4-5 storey building consists of a wet market, grocery and food stalls), or purchase the latest Burberry Prorsum bright metallic trench coat at the flagship store in Causeway Bay or Central. You can also buy your favourite cotton and silk from Sum Shui Po's fabric markets and make your own garments or furniture covers. Because of the accessibility and energetic environment, one can be much more creative and inspired in his/her style, but it can also be very easy to fall into the trap of consumerism. And here is the old shopping wisdom: Buy only what you need and love.

The first time I travelled to Hong Kong was with my parents in 1996, a year before the British government handed this 'borrowed child' over to its mother, an interesting time in Hong Kong. Despite of the social/financial instabilities before the handover and the later Asian Financial Crisis, in a child's eye, all I saw was the glitz and glamour: white-collars with back-combed hair, wearing Armani suits and Rolex watches, working in shinning 50-storey skyscrapers overlooking Victorian Harbour, with luxury flagship stores lining up in shopping malls right downstairs where they could easily get retail therapy even during lunch break. Not to mention dad's friend's two little daughters were dressed in trendy polka dot skirts and matching headbands, while I was in my orange Garfield sports suit, smiling like an infant in our photo.

After visiting this city for almost 10 times in my life, if I still say that glitz and glamour is all Hong Kong has, I should let myself be flattened and processed into a piece of fake Louis Vuitton monogram leather (the cruelest punishment I could make myself suffer here). The most interesting thing about Hong Kong is its unique history: 100 years of British colonisation (1841–1941); 4 years of Japanese occupation (1941-1945); 52 years of being a British Dependent Territory (1945–1997); and now, 50 years of self-autonomy after reverting to chinese sovereignty - all make it a highly heterogeneous society, in its unique, 'Hong Kong' style. That says in this densely packed land of a population of seven million people plus 48 million visitors a year (2012), the Hongkers seem to have the strongest survival skills in this concrete jungle than anyone else in the world. A slow person like myself would probably be flattened and processed into something if I had to live in Hong Kong. But I do love this city a lot. As I often get asked the first question every time I return from Hong Kong, 'did you do a lot of shopping?', I think I should write a comprehensive article about Hong Kong in my now kidult's eye - shopping is good in Hong Kong, but there are things that are more interesting than shopping over there too. Below and the next two posts are things I would like to share with you about Hong Kong, sectioned into Arts & Architecture, and Shops. Enjoy.

Architecture ↔ Building 

In an interview with Domus Magazine, Japanese architect Isozaki Arata differentiated the terms 'architecture' from 'building': 'architecture' is the result of the construction/deconstruction cycle that evolves into a new level; 'building' is unchanging structure. Based on Arata's theory, I think Hong Kong's cityscape is something between 'architecture' and 'building'. It is a hectic city which never stops new building construction and land reclamation. The craziest thing I find is that, they can easily knock down a 1990s' 20-storey building on a crowded street in the CBD, set up their famous scaffold and put up a 40-storey new building on the same spot within a year or maybe less. But does this evolve into a new level in an architectural/social sense? Not necessary I guess. It is perhaps just another 20 more storeys worth of money to make. (note: I am not here to comment on anything, just talk about the fact.)

An old saying in Hong Kong, inch land inch gold (寸土寸金), implies how limited and expensive the land is. According to Hong Kong Journal, “Over 90% of Hong Kong families today live in homes smaller than 700 square feet (65 square metres, via greenopolis via Hong Kong Journal)", yet the average cost per square meter (to buy an apartment in city centre) is as high as approx. AU$18,000, compared to the median salary, approx. AU$51,000 per year (via numbeo and PayScale). Not to mention the high retail rents (approx. AU$1,900 per square foot in 2012) and rapid percentage increase (32% per year in prime locations in 2011, via Bloomberg). 

This is only the tip of the iceberg of Hong Kong's complex social and economical problems. Very sad facts. But I think it also contributes to Hong Kong's interesting cityscape today: there are famous skyscrapers since the 1970s - Palmer & Turner's Jardine House, Foster and Partners's HSBC Building, I. M. Pei's Bank of China Tower and the 118-storey International Commerce Centre, but there are also tong lau (唐樓), 2-to-4-storey tall apartments built in late 19th century to the 1960s; there are eyesore match-box-like building blocks, but there are also stimulating floods of purple and pink painted on buildings. On contemporary high-rise buildings, there are always outrageously massive advertising, screaming from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island (below Zegna ad for example). In contrast, the older buildings seem to have the Zen-like humbleness that is crafted to fit in this hyper-crowded environment.

Left: Tsim Sha Tsui; Right: Wan Chai
Photo by Danling Xiao @ The Flying Room

Left: Sheung Wan; Right: Causeway Bay
Photo by Danling Xiao @ The Flying Room

Visual Arts

You may have heard about Hong Kong being Asia's art hub, possibly after recent years of success of Art HK, an international art fair founded in 2007 (will be replaced by the first Hong Kong edition of Art Basel in 2013), and a flock of world's A-list contemporary art galleries setting foot in Admiralty, Central and Sheung Wan, including Sotheby’s newly opened art gallery, Jay Jopling's White Cube (UK), Emmanuel Perrotin's Gallerie Perrotin (France), Larry Gagosian's Gagosian Gallery (US), to name but a few. However, interestingly, an 'art hub' as such rarely holds any major exhibition for public audiences and in fact gives quite minimal support to local galleries/artists. In Art Plus (a free art magazine distributed by Art Map)'s February 2013 issue, Editor-in-Chief Anthea Fan pointed out that independent local art galleries in Hong Kong have already been eaten up by international art fairs and galleries. This glorified title seems to be part of the strategy of the Western elitists' contemporary art gold rush in Asia, rather a real art and culture centre for all.

Despite of the smell of money and blood (from fish-eating), the other side of the coin actually gives us a very interesting perspective to understand Hong Kong's art scene. Thanks to the leading galleries for bringing works of the big names in modern/contemporary art - Jeff Koon, Damien Hirst, Yayoi Kusama, Takashi Murakami, Anish Kapoor, Frank Stella, Roy Lichtenstein, Zhang Xiaogang, Yue Minjun. An art walk from Central to Shueng Wan, lined up by Wellington Gallery, Opera Gallery, Karin Weber Gallery, Sundaram Tagore Gallery, Para Site and Galerie NeC, featuring art across all mediums from Hong Kong local artists, Chinese contemporary artists and international artists, could be one of the most inspirational and eye-opening art experiences you would ever have.

Besides gallery works, Hong Kong is actually full of talented artists, whose works appear mostly in publication, advertising and commodity (another interesting fact of Hong Kong). A few quite active talents are: Little Thunder (門小雷), SiuHak (小克), Yeung Hok Tak (楊學德), Graphic Airlines, Rex Koo, Cowrice, Stickyline, Ho Sin Tung. And don't forget that two of our designers, Wendy Lau and Furze Chan, and our co-pilot, Sceroz Chan, are also from Hong Kong too!

Founded in 1995 by Karin Weber, Karin Weber Gallery (above left) showcases works of both emerging and mid-career artists, through carefully curated exhibitions and regular art fairs both local and overseas (words via website). Karin Weber Gallery is one of my favourites because of Karin's diverse, unconventional taste in her collection, of which some works she introduced me to were about politics and multiculturalism (eg. above left, Malaysian artist Charles Cham's painting). Karin also works on art projects with fashion and graphic designers in Hong Kong. Address: G/F, 20 Aberdeen Street, Central, Hong Kong.   

Street Art

West Kowloon Bamboo Theatre

"山不是山只是我一時的奢望/無解的命中/總得把心中的一座座山/修煉/直到成為讓我迷失的森林/在抱緊無動於衷的枯枝後覺醒那是/一株菩提"

Translation: Wishing the mountain was not mountain is only my extravagant hope at a moment / In a life without any solution / I always have to refine every mountain in my heart / to a forest, in where I would get lost / When I wake up after hugging an apathetic, withered branch, I realise that it is / a Bodhi tree (translated by Danling Xiao)

- We don't have Fuji Mountain (我們沒有富士山), Ten Directions One Thought (十方一念), Albert Leung (林夕)

Links

Central/Sheung Wan

White Cube whitecube.com
Gagosian Gallery www.gagosian.com
Galerie Perrotin www.perrotin.com
Edouard Malingue Gallery www.edouardmalingue.com
Schoeni Art Gallery on Old Bailey www.schoeniartgallery.com
New Gallery on Old Bailey www.ngoob.com
Wellington Gallery www.wellingtongallery.com.hk
Zee Stone Gallery www.zeestone.com
Opera Gallery www.operagallery.com
EC Gallery galleryec.com
Sundaram Tagore Gallery www.sundaramtagore.com
Karin Weber Gallery www.karinwebergallery.com
Blindspot Gallery www.blindspotgallery.com
Para Site www.para-site.org.hk
The Cat Street Gallery www.thecatstreetgallery.com
Galerie NeC www.galerienec.com
Sin Sin Fine Art www.sinsin.com.hk
Identity Art Gallery www.identityartgallery.com

1aspace (To Kwa Wan)  www.oneaspace.org.hk
Videotage (To Kwa Wan) videotage.org.hk
Artify Gallery (Wan Chai) artifygallery.com

Fragments of Hong Kong is composed of two sections: Arts & Architecture; Shops.

In Claes Oldenburg's 1961 I Am For An Art... Manifesto, the master stated, "I am for an art that is political-erotical-mystical, that does something other than sit on its ass in a museum." Oldenburg's gargantuan, realistically proportioned sculptures of mundane objects, set in cityscape, appear as if they have been accidentally dropped from Brobdingnag (the continent where the giants live) from Gulliver's Travels. 

Left: Dropped Cone, Claes Oldenburg & Coosje van Bruggen, 2001
Neumarkt Galerie, Cologne, Germany
Right: Spoonbridge and Cherry, Claes Oldenburg & Coosje van Bruggen, 1988
Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis

The idea of creating an art that "does something other than sit on its ass in a museum" was revolutionary back in the 1960s. For that rebellious desire to be out there and expressing oneself, it is quite reasonable to say that Oldenburg's works and Sydney-based artist/sculptor, Will Coles's street sculptures do share similarity. As Coles says, "it is the best way to stay relatively free, often skint but free from others dictating what, who and how your work is seen."

I am not trying to compare the two artists here, but it is still very interesting to see how work of art can be so different from different minds in different times. As a pop art artist, Oldenburg embraced the commodities of materialist culture, while Coles, on the contrary, questions the materialistic society we are living in. Unlike Oldenburg's gigantic, colourful food and daily objects, Coles's life-sized, monochromatic sculptures brings a terrifying sense of realism, challenging the viewers to rethink about consumerism, capitalism and our roles in this social system. Playfully, most of Coles's sculptures are colour-camouflaged, hidden in laneways in inner city suburbs, which means if you want to see his sculptures, you will need to slow down your pace and look for them carefully.

Enough of my thoughts. I believe many of you have already seen Will Coles's works from your wander in those hidden laneways or on Instagram. Here is my interview with Coles for a bit more insights into his art.

Left: Dumb, Will Coles, Enmore | Right: Finate, Will Coles, Newtown
photo by Danling Xiao @The Flying Room

1. Can you tell us why you choose the street to display your artworks? How long have you been doing street art sculptures?

Why the street? The mountain won’t come to Mohammed! Only a tiny percentage of the population goes to art galleries. If I want people to see my work, I have to take it to the people.

The art scene is elitist by its very nature. It is its own incestuous class system. Most of it is from the upper/upper-middle class backgrounds with a sprinkling of "bad boy/girl" artists who are willing to be kept on a leash. Street art is the best way to stay relatively free, often skint but free from others who dictate what, who and how your work is seen.

Art critics despise street art because it bypasses them, it doesn’t need them, making them obsolete. Street art lives or dies, succeeds or fails by its own merits on an individual basis. There are celebrities of the street art scene, but half of them do little or no street art and are promoted through galleries.

As for how long I’ve been doing this, about 5 years.

2. Your sculptures are very interesting and provoking. What are you trying to communicate through your art? 

I try to communicate the ideas of empowerment in individual importance and the environment. I try to get people to think, to process their lives, to be more and be part of an evolutionary process, to improve ourselves and our surroundings.

Left: Context, Will Coles, Enmore | Right: Fear, Will Coles, Enmore
photo by Danling Xiao @The Flying Room

Left: Laissez faire, Will Coles, Melbourne | Right: Laissez faire, Will Coles, Enmore
photo by Danling Xiao @The Flying Room

3. Can you talk about concept of a few artworks? Interested to know your thoughts on the abandoned baby and the balaclava. 

The abandoned baby ("Context", above) is about context being everything. A doll in a cot evokes sentimental feelings, the feelings of warmth, safety and happiness, whereas a doll in a street gutter is abandonment. It is an end to childhood and innocence.

4. Is it important for the public to understand your art, rather than seeing it as playful art objects? 

That people "get it" is important. That’s what I mean about the work living or dying on its own merits. If it doesn’t connect with most people then it’s a fail, an instant feedback in the form of destruction. I may have got too abstract, too obscure.

5. What do you think of people taking your works away for themselves? Pretty sure your works disappear quite often.

Do I care about the thieving? Only if they destroy it in the process of trying to steal it. Either steal it whole or leave it! I don’t like the idea whereby people take something for themselves which is there for everyone, but that’s how we’ve been brought up. Then there’s the idea of implied value, of people stealing something because they think it’s valuable, in this case, is because street art is meant to be valuable (see the theft of whole walls with Banksy’s on).

Left: Limited, Will Coles, Enmore, photo by Danling Xiao @The Flying Room
Right: Damaged Laissez faire, Will Coles, photo by Preprint Poetry

Left: Guns R Us Mk.II, Will Coles, Enmore, photo by Preprint Poetry
Right: First World Food with Large Lies, Will Coles, photo by Loufy

6. It is very interesting. While you comment on consumerism through your squashed cans, Mickey Mouse guns and mobile phones, you are actually giving away your art for free (viewing and possessing), I think it does make people think!

Consumerism is the reason we’re in the current situation - a failing global economy and destabilising climate. We love our comfortable way of life and the corporations that own that way of life don’t want us to contemplate any other way - they don’t want us to stop consuming.  The banks and stock markets don’t want our way of life to change so our taxes prop up a failing system. We bail out the banks and we don’t even tax them appropriately because they own our politicians.

‘Free art’ is that, free art for the people. If they hate it, well, they don't have to pay for it. This isn’t like the hundreds of ugly neutral meaningless pieces of corporate style sculptures that are inflicted on us (see Canberra!), where local authorities spend hundreds of thousands on drab empty pieces of "art". I’m not selling anything but the ideas that what we are could be better, rather than working 50 hours a week to pay off a mortgage before we retire at 65 or 70 to an uncertain future. Remember, the less you consume, the less meaning you have in modern Western society.

7. How long does it take to make these sculptures? Can you tell us about your working process?  

With something like a mobile phone sculpture, I have to find the right one (I think of the right word(s) for it) then make a silicone rubber mould of it (Pinkysil is good for this). Then make a dental plaster cast, carve in the lettering then make another silicone mould of that. I usually cast the street art pieces in "aluminous" cement (a French cement called Ciment Fondu, one of that to three of river sand). Then I either glue down or wax and polish.

Left: Laissez faire with Obsolescence, Will Coles, Enmore
Right: Obsolescence, Will Coles, Enmore
photo by Danling Xiao @The Flying Room

8. Would you describe your artistic process logical or emotional? Your works are so technically and conceptually perfected that I feel you are more like an observer and story teller. Interested to know if there is any emotion involved in creating your works. 

Logical or emotional? Emotional. Not so much a story teller but there is definitely an emotional reaction. People make excuses for becoming less emotional and more conservative as they grow older, but mostly it’s about money, the fear that they won’t have enough and that others will take it from them. The morals and ethics we seem to prize so highly when we are young, but we tend to sell out as we get older, thinking with our wallet instead of our heart. It wasn’t always like this or so pervasive.  

9. I guess lots of people know your works via Instagram. What do you think of Internet and social media? 

The internet is the best thing since the printing press! It’s that simple and it still hasn’t reached its full potential. The only problem facing it is that major corporations attempt to "own" it, to restrict it and turn it into user-pays, whether we pay or the corporations pay so we see what they wants us to see. Social media is good but it’s already owned, first MySpace (remember that?!) then Facebook. To me it’s over-rated as it promises more connectivity with others but actually creates less action - people click rather than protesting, sign online forms of protest that don’t achieve anything. If you want to have any effect online then join Anonymous!

10. Besides street art, you also do indoor/gallery sculptures. Can you tell us the difference between your street art and gallery art? 

My street pieces are generally the kind of thing that can glide under the radar, small concrete pieces out of the way. A gallery show gives me the chance to get large, use different materials and do one-offs. Conceptually they’re all the same.

Left: Might is right, Will Coles, courtesy of the artist
Right: This is not an ANZAC (RSL), Will Coles, courtesy of the artist 

11. Would you like to talk about your upcoming shows? 

I am currently in Sculpture 2013 show at Brenda May Gallery in Danks Street, Sydney, the same gallery that has taken me and two other artists to Art Stage Singapore which runs from January 24 to 28. I’ve also got a solo show, I fucking love Melbourne, at Dark Horse Experiment in Melbourne from March 8 to 29, and later another solo show called Death Wish, back at Brenda May Gallery in October.

You can find Will Coles's works in Sydney CBD & inner city suburbs, Melbourne CBD & inner city suburbs, and canberra.
Instagram hashtag: #willcoles
Flickr: Mr Will Coles' photostream
Website: www.willcoles.com

Sculpture 2013 (group show),  Jan 23 - Feb 9, 2013 
Brenda May Gallery
2 Danks St Waterloo NSW 2017
www.brendamaygallery.com.au

I fucking love Melbourne (first solo show), Mar 8 - 29, 2013
Dark Horse Experiment
110 Franklin Street Melbourne VIC 3000
www.darkhorseexperiment.com

Thanks our friend Preprint Poetry and Loufy for photo contribution.
Visit Preprint Poetry's blog for more Australian street art.

Like us on Facebook or RSS our Blog to keep updated with our products and discovery in art and design industry.

I promised to myself not to have any plants in my life after I softly killed my bonsai a few years ago. Inside me there seems to be some evil tendency to manipulate the nature: first removed all the leaves and left only the trunk and the branches for the minimalist aesthetics; then stopped watering the bonsai and let it dry out just to get this ashy, grey colour that I found very fascinating. At the end the bonzai died and I concluded that one should never apply any art theory and Photoshop skill to a living thing. 

Until recently my buddy Carli, the Queen of DIY, passed me some terrarium materials after seeing my photo of the hanging terrariums at Fitzroy Nursery (Melbourne), I broke my promise and started my own terrarium: selected a cute little succulent from Newtown Garden Market and a fish bowl; followed Carli's pictorial instruction on Instagram; carefully layered the gravel, charcoal, sphagnum moss and soil; buried my succulent baby's roots; and named him Diego as in Diego Rivera, Frida Koala's husband, for its kind-of-Mexican, manly charm (I personally don't like the frog) and married him to my cat Colour for a bit more motivation, hoping that he survives in my hand (and Colour's paws). 

To dress up Diego for this animal-plant marriage, I've also researched inspiration and come across these four different companies/artists who make the most beautiful terrariums I've ever seen, which proves to me that my artistic desire for plants should be in fact encouraged but has to be achieved in a proper way with respect for the nature.

Litill: #Scenic

Lítill is create by New York-based former florist Lauren Coleman. Grew up in California, Coleman creates her "little" ("Lítill") version of the dramatic desert landscape in the area using sustainable hand-blown glass vessels and a selection of air plants, succulents and cacti. The juicy succulents and pastel-coloured decorations placed in the white sand interestingly builds an image of a moist snowy desert, giving a dreamy, heavenly outer space feel. Lítill's terrariums are available in sizes varying from x-large to small to hanging, ranging from $95-$750. Purchase them on Lítill's website.

In 2012, Colman also exhibited her suspended terrarium by a drifting helium filled balloon, Jette and Fabrik in Berlin. Read it in NOTCOT.

Lítill, drög large, courtesy Lítill

Lítill, digür small, courtesy Lítill

Left: Lítill, flugum large, courtesy Lítill
Right: Lítill, flugum large, courtesy Lítill

Lítill, stór xlarge, courtesy Lítill

Hand-blown glass vessel, courtesy Lítill

Score + Solder: #Geometric

In contrast to Lítill, Score + Solder's terrariums take us back to the solid ground with humble arrangement of cacti, succulents and crystals, set in handmade multifaceted glass containers with lead free solder, available in different structures including dodecahedrons, cubes and pyramids. These are closed terrariums and the plants recycle the moisture by themselves. So do not overwater the plants or they might get drowned (an advice from Carli the Queen of DIY)! Price range of Score + Solder's containers (come with a terrarium kit) is between $100-$300. Purchase them on Score + Solder's website.

Left: Score + Solder, Quartz No.1, courtesy Score + Solder
Right: Score + Solder, Quartz No.3, courtesy Score + Solder

Paula Hayes is a New York-based artist and landscape designer who has been experimenting botanical sculptures with imaginary landscape for almost two decades. Below installation, Nocturne of the Limax maximus (Slug at left; Egg at right) for MoMA lobby during 2011 winter is one of Hayes's large-scaled terrariums, featuring organically shaped vessels made from cast acrylic and hand-blown glass, and filled with tropical plants. 

Petite Green, The Great Outdoors, courtesy Petite Green

Petite Green, The Rise of the Zombies, courtesy Petite Green

Petite Green, The Rise of the Zombies, courtesy Petite Green

I thought for a few days whether or not I should give it a go writing a review of Francis Bacon: Five Decades at the Art Gallery of New South Wales since it is ... Francis Bacon! You know what I mean - my poor knowledge and language will never allow me to paint an accurate, colourful picture of the master's rich artistic journey for you, not to mention that I am only writing a 1000-word blog post. But I was so astonished, puzzled and inspired at the exhibition. I even wish AGNSW could host a gallery camping night. A night with Mr Bacon's friends - meeting them in dreams (or nightmares) seems to be the only way to understand their existence and the master's mind. I feel I should share this exhibition with you, obviously the idea of camping with these surreal, beautiful (or grotesque?) friends is ridiculous, otherwise this post will be much more interesting. However, I still hope you can pay a visit to the exhibition after reading this post (or if you've already been to the exhibition, please share your thoughts with me too).  

I am always fascinated by the contrary and tension of Francis Bacon's paintings: figurative protagonist vs. abstract background, delicacy vs. roughness, emotion vs. logic, reality vs. imagination, masculinity vs. femininity, the magic that the paintings look abstract in details but narrative at a distance, and even, the way he constructed the image that makes the viewers either love it or hate it. I myself definitely vote for LOVE. And a double love for Francis Bacon: Five Decades as it is the best exhibition I've ever seen.

Drawing from more than 30 private collections and art institutions such as MoMA, The Met, Tate and Centre Pompidou, Francis Bacon: Five Decades features some of the most significant works and photograph collection of Francis Bacon from the 1940s to the 1980s. The exhibition travels by decades, from the master's early rawness to the later sophistication, enabling viewers to comprehend his artistic pursuit and self perfection over the years. As much as I would like to run the whole viewing experience in this post, it is quite impossible as it might take me another five decades to finish the writing. Therefore I will only feature some of Bacon's famous triptychs at the exhibition. 

Most of Bacon's well known works were painted in triptychs. He told critics that his usual practice with triptychs was to begin with the left panel and work across. Typically he completed each frame before beginning the next. As the work as a whole progressed, he would sometimes return to an earlier panel to make revisions, though this practice was generally carried out late in the overall work's completion (via wikipedia). When asked about why he painted in triptychs, Bacon replied, "It is one image coming up against another. it may have something to do with watching a film, certain amount of films. Maybe it is something like that giving me the idea of doing triptychs. I don't quite know how it really started.". One might suppose that in that case, the triptychs perhaps tell stories, no? Interestingly, Bacon often spoke of his aversion to narrative in painting, as he said, "... at any rate several figures on the same canvas - the story begins to be elaborated. And the moment the story is elaborated, the boredom sets in; the story talks louder than the paint." (p22, Francis Bacon: Five Decades). 

The study for a figure at the base of a crucifixion (below) at the exhibition was a variation of the right panel of the three studies for figures at the base of a crucifixion, a depiction of three faceless, strangely-formed creatures, which helped to established Bacon as one of the foremost post-war painters in 1945. Like many of Bacon's early paintings, the screaming mouth and the ear are painted so thickly that they raise from the surface and shock you with the resemblance to real teeth and ear. However, the creature appears nothing in common with any animal or human, as its form is perhaps developed from Bacon's autonomous drawing, which along with the "screaming" gesture, could possibly suggests his release of anger and fear (or represent a collective emotion in warfare?). 

I found the most interesting thing about this painting is that, logically the figure shouldn't put any fear upon us because of its roughness and the non-resemblance to any existing creatures; but somehow it evokes a dangerous sense of realness, that with anger, the creature's neck would elongate and fling to us like a snake and give a vital bite on the neck.

Study for a figure at the base of a crucifixion, 1943-44
Francis Bacon, courtesy Murderme

Three studies for figures at the base of a crucifixion, 1944
Francis Bacon, Tate, image via Tate

The study for a figure at the base of a crucifixion at the exhibition is on loan from Damien Hirst's Murderme collection (Hirst's personal art collection). Talking about Bacon's influence on himself, Hirst said, "I was obsessed with him as a young painter. I was into punk and I was into Bacon. He was out there on his own. You had the Surrealists, the Impressionists, the Pointillists and all the other ists, and you had Bacon. I gave up painting at 15 because of him. I was just doing bad Bacons. I saw his work and I stopped wanting to be a painter ... He's a supreme colourist. Beautiful colours. He seduces you with colour." (via guardian.co.uk)

In 1988, Bacon painted a second version of the three studies for figures at the base of a crucifixion (1944), making it over twice the size of the original and giving his creatures more empty space to breathe. The second version appears to be more feminine and refined in terms of colour, form and texture, compared to the original version. It is more beautiful and sophisticated but somehow it seem to be less intense - a reflection of the artist's mind at the time I guess.

Second version of triptych 1944, 1988
Francis Bacon, Tate, image via WebMuseum

Bacon painted the three studies of the male back, triptych (below) in three different perspectives, depicting his lover, George Dyer, naked and shaving in an empty room. The mirror, attached in the apparatus, said to be inspired from Diego Velazquez's The toilet of Venus (below 2), serves as a window to Bacon's mind. Unlike Venus, Dyer shows his wounded face in the mirror in an illogical perspective, and quite surrealistically as the brushstrokes suggest that he was punched by an external force inside the mirror, but in the outside, Dyer seems to be peacefully absorbed in what he is doing. 

Although Dyer could be punched by an external force, the scar painted in vibrant red must be done by himself (an act of self-harm?). And in this painting, I see why Damien Hirst calls Bacon "a supreme colourist" - the fragility depicted from a large amount of white that gives the transparent, glass-like quality to the body; the energy expressed from the mix of light blue and orange; and the mystery implied from the black, liquefied shadow (or blood?). And let's not forget Bacon's early career as an interior decorator and furniture designer - the colour used in the background and objects is luxurious: the gold apparatuses and stool frames, the dark brown stool padding, along with the eggplant carpet and the minimalist structure of the furniture, shows a mix of femininity and masculinity that looks like an abstract version of Eileen Gray's room to me. 

Three studies of the male back, triptych, 1970
Francis Bacon, Kunsthaus Zurich, image via HH Fine Art

The Toilet of Venus (‘The Rokeby Venus’), 1647-51
Diego Velazquez, image via The National Gallery, London

Three studies of the male back, triptych (detail), 1970
Francis Bacon, Kunsthaus Zurich, image via Bukowskis

Three studies of the male back, triptych (detail), 1970
Francis Bacon, Kunsthaus Zurich, image via Bukowskis

Although Bacon were averse to view his paintings as narratives, the below triptych, a study from Eadweard Muybridge's sequence photography (below 3 and 5), could possibly be viewed in sequence as a depiction of a wrestle between a blue-suited man and a naked man (who is said to resemble George Dyer). "Love is a battle, love is a war." - I guess James Baldwin's quote can be perfectly applied in this wresting triptych, which is more like a vulgar, animal-like homosexual love/sex scene. I find the middle panel fascinating because it is very hard to understand what the two wrestlers are doing until you view the painting from a distance; and because the two figures are so close to each other, it could be viewed as one anthropomorphic creature. If it is not that splash of white paint in the middle (possibly symbolises ejaculation), I wouldn't mind thinking it as a bowl of juicy mango tapioca ...

Bacon's paintings could be disturbing because of the grotesqueness, the incompleteness ... (we can probably list one hundred words here), but I find there is something that is very symmetrical and pleasant to look at about his paintings. Especially in the triptychs, the composition and colour usage would always echo in the side panels, which could be seen as a reflection of each other; while the middle panel is always quite symmetrical and the figures would normally placed in the centre (by the way, for a book designer like myself, this could be problematic sometimes as the middle panel will always fall into the gutter, which will lose a lot of details in a book - another good reason to pay a visit to the exhibition). 

The sense of symmetry can also be seen from the usage of complimentary colour with highlights using contrast colour; and the distorted, complex figures against abstract, minimalist backgrounds. 

Triptych, 1970
Francis Bacon, National Gallery of Australia
image via piratesandrevolutionaries.blogspot.com

Triptychs (left and right panel, man in a swing), 1970
Francis Bacon, National Gallery of Australia
image via piratesandrevolutionaries.blogspot.com

"Woman in a swing", Animal Locomotion. Plate 261, 1887
Eadweard Muybridge, image via Wikipedia

Triptych (middle panel, detail), 1970
Francis Bacon, National Gallery of Australia
image via piratesandrevolutionaries.blogspot.com

“Men Wrestling”, The Human Figure in Motion. Plate 69, 1887
Eadweard Muybridge, image via Art Observed

The other thing I love about Bacon is his violent use of colours. The red that AGNSW used as a "breaker" at the exhibition is definitely Bacon's colour - not only to set off his paintings, but also in a sense sum up the artist's passion, violence, mystery and ambition (Bacon said that he wanted to be able to hang alongside the Old Masters in the National Gallery in London - or why bother to make art at all?). (interestingly, red is also used largely in Anish Kapoor's works too - another major international exhibition in Sydney that you should definitely visit.) Below are a few more paintings to show Bacon as a supreme colourist. The first one is at AGNSW now and the other two "meaty" ones (tell me if you think that the staircase in below second painting looks like meat too!) are another two of my favourites.

From Muybridge 'The human figure in motion:
woman emptying a bowl of water / paralytic child walking on all fours
1965, Francis Bacon, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam

Triptych - In memory of George Dyer, 1971, Francis Bacon
2009 The Estate of Francis Bacon/ARS, New York/DACS, London
image via askyfilledwithshootingstars.com

Painting, 1964, Francis Bacon
2009 The Estate of Francis Bacon/ARS, New York/DACS, London

Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon, 1988

I believe painting is a true documentary of the painter's life and vision, but the fact that the images are so intelligently constructed with metaphors and unconsciousness, leaves mystery for us to explore and decode. Bacon once said that he painted nothing. But I think he was painting a lot of things that are far beyond our understanding. I am wondering, was it the loneliness causes him to paint most of his figures in isolated backgrounds of nowhere? Or was it the stillness and calmness in his mind? But if so, why are all of his figures depicted in such discomfort? People said Bacon's paintings were driven by unconsciousness when he was drunk. But if a person is that drunk to paint, how could he create such logical composition? For years art historians and critics have been investigating Bacon's art. And for me, I just find the master himself, such a colourful, intelligent and unique figure; and all the mysteries of his paintings so fascinating. I only wish he was still alive and painting, not to unveil any mystery, but to see how his inner self responds to today's digital world through his art. Would he like our crazy Photoshop manipulations? I could perhaps find this answer in my dream. Or nightmare. Your say. 

Reference: Francis Bacon: Five Decades, Art Gallery of New South Wales and above links

Art Gallery of New South Wales
Art Gallery Road, Sydney NSW 2000 Australia
Sun-Tue, Thu-Sat 10am-5pm
www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au

Like us on Facebook or RSS our Blog to keep updated with our products and discovery in art and design industry.

The Three Musketeers (Les Trois Mousquetaires), March–July 1844, Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870)

Set in the 17th century, The Three Musketeers recounts the adventures of a young man named d'Artagnan after he leaves home to travel to Paris, to join the Musketeers of the Guard. The story covers the adventures of d'Artagnan and his three musketeer friends from 1625 to 1628, as they are involved in intrigues involving the weak King Louis XIII of France, his powerful and cunning adviser Cardinal Richelieu, the beautiful Queen Anne of Austria, her English lover, George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, and the Siege of La Rochelle. Adding to the intrigue are the mysterious Milady de Winter, and Richelieu's right-hand man, the Comte de Rochefort.

The Three Musketeers illustration, Mead Schaeffer (1898-1980)
Published by Dodd, Mead and Company, 1929
via Golden Age Comic Book Stories

The Three Musketeers, published by Penguin Books and bound with beautiful deckle edges, is a sweet and thoughtful present I've received from Paul at Ariel at the end of our Christmas Musketeers paper art project, which we have worked on together and is now on display at Ariel The Rocks until January 2013. 

To understand a piece of art or design, we tend to dig deep into the subject, ideally until hitting the bedrocks when we all get confused about what we are looking for. So why did Paul pick "musketeers' as the theme of Ariel's 2012 Christmas book bundles? I guess it is quite impossible to work out how he came up with the concept - if you were going to investigate, you would feel like walking in a labyrinth of his mind, never be able to exit because you will be distracted by too many encounters with beautiful stories; you would also be stunned by the reading and writing he has been doing everyday in his life. I only wish I was that intelligent and knowledgeable as him. 

However, there must be some connections to Dumas's The Three Musketeers. When Paul briefed me the project, very straight forward, "I want musketeers.", he said, "We need four musketeer paper cutouts to represent our 2012 Christmas book bundles: a musket, a heart and a musketeer's hat for Crime of Passion; musketeers dueling for Duel; musketeer riding a horse for Exile; and a lonely musketeer for Reflection. Do whatever you want with the paper art. Go crazy!"

Would you be surprised that this was the first time we created something based on a verbal brief and without actually researching the subject matter? Sometimes it is the best to forget all the theories and just create from your gut - it means that you are free. So when I briefed Sceroz (the other pilot at The Flying Room) the illustration, I just repeated Paul's brief to her. Surprisingly, as I always wonder what vision is in Sceroz's little mind, she came up with these whimsical drawings: Mr. musket shooting Mr. Heart, who waves a musketeer's hat to surrender; chubby musketeers whose faces resembling the Kings on poker cards; lonely musketeer overlooking a village scape with light spreading on the facades of the houses at sunset.

My part was to make the musketeers alive. As I am pretty good at separating limbs, clothes and accessories from Barbie dolls' bodies (mentioned a few months ago in our Barbie post), deconstructing the musketeers, cutting and assembling the pieces into one complete creature was fun to do, especially when I gave them movable limbs, I thought I could put up a ballet performance with chubby musketeer dancers shouting out, "All for one, one for All!". To add a bit of "The Flying Room" touch, I've also made a cloud lollipop with paper letters standing above, joined by moulded plastic from paper clips (the plastic can be easily taken off from the looped wires, just imagine shedding the skin from a snake...). 

Another exciting thing to do is sending these kids out to the shop: first of all, presenting to Ariel how we interpret their idea in our own way is always fun; It is also a great honour to have the musketeers celebrate Christmas with the Ariel fellows and their readers, at the most historic place in Sydney. If you are in the area, whether you are visiting Anish Kapoor's exhibition at the MCA, Village Bizarre 2012, or Ariel, make sure you check out the musketeers too! The book collections, selected by Paul, including Melville House's Melville International Crime series and Art of the Novella series, is a mix of absurdity, darkness, love and wisdom - would be an interesting read for holiday.

The four book bundles are available for purchase at Ariel The Rocks. They are in the themes of: 

- Crime of Passion

A selection of five books from Melville House's Melville International Crime series, the finest crime novels set in exotic locations, including books of the founding fathers of noir, Raymond Chandler and Dasheill Hammett.

- Duel 

A selection of five books titled Duel, from Melville House's Art of the Novella series, including books of Heinrich von Kleist, Anton Chekhov, Joseph Conrad, Aleksandr Kuprin and Giacomo Casanova. 

- Exile

A selection of seven books from Melville House's The Neversink Library series, including rediscovered classics such as Maurice Dekobra's Madonna of the Sleeping Cars and Ödön von Horváth's The Eternal Philistine.

- Reflection

A selection of four poetry books from Everyman’s Library, including collections of John Keats, Emily Dickinson and Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

Crime of Passion
  Christmas Musketeers paper art project
by The Flying Room for Ariel Books

Duel
Christmas Musketeers paper art project
by The Flying Room for Ariel Books

Exile
Christmas Musketeers paper art project
by The Flying Room for Ariel Books

Reflection
Christmas Musketeers paper art project
by The Flying Room for Ariel Books

Installation view at Ariel Books The Rocks

In the meanwhile, we are planning to work on another larger-scaled paper art project with Ariel in 2013. The brief from Paul is even much simpler this time: go surreal, go crazy. That's it! So ... look forward to seeing what we come up next year! 

Christmas Musketeers paper art project is on display at Ariel The Rocks until January 2013.
Address: 103 George Street, The Rocks, NSW 2000 
www.arielbooks.com.au

Christmas Musketeers paper art project by The Flying Room for ©Ariel Books.
Concept: Paul Jones @Ariel
Illustration: Sceroz Chan @The Flying Room
Paper Cutouts: Danling Xiao @The Flying Room
Photography: Ian Tatton 

Also check out a similar paper art project, PinkHunt, which we've created in September this year.

Like us on Facebook or RSS our Blog to keep updated with our products and discovery in art and design industry.