an overview of the work
flower bed!
this particular piece of work was my favourite amongst several other works at the exhibition by (mr?) Chun Kaifeng and Kaiqun called For Mr. and Mrs Children.
more information about the exhibition at
http://www.new.facebook.com/event.php?eid=24315893196&ref=mf or
their works at http://www.nextstoplaputa.com/ or
http://unfinishedadventures.wordpress.com/2008/07/03/the-new-long-kang-part-ii/#more-78 or, google it.
This piece of work is entitled Race for the Prize by Chun Kai Qun. It was inspired by the artist’s childhood pastime of racing paper boats in the “long kangs” (drains), and as his brother Kai Feng puts it, they wanted to “bring something mundane to a professional level”.
(at this point something going “doainnggg” in my head and hey, I know what exactly I want for my little house!)
The 3 dimensional work shows a not-so-much-noticed long kang, made painstakingly out of cement in a closed loop transformed into a racing track. More blatant were the “start” and “finish” gates, which were constructed with rather raw materials-twigs, as well as the little coloured flags which we always see at the racing seasons.
The Long Kang is filled with flowing water, which I thought was pretty amazing. It literally brings out what goes on in a Long Kang.
The race course is decorated with obstacles, such as “spikes” made of sharpened twigs, water wheel gates, gushing water…and so on, as seen in the photos. The “finish” gate is decorated by a bed of flowers and before you see the flowers, you’re greeted by this steam of mist. Ever so dream like. More interestingly, the race circuit is completed by billboards of their apparent sponsors, such as “Nookia”, “KoKo Kola”, and “Nikey”.
I like how the race course makes use of so many materials which are natural, like the twigs, the water, mist, the pretty flowers and the grass, though the grass and flowers are fake. To me, it is like something fanciful and dream-like, almost slow, laidback, which juxtaposes the speedy race. The numerous “obstacles” also prove to be a distraction along with other fanciful stuff growing out of the sides, such as mushrooms, which contrast with the “modern day” adverts on races. I can imagine miniature humans or elves or fairies (because of flowers and mushrooms) or the likes of it taking a slow stroll around the race course.
Well does it remind you of our soon-to-come F1 night race?
To quote MR Chun kaifeng again, “take silly things to the extreme to bring out the message” or something like that. It’s pretty late and my brain is not functioning. In fact, it hasn’t functioned for the entire day.
Wait, so how do I apply that to my coursework? And have you figured out who the 2 artists are? Hehe.
*edit
if you look at my final coursework, im heavily influenced by this piece of work!
