at Wexner Center~

I couldn’t believe this is my 4th blog entry already! Time flies~ and the weather finally began to smile a little bit these days. It seems I’m going to survive my first winter here (is there a word beyond just winter?!) very soon. HAHA~

What is noticeable this week… well, I went to an Artist’s Talk in Wexner Center on Thursday and it’s a kind of fun. Honestly, it’s my very first time to step into Wexner Center, although there’s Andy Warhol hanging everywhere. My photographing class requires attending at least one activity in Wexner Center this quarter. So it triggered me made the move, finally.

The artist’s called Patty Chang, who mainly does a lot of short films about performing arts. The top one surprise for the lecture is that she’s a Chinese! The way she pronounce the province name of China, sounds so clear and naïve, well, not Americanized. This lights me up definitely. And there are several Chinese scenes in her work, the airport, the minority crafts and costume, which I couldn’t be more familiar with. It’s so good to see something familiar this far away from home, especially on Spring Festival.

About her short films, it’s a little bit strange, of course, hard to understand. Maybe that’s why we called it “artistic”. The most impressive among them all, is in one piece, she exchanged a passionate kiss with her own face reflected in water. And the ending is she drank up all the water…

But recently, she seems to try removing herself as the physical focus of her work gradually, like in her new film made in Tibet. Speaking of Tibet, there’s a misunderstanding image of China among foreigners. When I took several American friends wandering around Beijing last summer, they appeared to be so surprised and told me that they thought China would be like what in the movie, ancient, mysterious, minority groups dressed strangely, monks… that’s totally MISUNDERSTOOD!! The case is true only in a few provinces along the western border. Honestly, the first time I went there, I have a sense of “exotic”, too. Just because it’s rare, some movies magnify this side of China to attract people, even Chinese audience. Obviously, Patty Chang grabbed this point, too. But on the other hand, those commercialized city like Beijing, Shanghai… there’s no point to shoot.

Anyway, Patty Chang is a great artist! And have great parents!! (Most of her travels are supported by her parents, both mental and economic. They don’t get the point of her artworks; they just called “our daughter is being artistic, again.”)