Elyse Sewell ([info]elysesewell) wrote,
@ 2005-05-13 17:45:00
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Here's a quick entry about a work of art I saw today in the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo.

Dialogue With the peasants of Tiangonsi Villages by Chen Shaofeng.



The two chairs in the middle of the installation are where the artist and his subjects would sit while simultaneously painting portraits of one another. On the walls are the results, 250 portraits in all. The portraits on the left side of each pair were painted by the artist; the portraits on the right side are portraits of the artist painted by his subject.







Seems like ol' cueball at the bottom was just phoning it in.


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[info]myelectricheart
2005-05-13 09:53 pm UTC (link)
that is really really awesome.

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thanks for the travelogue.
[info]oneko_briar
2005-05-13 09:54 pm UTC (link)
first! i mean, hi. :)

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[info]rube
2005-05-13 09:54 pm UTC (link)
This is really really cool. :D

And the artist has awesome skill. I love the last shot.

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Cueball
[info]lovingher
2005-05-13 09:55 pm UTC (link)
You just cracked me up at a much needed time! Thank you.

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[info]sight
2005-05-13 09:56 pm UTC (link)
*squints* i can tell....he has a beard. rofl.

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(Anonymous)
2005-05-13 09:56 pm UTC (link)
This should be called portraits of an artist by his village.

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[info]rinkori
2005-05-13 09:57 pm UTC (link)
What a cool concept. I love the last old guy and his freaky blue skull painting.

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[info]onchino
2005-05-13 09:59 pm UTC (link)
Quite a neat idea.
Now, why is it that the pictures on the left of each pair always kick the shit out of the ones on the right? Perhaps I missed something?

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[info]onchino
2005-05-13 10:00 pm UTC (link)
Scratch that----so the subjects paint the artisttttt. Ha.

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[info]elysesewell
2005-05-13 11:23 pm UTC (link)
I just edited my post- that needed to be more clear. Sorry.

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[info]onchino
2005-05-14 03:49 am UTC (link)
Naw, I got it after I re-read it.

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[info]athenaworth
2005-05-13 10:01 pm UTC (link)
I wonder if the old guy had Parkinsons or something. Of course that wouldn't explain the blue. Maybe he had Pollocksons instead.

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Blueball
[info]pajmo
2005-05-14 06:07 am UTC (link)
I'd guess that he's just an abstract artist going through his blue period.

Chuck

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[info]le_hillary
2005-05-13 10:07 pm UTC (link)
gah, i love it!!!!!!

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[info]barrelofthegun
2005-05-13 10:11 pm UTC (link)
that blue painting looks like something I would draw

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[info]superstarof65
2005-05-13 10:11 pm UTC (link)
Interesting idea.

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[info]frenemy
2005-05-13 10:54 pm UTC (link)
very cool. your photography skills seem to be improving as well.

that wasn't supposed to sound that mean...

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[info]elysesewell
2005-05-13 11:25 pm UTC (link)
I get it. I did indeed completely lack skillz when I first got my camera; in my opinion the only reason my pics didn't completely blow is that it's impossible to take a boring picture of anything in Japan.

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[info]nopoetrygirl
2005-05-13 11:03 pm UTC (link)
that's gorgeous. and i don't use that word a lot.

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[info]bruisedhips
2005-05-13 11:09 pm UTC (link)
everytime i see shit like this I think
"why the fuck didn't I think of that"
and then cry in a corner and write about it in livejournal.

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[info]darksomnabule
2005-05-13 11:20 pm UTC (link)
that is a wonderful idea. in 1988 i was part of something similar--doing papier maché masks of one another. it wasn't nearly as cool, though.

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(Anonymous)
2005-05-13 11:32 pm UTC (link)
looks like the painter asked the subjects to sign their portraits of him also.

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[info]wallflower77
2005-05-14 12:18 am UTC (link)
Did you happen to find out how long did they took on the project? It seems there's a bit of aging on the left side photos.

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[info]elysesewell
2005-05-15 01:59 am UTC (link)
Yeah, the date in the catalog says 1998-2002.

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[info]elysesewell
2005-05-15 02:00 am UTC (link)
But the portraits on the left side are all of different people. The right-hand ones all depict the artist, Chen Shaofeng, as painted by his subjects.

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[info]wallflower77
2005-05-15 04:00 am UTC (link)
Thank you, somehow I misread that as the same artist/subject over a period of time. Great idea for a piece.

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What? No police artists in that town?
(Anonymous)
2005-05-14 12:46 am UTC (link)
I suppose that you are tired of that "Oriental Lunch" buzz but I find it interesting that the naive renderings show fairly basic facial features, i.e. those that are not racially specific. Then again, I wonder, I don't know if the artist is from the same region as his subjects, but would they see him as having significantly darker skin, broader nose, or whatever characteristics might differentiate him from his countrymen? It's an interesting experiment and a well-enought-known work so I guess I could do some research.
Thanks, Elyse. You provide an interesting topic of conversation and laughs, like, nearly every day.

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[info]spicylilnacho
2005-05-14 02:09 am UTC (link)
Wow thats actually pretty cool, someplace I would actually would like to go. Haha and fun to draw an artist. Interesting

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(Anonymous)
2005-05-14 02:14 am UTC (link)
Doesn't it seem like the 2 chairs should be facing each other if the artist and his subject are painting each other?

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[info]scottbateman
2005-05-14 02:54 am UTC (link)
They are--see the little canvas on each chair?

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[info]orphantree
2005-05-14 05:47 am UTC (link)
i think maybe they sit backwards on the chair and rest the canvas on the top of back rest[?] i could be very wrong though, because i wasn't there =]

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[info]elysesewell
2005-05-15 01:41 am UTC (link)
I wondered the same thing- I think that the chairs were just set up like that for the installation.

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[info]scottbateman
2005-05-14 02:55 am UTC (link)
That rocks like, all the ass ever.

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native american museum
[info]treatment_bound
2005-05-14 03:34 am UTC (link)
pretty cool. the new native american museam in dc has a similar exhibit, except probably half as big and with photo portraits of the museum's native american employees. its a good piece. unfortunately the museum as a whole is disapointing. lacks focus. anyway.

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[info]thejuicyone
2005-05-14 03:47 am UTC (link)
wowee, that's awesome!!

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[info]lolita_complex
2005-05-14 05:47 am UTC (link)
I LOVE THIS IDEA!!!!!!!!!

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CUSeeMe
[info]pajmo
2005-05-14 06:20 am UTC (link)
Interactive art rules.

Chuck

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[info]ernestsewell
2005-05-14 03:22 pm UTC (link)
I guess a friend of yours posted a screen shot of their computer on a LJ Community for OS X. Your LJ was on their screen. It caught my eye because we have the same last name, and even the same first and last initial. Just thought it was cute. ;-)

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[info]elysesewell
2005-05-15 01:21 am UTC (link)
Sewell solidarity!

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[info]ernestsewell
2005-05-15 08:29 am UTC (link)
Fight the power!

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Amazing
[info]_found_object_
2005-05-15 02:33 am UTC (link)
I'm impressed....mostly because I don't like people enough to sit down with that many of them, especially to take the time to paint them - haha!

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(Anonymous)
2005-05-15 03:28 am UTC (link)
hey, i cant beleive you have a livejournal, i find that unbelievable. i loved you on americas next top model..you were a huge insperation. im not some weird stalker or anything, im a 15 year old girl. im really intrested in modeling and i think your a great role model. could you email me jr_fuhr03@hotmail.com, that would be incredibly dope! thanks, -Maya

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[info]ladiebug2u
2005-05-16 02:47 am UTC (link)
Very cool, I like how you can really get a feel for what the artist looks like from the variety of subject's paintings.

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[info]comeuppances
2005-05-16 12:15 pm UTC (link)
I think Ol' Cueball was probably having a stroke when he did his...

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[info]most_ghost
2005-05-29 11:07 am UTC (link)
super nice project!! my friend did a project like this but I wont get into the details. rad rad

b

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[info]skipperchong
2005-06-08 10:01 pm UTC (link)
phoning it in rulz.

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[info]greeniecorinnie
2007-12-31 06:30 pm UTC (link)
I want that in my house!!!!

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OMG Cheng Chaofeng!!!
(Anonymous)
2008-08-13 01:35 pm UTC (link)
He went to Brazil and he painted me!!!!!!!!!!! :)

YAY I love his work... http://www.artnet.com/artwork/424929657/424638112/chen-shaofeng-dialogue-with-the-people-from-sao-paolo-brazil.html

I am the second girl on the 1st column!!! :)
hihihih!!!!

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