A Beijing Sculpture Mystery Somewhat Solved

In the previous post with examples of contemporary art currently displayed at the Parkview Green shopping mall in Beijing, I was not able to identify the artist of one of the sculptures.

One reader had a thoughtful suggestion for the possible artist, but I couldn't find match. After a variety of online searches, including using different versions of the photo, proved fruitless, I took another look at what appeared to be a signature on the sculpture's base.

If the signature used a creative style of Chinese characters, I was clueless, but it appeared to use letters from the Latin alphabet. My first guess was "X-something Li". I had found some artists with similar names but, again, no matches.

This time, though, I stopped thinking of the first symbol as an "X" and eventually a familiar name jumped out at me. It didn't take long after that for me to find several matching examples of "The Michelin Slave" (1967) by Salvador Dali. I also see similar examples named "Michelin's Slave — Can Be Used as a Car". In reference to a smaller version of the sculpture, LiveAuctioneers wrote:

For Dali, the slave imprisoned by tires symbolized the slaves who construct the Cadillac automoblie [sic] in the plants of General Motors. This piece is also known as Venus de los neumaticos.

So it seems to be yet another intriguing choice for a piece of art displayed at a shopping mall.

I am not sure of the meaning of the letters below the signature and wonder whether they indicate the sculpture is a reproduction of some type. According to a fascinating in-depth article on Artnews, "The Dalí Sculpture Mess", the status of this sculpture might not be a simple issue. The lead paragraph:

A flood of posthumous sculpture by Salvador Dalí­ generates millions of dollars in annual revenue—but the artist’s connection with much of the work is unclear. The market is rife with unreliable information, disputed ownership claims, unauthorized editions, and legal conflict. At least two European police investigations are under way.

From one question to another . . .

Contemporary Art on Display Inside the Parkview Green in Beijing

Some readers may still be wondering about the intended meaning of the sculpture in the previous post, and some may be wondering about its location. I have ideas but no definitive answers for the the first question, but at least one reader correctly guessed the photo was taken at the Parkview Green shopping mall in Beijing. Even if you have no interest in or money for luxury shopping, the mall is worth a visit for its remarkable architecture and numerous pieces of contemporary art. The bathrooms have fancy toilet seats too.

Photos of nine of the works on display inside the mall during a recent visit appear below with some bits of symmetry in their ordering. I have only listed the artists' names because sometimes the works' names weren't clearly displayed, at least anywhere I looked. In one frustrating case, I have not even been able to identify the artist — any help welcome [update: mystery solved]. Although none of them were as surprising to me to find in a Beijing shopping mall as the piece in the previous post, I found them all provocative in their own ways.

Chen Wenling

Roberto Barni

Unknown Salvador Dali

Shen Jingdong

Huang Mingzhe

Huang Yulong

Ichwan Noor

Lee Seung-koo

Chen Wenling

Pondering the Art Selection at a Beijing Shopping Mall

Report (报告, 2008) by Qin Fengling (秦风玲, born 1957)

Scene of 让: Gao Xiaowu's Art, a Traffic Sign, and Security in Beijing

让

Posing in Front of a Taipei Love

Sculpture of Robert Indiana's LOVE design next to the Taipei 101 skyscraper (not in view)

Stars and Stripes Hello Kitty Tissues in Taipei

Signs of Japanese and American culture are easy to spot in Taiwan. Why not combine them?

Tissues for sale at a Taipei convenience store

A Magical Proposal in Taipei

Yesterday afternoon while working on a project outside at the Xinyi Shoppping District in Taipei, Taiwan, I saw a magician perform for a young couple.

I had seen the magician in the same plaza earlier when he appeared to be waiting for someone or something. I considered why the magician chose this particular couple and why two people were capturing it all on video. The videographers were at times clearly interested in making sure the female stayed in the scene even when the magician was focused on her partner.

After several magic tricks, the magician covered the young woman's eyes with an eye mask for the next trick. I figured it was time for me to move on. But then I saw a person rolling out a red carpet, and I began to wonder if there was something more taking place than I had at first assumed. Immediately after that I saw somebody holding flowers. Oh . . .

Flower petals were spread on the carpet. If this was just a trick, it was really going over the top.

While these preparations quietly occurred, the magician kept the woman occupied.

With the young man holding a bouquet of roses while briefly biting his lower lip and others holding "Would you marry me" signs behind him, it was clear a bit more than a magic act was about to occur.

Soon all was ready for the reveal, and the young woman was told to take off the mask. At first, she had an ordinary smile.

And then it grew.

But she appeared unsure and began to search for something. Soon, she had what she needed — a pair of glasses.

I don't know what was going through the young woman's mind, but she was reserved in her expressions. She may have been wondering if this could somehow be part of a magic act. But then her boyfriend began a long speech.

If she had any doubts, they melted away.

As I watched, I realized online videos of public marriage proposals gone awry have left their mark on me. No worries here though. What followed went well.

Soon the newly engaged couple walked off to sit on a nearby bench together, and the efficient cleanup began.

They even picked up the flower petals, so Taiwan.

Later, the couple took advantage of having a photographer around and posed for some photos. The young woman looked far more relaxed. For me, this was the moment where I erased any question whether the young woman's "yes" might have only been a polite face-saving public reaction.

Best wishes to the newly engaged couple. Even for me, the luck involved in witnessing their special moment seemed like a bit of magic. Perhaps I should have expected it. About half an hour earlier I had noticed a statue overlooking the same plaza.

The small statue of a mythical god is titled "Cupido".

Two Mythical Qilins on Display in Kinmen

I have been unexpectedly occupied since praising Yeh's Fermented Eggs. So for today, I will keep it simple and share four photos of artistic creations on display at the Historical Folk Museum in Kinmen.

The qilin (麒麟) sculptures made during the time of the Xuande Emperor, who ruled from 1425 to 1435, were two of my favorites at the museum.

Sculpture of a qilin ridden by a "golden boy": 七寶銅麒麟 - 金童

Sculpture of a qilin ridden by a fairy: 七寶銅麒麟 - 仙女

Another set of sculptures at the museum, these made recently by children, provided an unexpected variation on the imaginary creature theme.

Perhaps in 600 years they too will be displayed as examples of ancient art.

Promoting a New Ceramics Center in Xiamen with a Snowman and a Ghost

I previously didn't offer any explanation for a nativity scene in Xiamen which included a snowy Disney character. But, as usual, context matters, so now I will share some.

There were two related displays at the Zhongshan Road Pedestrian Street. Neither had a similar Christian theme.

Long story short, they were all part of a promotion for the grand opening of the Shunmei Ceramic Cultural Center.

According to the Shunmei Group's website, the company has passed a "factory audit of Disney". The website currently features some Frozen-themed items.

Olaf's presence in the nativity scene now seems less mysterious — same with the Snow White and the Seven Dwarves' and even the non-Disney minion's presence in the first photo above.

A Shunmei post in Chinese provides some examples of the items which would be available for purchase at the Shunmei Ceramic Cultural Center. It also has an advertisement for the grand opening which includes part of an iconic scene from the movie Ghost.

This raises obvious questions such as "Where is Olaf?" and "Are they making a ceramic minion?"

This is yet another example where digging deeper raised more questions than it answered. But at least some were answered. Maybe.

Contemporary Street Art in Jieyang

The Name for an Unusual Building in Shenzhen

Yesterday's post included a photo of a building in Shenzhen with an unusual design.

I didn't worry about identifying the building when I took the photo two weeks ago. I expected it would be easy to figure out later online. But the best I could do last night in a short amount of time was find the building on Baidu Map's street view where it is covered by scaffolding. No name appeared for the building, and an image search of the photo proved fruitless.

While at the nearby Dongmen Pedestrian Street area today, I unexpectedly caught a glimpse of the building down an alley. Feeling inspired, I decided to identify it the old fashioned way and made my way to a passageway where I could cross Shennan East Road underground while perusing the items sold by various hawkers. Upon arriving at the building, I considered what appeared to be a bovine-inspired sculpture next to the building's main entrance.

I walked into the main lobby, and a security guard soon approached. Perhaps he was from the nearby Shenzhen Security Service Company.

The seemingly nervous security guard answered a few questions before he stopped to salute an older man walking by. The man had a puzzled expression when he looked at me. Probably to nobody's surprise, we both refrained from any saluting.

After leaving the building, I pondered a nearby Land Rover advertisement with a snow covered scene.

Although Shenzhen has experienced unusually cold weather recently, snowy roads are rarely a worry. It snowed in Guangzhou, not far away to the north, yesterday for the first time in 50 years (added note: parts of Shenzhen reportedly saw snow as well).

Anyway, the building under question holds the Ruihe R & D Center and is creatively named the Ruihe Building (瑞和大厦). According to Reuters:

SHENZHEN RUIHE CONSTRUCTION DECORATION CO., LTD. is principally engaged in the design and construction of building decoration projects. The Company provides decoration and construction services for shopping malls, hotels, hospitals, curtain, subways, finance, office buildings and theaters, among others. The Company operates its businesses in domestic markets.

And now one loose end is tied up.

Two More Shanghai Scenes

I was tempted to included two more photos in the previous post "Twenty Shanghai Scenes Not Featuring Luxury Malls or Skyscrapers", but they didn't quite fit the theme which emerged. So I will share them separately here.

One photo captures a portion of a destination especially popular for tourists and shoppers: the Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street.

The other photo includes tall buildings in the background.

In front of the buildings is a collaborative creation (link in Chinese) by Yu Jiyong (余积勇) and Shen Tingting (沈婷婷): the May Thirtieth Movement Monument in People's Park.

The locations where these photos were taken are just minutes away from each other by foot. And I have stories for both. Another day . . .

Two Mobile Moments on Stringless Sculptures in Changsha

Earlier this year at pedestrian street in Changsha I considered "the competing interests between those who wish to use a suitable sculpture for an extended period of time as a place to sit with others who desire to use it more fleetingly for photos". When I stopped by a shopping center during a recent day in Changsha, I saw people using two previously-noticed sculptures with stringless string instruments for the former purpose.

In both cases, not only was someone taking advantage of a place to sit but their attention was focused on a mobile phone – a theme for some future posts about Changsha.