Selected works from the exhibition from "Made in Hong Kong"

Photography by Michael Chan

ZONE

What is an contemporary representation of living place in Hong Kong through the point of view of an photography artist? Does it look like a remote space that won't appear in the real world?

Or it will become a psychoanalysis of the artist who create the image?

Written and Photography by Michael Chan 2008 

A suffering body seeing two great master in enjoying suffering – Francis Bacon and Louise Bourgeois, under the theme of “Suffering Body”

Written by Michael Chan 2007.

M. Scott Peck said, “The Life is Difficult” on the first line of his book “The Road Less Travelled “ which I read in 1995. At the very first time I saw this sentence, I was shocked. This sentence blinks my mind. We need to truly understanding and accept it, and then life is no longer difficult. This means to me that we need to learn how to enjoy suffering so that our life will become great. I am no truly understood at that time. Alongside with my growing of age and absorbing more and more difficulties in life – body, health and soul, I become more and more understood and accepted. More I accepted then I more become enjoy my life, especially I can express them fully and freely in my artwork like Francis Bacon and Louise Bourgeois. As a suffering body bearing with a strong willingness to become an artist, me, myself got the illness two to three years ago, that my blood sugar stay high because of which one of my organ inside my body not giving enough specific substance to dilute the sugar completely. This will result in create problem to my other organs inside my body like heart, kidney, eyes etc. So, I need to take large sum of medication everyday in long-term medical treatment till the end of my life in western medical means to prevent the further suffering of other illness appeared too early to me. I am forty and it is too early for this happen this now. That means this kind of illness cannot be recover in any means but need my hard practicing of acceptance of it and myself as a long-term illness sufferer. As per my special personal experiences in related to this topic “suffering body”, inside this essay, I would like to investigate that how they enjoy their journey and how their work that fall into this topic – Suffering body through their treatment of arts and handling their mind to diverted negative substances into creativity.

Inside Francis Bacon’s paintings, I have seen a lot of his studies in human body, especially male body. I believe that male image have an important influence in his life. I through this direction and found that bacon’s father was an army captain and he was also a grandson of an army general. As mention by the curator – David Sylvester inside this catalogue of Francis Bacon exhibition in Hyward Gallery, London, 5 February to 5 April 1998, Francis grew up in fear of his father and depend live with another parent separately from his father. This is a Trauma . This is a truth of Francis life and this also becomes an important ground stone of his painting – male. He did the acceptance thoroughly and smoothly inside his work. 

Inside my observation, I saw his practice through using male body and male image as the interface of his own representation of occasion and viewpoint towards the world around him. We can saw lots of deforming, cries, horrified, faces inside his painting. For example, inside the painting “Study for Figure II, 1953/1955, 198 x 137cm and from the detail from the right hand side panel inside “Three studies of the Human Head, 1953, oil on canvas, each panel 61 x 51cm, we can clearly saw his implementation of which it call by Bacon’s exhibition curator, David Sylvester, call it was a “smeared across the features of the face”. Inside the meaning of smearing that David Sylvester mention, it has three definitions – Disintegration, Destruction and Obliteration. I believe that these three definitions were one of the selling points for marketing sick. But they also seem to me that I was also experiencing that these three word which I also want to want to imply inside my work before I saw these information from this catalogue. 

Inside his later works of painting, we can also saw the female bodies appeared. In comparison between the male bodies that Bacon painted, the female bodies also look muscular, similar to the male bodies that he painted. Twist body with juxtaposition of leg and arm together with smeared features of faces; build up a super imposition of male image into female bodies, which showed less focusing of soft contour of female bodies. Massive body, using muscle heavily, hard working but with forces from others that was no choices but need to make acceptance by carrying the Trauma alongside with life. These complex experiences that seem to me is suffering through the interface of body to represent ones painful mind. And this is the summarization of my investigation through observation of Francis Bacon’s treatment in his paintings.

Louise Bourgeois, another female artist that I admire for a long time starting from I read about his work through the Internet in a few years ago. For me, the works of Louise Bourgeois cover a lot of media and especially in sculpture and Installation. But, at the same time, her attitude is much more complicated than Francis Bacon towards the area of “Suffering Body”. 

Through my investigation, inside an interview by Paulo Herkenhoff with Louise Bourgeois, I start to open the clue of her attitude. Paulo Herkenhoff asked her about the question of fearing and suffering do anything inside her work, she rejects this question strongly. She said that she carried her psychoanalysis about all those things that bother her. It is about her complaints, the component of anger in beauty. I guess this conversation that Louise Bourgeois telling a beautiful lies to the interviewer, Paulo Herkenhoff and me. Inside my overview of her works, my opinion is that I can’t link up a neutral analysis of her about her own mind or other people’s mind, but with anger and explosive intuition towards suffering. She was screaming out the suffering through her works so directly. 

She was not doing the Psychoanalysis of herself but offer a pathway for others to do the Psychoanalysis to her. In side her works, even we could not saw real male or female body but through the setting of some her installation works, we can saw a setting, a visual path and logic that she make a clear attitude towards suffering and body. For example, inside her installation works “I do” 1999-2000, Steel, Stainless Steel, Fabric, Glass and wood, 1651 x 600 x 600 cm, “I undo” 1999-2000 Steel, Stainless Steel, wood, glass and epoxy, 1300.5 x 450 x 350.5cm, and “I redo” 1999-2000 Steel, Stainless Steel, Marble, Fabric, Glass and wood, 1750 x 889.5 x 600cm which can show a clearly explanation towards her lies. All these three individual installation was places inside Turbine Hall, Tate Modern of London in 2000 , which combined into a site-specific physical settings, this is a huge complete piece to me. All these three installation works, which have a long circular staircase that can, allow three separate people to climb up to the top or one person to go up one by one. At the top, there is a chair also can allow a people to sit there. Let’s think about this scenario. Long staircase need body energy to climb up to a height of at least 1651cm high and there is only one chair to allow one person to sit there who are separate him or her away from others, like a sky high prison. In my opinion, this is exactly seating to suffering my body and even my soul. In addition, Louise Bourgeois gave them names with a meaning of her will to do this, not to make the installation only, but also offered a meaning of a logic linkage with her willingness to invite the audience to interpret suffering to her own body and other people’s body through the physical experiencing of this set up. These experiences may in order to create a Trauma in our life after experiencing this installation’s setting. 

In addition, there are also many other works that involved gender identities as the platform of representation for the topic of “Suffering Body”. She implied body parts like male and female sex organ – pennies, vagina and breast. Her treatment of jamming body parts or using a signal part as subject matters for her sculpture works. She transforming sexual organs into her sculpture by “embodies the notion of the activity of sculpture as a sublimation of the painful and fulfilling acts of lovemaking and giving birth” as mention by Adrian Piper, an art critic professional . 

In my conclusion to Louise Bourgeois treatment and hidden attention, I also strongly believe that this problematic was particularly significant for Louise Bourgeois that dealing with or dealt with, but, I also cannot say that she was not true to her work and experience. Her handling of her work is very great to me and offers a great opportunity for me to learn from this great master about the treatment towards the theme of “Suffering Body” through the above analysis journey inside this writing. But her attitude is a bit defensive, not like Francis Bacon ‘s openness to acknowledge his practices are towards suffering body issue comparatively.

Bibliography:

1) M.Scott Peck, The Road less Travelled, Arrow, 1990

2) David Sylvester, Francis Bacon The Human Body, Hayward Gallery and the University of California Press, 1998

3) Wieland Schmied, Francis Bacon Commitment and Conflict, Prestel Plublishing Ltd., 2006

4) Charles Rycroft, A Critical Dictionary of PHYCHOANALYSIS, Penguin Books LTD., 1995

5) Robert Storr /Paulo Herkenhoff/ Allan Schwartzman, Louise Bourgeois, Phaidon Press Limited, 2004

6) Robert T. Buck, Charlotta Kotik, Terrie Sultan, Christian Leigh, Louise Bourgeois, The Locus of Memory, Works 1982-1993 Catalogue, Harry N. Abrams, Inc and The Brooklyn Museum, 1994 

7) Louise Bourgeois: Stitches in Time, Irish Museum of Modern Art, 26 November 2003 to 22 February 2004, http//www.nyartsmagazine.com/louisebourgeois.html (access 13 Nov, 07)

Untitle

Paradise

Cityscape

Attirement of the Bride (L'habillement de l'épousée (de la mariée)), 1940. Oil on canvas, 51 x 37 7/8 inches. Peggy Guggenheim Collection. 76.25

Written by Michael Chan 2007.

Max Ernst (April 2, 1891 – April 1, 1976) is one of the master artists that I admired. He has study in University of Bonn in liberal arts, but self-taught as a Surrealism painter. He also was an artist with different knowledge in Germanic and Romance languages and literature, art history, psychology and psychiatry[1]. “He was interest in seditious philosophy and unorthodox”[2]. I believe that these background which help one artist to have more layers of complexity in building of the content of artworks and new-way of thinking in representation. With these backgrounds not mean a crucial formula of success in art world. But with his braveness of getting out of the existing constraint and the existing boundary of art history and critic at his time maybe a critical inside elements that make him as one of the great and successful artist within his own lifetime. In addition, Max Ernst attract me was he has applied the method of dream interpretation and the discipline of psychoanalysis which influence by Sigmund Freud’s “Leonardo” essay[3] that make the content and visual contain a special atmosphere which I believe that other artist has did not have. With reference to the book Max Ernst by Ulrich Bischoff, Taschen, Ulrich said “The conscious incorporation of insights gain from reading “The Interpretation of Dreams” and the ”Jokes and their Relationship to the Unconscious” distinguishes Ernst from other artist of the Dada period…”[4] also coherent with my personal experience towards Max Ernst. In my journey of studying art, I am finding ways of representation and reordering my unconscious into my artwork and using sex appeal as the part of my representation of my own scare about future.  Max Ernst did a good example to me. He rejected the narrow bourgeois view of culture at his time and make good use of unconscious[5]. I believe that here is a relationship of his background and interest in Freud’s theories. All these have lead to my supportive thinking towards my own intention to find a piece of artwork by Max Ernst inside the collection from Guggenheim.

In this assignment, I have choose Attirement of the Bride (L'habillement de l'épousée (de la mariée), 1940 by Max Ernst. I choose this painting for my discussion because I can identify this is a good art, not because Guggenheim Museum has collected this painting. Other than the visual itself, the creation of this painting give me a sense of consciousness of expressing himself, even though he may have apply unconscious inside his painting. With reference to R.G. Collingwood, he identify good art is truthful and consciousness[6]. Collingwood have said that “…. To raise the psycho-physical activity of painting to the level of art by becoming conscious of it, and converting it from a physical experience into an imaginative one.” In addition, Collingwood also mention “What the artist is trying to do is to express a given emotion. To express it and to express it well, are the same thing” I believe that the outbreak of World War II has a deep influence in Max personally. In 1939/40, Max has arrested after Germany advance in France. He has escaped and was arrested again several times before he flee to America, with the help from Peggy Guggenheim, who was an influential sponsor of arts and Max’s close friend[7]. The impression and the actual affection by World War II were given an emotion against his personal safety and raise the concern of about where is a good place for him to continue his art career, which was his future. Inside this painting, Max want to express his view of political consciousness with a hidden reference to the dangers involved in a marriage of French Bride to the German Barbarian[8]. He had shown untruthfulness with the war and Nazism.

This painting was a totally different from the pervious artwork and the coming artwork by Max Ernst himself. This is the 2^nd last painting that he created in Europe before he flees to America. Inside this painting, Max constructed the visual with repeating of sex organ from female and male many times in addition with birdman – which he called Loplop[9], the alter ego that he has invented in 1930[10] inside his painting Loplop introduce Loplop.  Using contrast of color of green and red to separate the bride and the birdman which I believe that Max want to contradicting the behind meaning of these two subject matter, with addition of a little monster combining of male and female with a sad face which represent the meaning of a baby that will born by them and will sad about the future world. This point that I have mention in the early paragraph that I am also interested in using sex appeal to represent my scare of my own future.

In addition, I found some clue to my query about why this painting was fall into the Collection of Guggenheim Museum. Inside my research, I found that Peggy Guggenheim want to acquire artworks from Max in 1938. Because the World War II is near and with the help by an American journalist Varian Fry, Max and Peggy Guggenheim flee to America and arrive in America in 1941, then, Max and Peggy were married the following year[11]. I believe that this might be an underlying reason other than Max was a talented artist.

Bibliography:

1. Charles Harrison & Paul Wood, New Art in Theory 1900-2000, Anthology of changing Ideas, Blackwell Publishing, 2002

2.Ulrich Bischoff, Max Ernst, Taschen, Germany, 2005

3. Michael Clarke, Concise Dictionary of Art Terms, Oxford University Press 2003

4. Max Ernst, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Guggenheim Museum http://www.guggenheimcollection.org/site/artist_work_md_45_2.html (Access 13 Sept, 07)

5. Surrealism (Up-dated 1978) Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Guggenheim Museum

http://www.guggenheimcollection.org/site/artist_bio_35.html(access 13 Sept, 07)

6 Giorgio de Chirico (Up-dated 1978) Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Guggenheim Museum http://www.guggenheimcollection.org/site/artist_bio_35.html (access 13 Sept, 07)

 

 

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[1] Ulrich Bischoff, Max Ernst, Taschen, Germany, 1987:7-8

[2] Ulrich Bischoff, Max Ernst, Taschen, Germany, 1987:8

[3] Ulrich Bischoff, Max Ernst, Taschen, Germany, 1987:14

[4] Ulrich Bischoff, Max Ernst, Taschen, Germany, 1987:15

[5] Ulrich Bischoff, Max Ernst, Taschen, Germany, 1987:20

[6] Charles Harrison & Paul Wood, Art in Theory 1900-2000, An Anthology of changing ideas, Blackwell Publishing, 2003:536-539

[7] Ulrich Bischoff, Max Ernst, Taschen, Germany, 1987:64

[8] Ulrich Bischoff, Max Ernst, Taschen, Germany, 1987:64

[9] http://www.guggenheimcollection.org/site/artist_work_md_45_2.html

[10] Ulrich Bischoff, Max Ernst, Taschen, Germany, 1987:49

[11] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Ernst