Zhang Huan and Allan Kaprow (this might be a little long, my bad :])
As we ended out class the discussion was starting to become more focused on the topic of Zhang Huan merging industrialism and artwork and on the difference between his performance pieces in China and America. I admit I was a bit disappointed to find that some of the pieces he did were not of his own hand, but the idea of making art in a factory is admirable and revolutionary. We discussed how artists have had others work on pieces for them for centuries, but taking advantage of the growing city lifestyle and merging art into it is a new idea that is very intriguing.
Kim (I think?) pointed out that after Zhang Huan came to America his performance pieces seemed to lack purpose. I somewhat agree. I felt that his pieces in China were to test the waters, to see how far he could push the world he lived in to change and how far he could push himself. His earlier works, like the meter on the mountain and the displacement of water seemed more like young children’s science experiments to me. Even his piece with the block of ice was more of a test of self than a piece aimed simply to shock. It was “My America” that I had the most issues with. Maybe I just didn’t “get it”, but I felt it was more for shock value than to push himself or to alter his environment. It felt like it had less of a purpose. The other pieces were about strength and proverbs. This one felt like it was designed with the idea of the audience of Americans and camera wielding press.
I chose to look at the performance artist Allan Kaprow because he didn’t start out with performance arts. Born in New Jersey, he was a very enthusiastic, wild, and expressive painter. I still don’t completely understand the mentality of the performance artist, and figured that with Kaprow I could follow his evolution from what is referred to as a “plastic artist”, or an artist who uses mediums other than himself to do his art, to a “performance artist”. It seems as though Allan Kaprow moved from his overly-energetic visual arts to performance arts because he could no longer express himself to. He found art in every object, and wanted to share that. He started doing so by making assemblages. He found inspiration from other artists, like music from Cage and moving off the canvas from James Pollock. Kaprow wanted to push his art as close as he could towards theatre, because his aim was to so blur the lie between art and reality that it was hard to see the difference. He wanted to involve the audience, and started to do environmental pieces in the 50’s and 60’s. These he coined “Happenings”, which became a very popular term.
I feel Kapron did his performance art to show others that the beauty of art was in every aspect of life, and his happenings forced the audience to pay attention to it. That was, in some ways, his overall message. Everything can be art. His canvas, his writing, a compilation of chairs, his dance, or his song-he say all of these as art.
I think most performance art today is usually done with a political driving force or purely for shock value and press. This is almost ironic, because we are so used to someone trying to shock us and political views being thrown at us in the form of fliers, protests, and performance pieces, that I think American society has become somewhat numb to performance art. I feel Kaprow had more of a true artistic message. He had no hidden agenda, he just genuinely needed to express himself and wanted to share his outlook on life with others. I think such performance art life his would be more useful now. It would be a welcome relief from all the performances that have serious political agendas.
September 29th, 2007 at 7:44 am
I thought i would mention that I got another tour of the Zhang Huan exhibit on Thursday, as part of a luncheon the President of Hunter organized to help establish a closer relationship between our two instituttions. This tour was with the curator of the show, and was a bit more insightful. One of the things she said about the piece with the block of ice was that his intention was to melt the ice. This puts it a little more in line with the Chinese performances- endurance with a purpose, the human body transforming the elements of the natural world. She also mentioned that the early Chinese performances were done in the aftermath of Tianemen Square, and were a political act by poor artists in a particularly repressive period for the arts.
I should also just mention that this artist’s name is Alan Kaprow.
Thanks,
Claudia
October 2nd, 2007 at 10:32 pm
I have to say, I flat disagree with your assessment of Zhang Huan’s American pieces. If anything, the purpose was clearer as it was often politically motivated (i.e. meat suit, “My America,” etc.) While I accept the block of ice was not quite like the other America pieces we saw displayed, it fit his theme of testing himself and his environment (which includes his audience - shock value is testing).
“My America” was a bit confusing at first, but the symbolism was easy to follow when you took a step back. First of all, there are no darkly colored people in the film; its a whole bunch of white people, a few Asian/pacific islanders, and perhaps a few Latinos. While this makes sense because Seattle is a white a city as you can find, it still leaves an impression. He has the people naked and act like animals, perhaps to show what they are really like beneath the facade of wealth and class superiority. Zhang Huan climbs down from the top of the group and sits alone on the floor in the center, as if placed on a pedestal. When he does nothing, they throw bread at him. This may signify a social darwinist ideology of charity to those who are beneath you, along the lines of Carnegie’s “gospel of wealth.”
His pieces in the states represented a freedom he did not have in China: freedom to criticize and mock the government and people of your country. While technically his right to do so is not absolute because he is not a citizen and thus does not receive a constitutional guarantee, he still has more liberty than in his native land.