art for art's sake

My first art show, though short-lived, was a personal success. I built my city, placed more than 300 people outside the city wall, and hung a bleeding red star from a crane. My piece was dynamic and could have been interpreted in a number of different ways.

I took my inspiration from my travels through China, current events, and my own life-experiences. I had a strong reaction to the yellow star on the Vietnamese flag, and the red star that appears on Chinese soldier uniforms and hats. The red star seems to be the symbol of communism, but my reaction was stronger than a mere association. In response to the lack of resources that were available to me, I found local materials to complete my project. I collected plastic bottles from my classmates. Since there is no potable tap water, I was able to acquire a number of bottles in just a few days. I decided to paper-mache the bottles in order to make the project mostly monochrome, which is an artistic style I enjoy. I was able to get my hands on a stack of old Chinese newspapers. I looked like a homeless lady, collecting empty bottles and old newspapers. It was only embarrassing when empty bottles would fall out of my bag and people would confusedly pick them up for me.

I knew that building a crane out of bottles would be challenging and would not result in the aesthetic I desired. I found a small hardware store near the hotel/dorm we were staying in and Sylvan helped me buy a good length of medium gauge wire, some pliers/snippers, and a bowl. Glue was hard to find so I found a recipe for paper-mache that calls for only flour and water. I went to a grocery store and found a bag of flour.

The days leading up to the art show were stressful. The day of the show was equally, if not more, stressful. There was a bit of controversy about my project. A few people voiced concern that I might offend Chinese people with the red star over the city. Sylvan and I had a long conversation that night. We talked about whether or not I should change my project, what that meant to me and my project, and whether or not art should be offencive. Normally, when someone tells me I can't do something, I find a way around it but since we're in a foreign country, I'm much more willing to compromise.

In an attempt to be sensitive to my surroundings and to the people that had shown me such generosity, I began thinking of other ways to express myself through my art. Since the star seemed to be the real issue, I started thinking of other 'stars' to hang over the city. A quick mental-search yielded limiting results: 1. The star of David: incredibly offensive to a people who have undergone great tragedy, also really not the message I was trying to send. 2. The North star (star of Bethlehem), which strangely resembles a cross, also not the message I was trying to send. I constructed the North star and toyed with the idea of using it. I even hung it at the installation but, being that I really didn't want to make a religious statement, I decided to go with my original idea and my original five-point star. I poured red ink over my beautiful star. It dripped onto the city, the red boldly contrasting the black and white print. A few people were still concerned about the red star. I took quite a bit of heat for that decision, but felt good because I refused to compromise the integrity of my artwork.

The thing I did compromise on was the title of my piece. Although "One world. One dream." was more than fitting, China is proud of the fact that they hosted the 2008 Olympics. I decided to choose a name I felt would be ambiguous enough to stir curiosity. I called my bleeding utopian city "Beautiful."

Going back to the conversation that Sylvan and I had when I was initially faced with the 'red star' dilemma: I have often struggled with the idea of meaningful art and art for art's sake. I have never been an artist but now that I've been faced with the challenge of creating something for other people to see and experience, I've decided that I don't want to force people into seeing or feeling something. I want to create art that is meaningful to me and somewhat meaningful to other people. It is my hope that my art means different things to different people and that there is no perceivable intended meaning.

So I built my city, placed more than 300 people outside the city wall, and hung a bleeding red star from a crane. I will leave the interpretation up to you.