China Blog 6: National Art Museum

On Thursday of the week in Beijing, Cheney had an important office meeting to attend, and Heather had a class, so I had the morning to myself.  I screwed up my courage and decided to take the subway to the National Art Museum, all by myself.  The subway was right down the street from their apartment, and the signage in the subway was in both Mandarin and English.  I had my passport, my subway pass, and a note from Cheney with some questions translated, so off I went. I expected to see a lot of "Long March" and general propaganda, but as it turned out, the museum was having a biannual art display with artists from all over the world, and the theme was one-world and saving the planet.  And it was terrific.

Beijing's subways: modern, fast, safe

Everyone has a cell phone.  Almost no one carries cash or a credit card, they

all pay everything by phone.

Cheney kindly provided me with a few translations:

Where is the restaurant?

Where is the restroom?

Where is the coffee-shop?

The National Art Museum

George Gavriel (Cyprus)

"Microcosm"

Ghongchong Cao (China)

"Nightmare - Sin"

Bingdi Huang (China)

"The Placed Where Dreams Begin"

Jian Wang (China)

"The Fascinated Series: Watching Colville"

Guanyi Jing

"The Melody - The Fusion"

Vasko Tashkovski (Northern Macdedonia)

"The Future in Our Hands"

Wang Renhua (China)

"Splendorous"

Wang Junling (China)

"Stories of the Reed Marshes-2"

Kang Hyunah (Korea)

"Seeing Mountain's Colors from a Distant View"

Jorge Perugachy (Ecuador)

"Sharing Colors: No.1"

Shygaev Yuristanbek (Kyrgyzstan)

"A Woman with a Lamp"

Leszekk Piotrowski Lesstro  (Poland)

"Majorelle Garden"

Vasil Sumarau (Belarus)

"My House"

Ma Jun (China)

"Fate of Another Lifetime"

Teody Boylie R.  Perez  (Philippines)

"Contrast of Life"

Lee Sin Bee  (Malaysia)

"Hand Sewing"

Yu Wanying (China)

Aegean Sea Series: Reflections on Aegean Sea"

detail of above

Thanks to Cheney's translations, I found the restaurant. 

The sandwich was about $4.  The coffee was about $6.

And back to the show. 

Jean-Francois Larrieu (France)

"Tree of Life"

Irami Bulimaivale (Fiji)

"The Kiss"

Hayfa Suyfian Ahmed Aidhafari

"Give Sanan a Peaceful Country"

Abel Ghebray Frezghi (Eritrea)

"Mother"  (Oil painting)

Sofia Fotiadou  (Greece)

Untitled

Lauren McCracken  (U.S.A.)

"Table at the Window"

Daj Hol (Norway)

"Crescent Iceberg"

Shawn Faust (U.S.A.)

"Return"

Diaz Castedo (Spain)

"The Basins of Don Quixote"

Luke Samvel Stevens (U.K.)

"The Owl"

Alejandro Ramirez Barboza (Costa Rica)

"Playing with Dolls"

(All of the artworks had explanations about the inspiration for the work, etc., and they were all written by someone who

tried to write as nice as they could.  This work was pretty different from every thing else in the show, to say the least.  It must have been a struggle for the individual writing this explanation. I quote you what was said:

"This work is based on the themes of gender, tolerance and respect.  These themes are represented by analyzing human

bodies.  For its realization the artist developed a style that was based on three-dimensional compositions made with

layers of paper.  Each piece was cut separately and then assembled by hand."

Huh? Wha?

Ahmed Alabdrabainabi  (Saudi Arabia)

"Life is a Palm Tree"

After lunch, Cheney came and got me, and we took the subway to the Olympic Park (next Blog).