Domestic Transformer

A big wow crossed my lips upon watching Gary Chang's mind-bending apartment. Chang, an architect in Hong Kong, gives a whole new dimension to an apartment that's merely 344 square feet. Through the use of sliding panels and walls he is able to sleep, eat, and even enjoy a late sunset in the same area of space.

Sliding panels and walls are longstanding architectural concepts in Asia. Korean palaces often consisted of interlinked chambers that could be joined by moving aside sliding doors, that would then create a banquet hall for special occasions.

Chang's idea merges such traditional concepts for the modern urban environment, while living green by making do with less.

Urban Gawkers of China

i like people. from blank on Vimeo.

I really enjoyed this concept video by Eric Leleu, on view at Art Labor Gallery Shanghai until June 10. The random walks of tourists, you discover, are actually set in a predetermined pattern, destined to take souvenirs photos by Tiananmen, the Temple of Heaven, and other iconic Beijing monuments.

Who says people aren't predictable?

Shanghai As Muse

I just came back from a fascinating panel on Asian Americans in the Media at Barnard College. Aside from the heavy representation in hip-hop, which I thoroughly enjoyed,there was also an unusual talent whose fusion jazz music is bringing his musical interpretation of Shanghai to an American audience.

Dave Liang gave up a career in management consulting to create the Shanghai Restoration Project, an electronic music initiative that's putting together excerpts of Shanghai '20s jazz music and splicing it with traditional Chinese instruments and the beats of hip-hop.

His music is evolving, but only because he's just starting to discover himself. I especially like this NPR interview and the accompanying video, because it gives his music a more definitive context.

Floating World

Art! Who comprehends her?
With whom can one consult concerning this great goddess?
—Ludwig van Beethoven

There's so much about art I know so little of, which is why pieces that connect me for a brief moment to a kindred soul is a gift. Guo Hongwei's deceptively simple works of everyday objects bring a redeeming glow to the mundane world of electric plugs and plastic stools. So much talent in a 27-year old makes me wonder where he'll be 5 or 10 years from now.





The supposition that art is a gift as opposed to a collectible, something that doesn’t try to sell you anything, runs counter to our contemporary notions of what constitutes a meaningful exchange.
-Lewis Lapham

The gallery business in New York is probably not at the apex of its profit margin, which according to one art dealer I spoke to, is for the better, especially for "those overinflated Yue Minjuns."

While this dealer is a respected expert in the field, I paused and reflected on that statement. We live in a time when a highway robber can no longer hold us at gunpoint, demanding us to choose between "your money or your art," because these are now indistinguishable commodities. It's time to consider the possibilities: will we be exchanging shares of art on a stock exchange? Going long on the formaldehyde sharks, and shorting the images of red-faced Chinese?



Then again, I guess hard times for the art-collecting rich don't call for such explicitly wide smiles. It cuts a little too close to the bone.

Guo Hongwei's works are on view at Chambers Fine Art from April 1st to May 15th