Dreams from China

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am currently working on a three-part exhibition of more aesthetically inclined black and white print projects from the last few years.  The section "Dreams from China" comes from my travels in China and is more documentary, but still shows in camera manipulation and compositional choices.  Images included are from Beijing, Henan province, Huang Shan, Shanghai, and Xi'an.  Unusual for me, all three series are small (7.5" x 10") black & white prints, matted and framed for $300 each.  A few of these images were used in the one-of-a kind "China Re-Collections" at a larger size and with additional mementos, text, and 'Oriental' paper.  Look for them to be coming to a gallery or museum near you or contact me.

China Re-Collections

Gushi

Huang Shan

Urban vs. Rural China

Xi'an

Tibet

Huangpu River

 

Terracotta Army

Da Cien Si

Shanghai

I went traveling in China during the summer of 2006. I wasn't touring as I was going from friend to friend or their relatives and acquaintances avoiding touristy places trying to experience China instead of tour buses. I instead used trains, domestic airlines and buses.

The photographs I took were originally in color and the travelogue texts in the piece are actually from my observation or interpretation of what could be from generic travel books. I kept and collected almost everything and anything so I would have clues to my experiences. Several months later while reviewing my photos I saw some rural farmhouses with scrolls over their mantelpieces (a place of honor in the home with ashes of ancestors or house gods) that depicted values or places of pilgrimage that they wished to go to once in their lifetime. In the cities the billboards and buildings with windows that had video advertisements were the graphic art selling everything and anything (taxicabs advertised breast enhancement surgery or facial reconstruction around the eyes for females).

The scroll format adapted to one of my favorite artists, Joseph Cornell, gave me the idea of presenting my scrolls in shadowboxes as re-collections of the China I experienced. Being that the Re-collections are things that I collected in China they are one-of-a-kind collections / assemblages and are priced in an escalating range as pieces sell. Originally there were 44 pieces so as availability decreases the price increases as the pieces are not reproducible.