At the Henry: Cao Fei and Yang Fudong: the dream time of business as usual
In a good economy with a sold middle class, factory work seems dreary. Is this all there is? What about my hopes and dreams? In a bad economy with an eroded middle class, whatever factory work remains is an enviable a safe haven. As Bob Dylan put it in Tangled Up in Blue, "lucky just to be employed."Cao Fei's My Future Is Not A Dream has a human-clog-in-the-machine feeling without the usual rage or desperation, because in this video, each clog is conscious of his/her contribution. Then there's the magic: A ballerina appears en pointe as a dying swan and, in the next scene, as a sorter of light bulbs. A man with a clip board takes up the dance, and so does a women in jeans.
My Future Is Not A Dream is not the alienated surreal of Doug Aitken or the worker advocacy of Allan Sekula. It is a homage to those who make things with their hands and dream with their hearts, in Mark Twain's words, those "valuable personages; the workers, they that make the bread the soft-handed and ide eat."
As Jacob Lawrence said about his Builders series:
There is always an effort to express the universal beauty of man's continuous struggle to lift his social position and to add dimension to his spiritual being.
Yang Fudong's City Lights is a madcap improvisation of the classy noir mood of French gangster films.
Men in dark suits peer around the edge of buildings, guns raised. They hold umbrellas and dance in office buildings in the shaded light of venetian blinds. Some hold guns, umbrellas and partners, others pretend the props are in their hands, that they're not alone and ridiculous. Multiple short films by Cao Fei and Yang Fudong are at the Henry through Oct. 4.
About
Regina Hackett ... is the former art critic for the former Seattle P-I. I loved that job every day, but it's gone and I've moved on. As they say in the movies, to infinity and beyond.
more
Contact me Click here to send me an email... more
Blogroll
HENRY ART GALLERY
On View: Ann Lislegaard - the clean edge of a remote space
On View: Portrait Photographs from the Collection: Inside Out
On View: Jasper Johns: Light Bulbs
On View: Jeffry Mitchell & Tivon Rice: the Polymorphous Perversity of Shaving Cream
TARGET PRACTICE: PAINTING UNDER ATTACK 1949-78 (SEATTLE ART MUSEUM)
On View: Target Practice: REVIEW
Target Practice: Yoko Ono - refusing to follow her instructions
Target Practice: The Vagina Painting
Target Practice: David Ross defends Yoko Ono
Target Practice: Onward from Lynda Benglis: what is poured, puffed and curled on the floor
Target Practice: Text stands alone: its ubiquitous presence in contemporary art
Target Practice: Richard Jackson in action at SAM
Also on view at SAM: Odd Man Out Andrew Wyeth
THE PUPPET SHOW (FRYE)
On View: Dominance and submission - I'm your puppet (REVIEW)
Nathalie Djurberg - Manet through Travis Bickle eyes
Seattle's Mr Puppet on the outside looking in
Puppets at the Frye - baby please don't go
Prelude to a puppet: the catalog (Hello Dave)
· Artdish
· Best Of
. Eva Lake
· Hank
· Olympia Dumpster Divers· Page 291
. Power Slice
SEATTLE GALLERIES
. Cairo
· Grey
. Ohge Ltd
· Platform
· Punch
· Soil
· Traver
SEATTLE ART SPACES
· Open
Satellite
· Photographic
Center Northwest
· Wright
Exhibition Space (No Web Site)
SEATTLE (AND REGIONAL) ART MUSEUMS
· Museum of Contemporary
Craft
· Whatcom Museum of
History and Art
SEATTLE (AND REGIONAL) ARTIST WEBSITES
· William E Elston
· Chris Engman
· erico
· Troy Gua
· Eva Lake
· Oregon Department of Kick
Ass
· SeaShow
. 39 Forks
· Dan Webb
· XOM
EVERYWHERE ELSE BLOG LINKS
· ANABA
· ARTADOX
. Artblog
· Artinfo
· Art Vent
· Bloggy
· Contrariwise: Literary Tattoos
· Everything Everywhere All Of The
Time
. Eyeteeth
· foto08
· Freese
· Greg.Org
. Los Angeles County Museum On Fire
· Rhizome
. Sustainable Practice in the Arts
· Trrill
· VVORK
AJ Ads
AJ Arts Blog Ads
Now you can reach the most discerning arts blog readers on the internet. Target individual blogs or topics in the ArtsJournal ad network.
Advertise Here
AJ Blogs
AJBlogCentral | rssculture
Terry Teachout on the arts in New York City
Andrew Taylor on the business of arts & culture
rock culture approximately
Laura Collins-Hughes on arts, culture and coverage
Richard Kessler on arts education
Douglas McLennan's blog
Dalouge Smith advocates for the Arts
Art from the American Outback
For immediate release: the arts are marketable
No genre is the new genre
David Jays on theatre and dance
Paul Levy measures the Angles
Judith H. Dobrzynski on Culture
John Rockwell on the arts
Jan Herman - arts, media & culture with 'tude
dance
Apollinaire Scherr talks about dance
Tobi Tobias on dance et al...
jazz
Howard Mandel's freelance Urban Improvisation
Focus on New Orleans. Jazz and Other Sounds
Doug Ramsey on Jazz and other matters...
media
Jeff Weinstein's Cultural Mixology
Martha Bayles on Film...
classical music
Fresh ideas on building arts communities
Greg Sandow performs a book-in-progress
Exploring Orchestras w/ Henry Fogel
Harvey Sachs on music, and various digressions
Bruce Brubaker on all things Piano
Kyle Gann on music after the fact
Greg Sandow on the future of Classical Music
Norman Lebrecht on Shifting Sound Worlds
publishing
Jerome Weeks on Books
Scott McLemee on books, ideas & trash-culture ephemera
theatre
Wendy Rosenfield: covering drama, onstage and off
Chloe Veltman on how culture will save the world
visual
Public Art, Public Space
Regina Hackett takes her Art To Go
John Perreault's art diary
Lee Rosenbaum's Cultural Commentary
Tyler Green's modern & contemporary art blog

4 Comments
Leave a comment