Ambitions

I was just thinking today, what if I could really make it as a writer. Surpass all the Singaporean writers, whose books, I admit I don't really read a lot about because I find their book synopsis... a little mundane. People don't rave about them and people don't really get themselves on bestseller lists.

The paper kind of looks too new.
The stitching is too hard.
The covers are just photographs or illustrations you can't connect with.
Or perhaps we're just Asian, and the culture was never meant for us to think in this language.
Of English.
It's another man's language.
Isn't it.
You are just scribbles and pen-marks with no sense to them.
You weren't made to write like this.
Write. In. Your. Own. Words.
But all words are borrowed.
How do you string them up and choke the very life out of them
When they aren't even your own property?
You only do that to slaves.
Words can control you, manipulate you
Speeches can convince you, sway you, or down-right
Ignite a passionate fire
Essays can go to the trash bin
Who likes reading them?
News articles tell you the vogue but nothing more
Novels are decent; the most modest of the lot.
But most of them are channels of the cloaca
That is human thought.
Mostly for sewage.
Then some are crotchet-filled dumps.
Then some are just for people like me.
Lusting to live in some big old city that's not here
Sounding just like the latest pop star sensation

I'm going to change that if I can. If I don't dream BIG now, there will never be any dream that I'll fulfill next time.

At the Dentist

With all the crisis going on lately in Japan and the rest of the world, I thought it might be nice to post something vaguely related to calamity but with at least validated humour in it. Don't blame me for this choice of a post, blame that Superfreakonomics book I'm reading now. It's very good.

AT THE DENTIST; notes for a short story

1) enduring the process, and the unfortunate thing of seeing a harried dentist in a blue shirt and black pants (he looked like an average property agent, only without the winning smile and extra layer of material which is a coat) beginning of the ardupus process plus the dreaded air sucker placed perpetually at the corner of your left lip which becomes numb when you realise it takes an effort to close and open them when rinsing your mouth out

2) thinking about literature Okonkwo's role and all and failing miserably, annoyed at Mama's voice from Raisin in the Sun, Dad is silent in the room

3) hoping like anything that I have no cavities

4) GLEE girls and the HAWT dentist, compared to my very old looking in comparison dentist who is my dad's age... ah long deprived teenage dreams

5) After the initial fear is gone; no immediate cavities; what if I made denatal appointments my spa treatments

6) taking the X-ray and feeling like a baby with a sucker in my mouth, fears of electromagnetic waves and all that stuff in the physics text

7) enjoying the whole scaling and polishing

8) x-ray results out and realising that i have a missing wisdom tooth and one that will most likely cause problems (calculating the risks involved and remembering my mother's extraction = not a very sound state of mind)

9) A lecture on the dangers of sweets on my dear back teeth and the possibility of braces (the stark reminder that the kind gentleman who spent the better part of forty minutes peering into my very unsightly mouth and all, just wants to make money out of a very costly aesthetic service which renders the eating of most gummies and sweets impossible, plus no eating of whole apples and difficulties talking as my friend has told me)

that about sums up my hour from two to three today. all the "free" time you get on a holiday week!

My Mom's "Funeral"

I know in Asian cultures and possibly others as well, many exasperated parents will tell their kids "Do you want to see me dead?" whenever the rebellious little twit tries something naughty (and forfeits his Christmas presents). In my home, things are a little bit stranger.

My mom doesn't need to threaten me like that because I'm quite obedient. But she always talks about what she wants me to do for her funeral. Like: I don't want crysenthanums, they look so dead and they don't look nice. Or even more worrying for my future pocket, she wants champagne roses and actual champagne to be served for her funeral.

Sounds more like a wedding reception.

Today probably beats all of her other suggestions.

We were in the car when we passed a procession of people who walk behind the funeral car as a mark of respect (I believe its a Taoist ritual). Like any funeral procession, they were the usual grim faced and grieving category.

My mom had a brain wave.

"For my funeral, I want everyone to be in dancing shoes. They'll dance when following the funeral car."

I'm a filial daughter, and I imagine I'll be in tears at my mother's death, so naturally her tone made me not a little irritated.

"Isn't it kind of strange," I added, going cautiously, because she's quite capricious. "People are going to wonder how horrible the deceased person is, that everyone is ready to celebrate when they die."

Since she started laughing, I ventured on. Hoping that my words would convince her what a bad idea this was.

"And if it rains on that day, the yellow raincoats and yellow umbrellas will come out of nowhere." Thankfully my dad remembers stuff like this better than my mother, and said out loud, just to make sure she understood the joke. "Singing in the Rain"

Actually, it does sound like a good song.

"I'm singing in the rain

our best friend is dead

what a wonderful feeling

I'm happy again."

I think I'm going to make sure instructions for her funeral never make it to her will.

After being cremated, she wants me to bury the ashes in the National Botanic Gardens. I managed to talk her out of throwing the ashes into the sea. If the breeze happens to be blowing towards me, I'm going to be covered in my mother.

The Agony of Finding Information on Asian Artists

Ibrahim Hussein, My Father and the Astronaut, 1970, acrylic.

Question 1a: Using what you know, why do YOU think that Ibrahim Hussein has juxtaposed the image of his father with an astronaut? What is the relationship between the two (also think about the title)?

I think it was used to juxtapose the different cultures and aspirations of different men in the world, more specifically, that of Asian and Western with this painting. The artist's father is most likely a man from a rural village (which comes from the words pisang (banana) and durian mentioned in the painting and his malay kudong worn without a shirt) and it shows the poorer background the artist came from. His father would represent the generation just before the one which is more exposed and accepting towards Western ideas and one which was primarily concerned about keeping the family held together and getting food on the table.

The astronaut conversely represents the Western ideas of gaining more, (the money the camera the film) and of a higher aspiration and knowledge than the father. The technology and modernism attached to the astronaut speaks of crossing new boundaries and things which are unexplored. 

In the same way, Asian views are more conservative, searching more for sustainability than really making it big as the astronaut would in the year 1936 when it's still three decades from the first man on the moon. 

It is possible that the astronaut represents the artist, as the date written on this piece of art was the artist's birth date. The idea that the astronaut's helmet reflects the rural countryside of Malaysia (most likely) probably was to show that this wasn't an entirely Western figure. Since it is most probably a depiction of the Malaysian countryside he grew up in and the title was "My Father and the Astronaut", the astronaut could have been the artist's persona. 

It was the American dream of reaching the moon which the author may have adopted to represent his own differences with his father. The artist most probably faced strong opposition from his father when deciding to become an artist (generally seen as unprofitable at that time) and since he always had a "knack" for art, there would already be this destiny of achievement that could be his. Most people also thought that reaching outer space and the moon was impossible too back in the 1939 period till the Russian team managed to get a contraption into space. So it could have been an analogy to describe his relationship with his father.   

Question 1b: Why do you think that the text that is placed between the figures relates to the artist's birth? Where does the relation lie between this and the rest of the work?

The text refers to the place where he was born in Malaysia and separates itself from the more lofty sayings on the right referring to the "magnificent desolation" and the idea about destiny. I guess it reflects two opposing views which similarly contrast the difference between the older era and the present which is changing (the artist growing up). The artist probably sees himself stuck between the two views of the text, one of the more practical scene of rice fields and where the artist is supposed to make his life and the other a bit more stretched in thinking.

Between the astronaut and his father, it's more of a relation between a comparison of two different viewpoints. One of a more tired, care-worn generation and one with new hope and ideas for tomorrow. The text to the left is more factual and fragmented, like it's not really thought through and symbolises a very simple way of life and language. The text to the right is more thought out and has a more sophisticated air to it. Then it explains the differences between the astronaut and the man.    

Question 2: DESCRIBE the mixed-media artwork:

Answer these questions as a guide for ALL 2-D mixed media works (some questions do not apply to every painting):

• What is the artwork an image OF? (What are the identifiable things IN the artwork?)
• An astronaut with a lot of things hanging off his arms and a more aged man in the rural malay dressing.

• Where are these things located IN the artwork?
• Text and the images.
• Where does the subject of the artwork take place? (in a room, at a festival, etc)
  
• On a piece of maroon colored wall. In a museum explanation chart with a timeline type of background.
• What COLORS are used & what do they look like? (bright, dull, earth tones, etc)
• Earth tones which are duller and white. 
• What type of PERSPECTIVE is used in the artwork?
• Flat, 2D, like a copy and paste of the images onto the background.
• What materials are used? Is there a unique effect that these materials create?
• Paint- a hazy impression and a blend into the background.

• What texture (if any) does the artwork have?
• Flat, wall paint.

The Half an Hour Assignment

1. Mark Dion dulls the line between artist, scientist, and historian. In his artwork,Neukom Vivarium, he focuses on re-creating nature in a lab/classroom-like environment.

a. Recall some of the steps that were used to recreate the environment of a tree underneath the canopy.

1) The fallen tree was found in the forest

2) With the biologists, students, experts, advisors, Mr. Dion collected specimens from the ecosystem existing around the tree. Insects, soil, ferns, moss, leaves, rocks, photo-documentation (done throughout the process)

3)The cranes and transporting vehicles (the type used for trade containers) brought it to the exhibition site.

4)The tree was cut down to size and assembled within the concrete perimeter of the installation with the original soil and the environment inside the canopy remaking the original forest conditions, after which, the canopy with its light filters, sprinklers, water reserves was built around the exhibit. The place is built like a greenhouse around the tree which is preserved to allow the original inhabitants of it found in the forest to continue to exist in the stimulated environment. Drawers like those found in a laboratory and tiles with illustrations of the biodiversity in it were added in.

b. Dion stated that each time this artwork is visited, it would be a different experience. Why is this? (also recall where the work is located).

The artwork is created in an art exhibition space where sculptors and installation artists are exhibiting. The area is also near a more commercial district, so externally, the surroundings are ever changing.

Inside, the biodiversity is continuously growing and changing, because its a living ecosystem. As the tree/log decays, more bacteria, fungi and plants will grow on it. Each time one goes there, there will be a new addition to the artwork.

c. How does this artwork create a commentary on how we treat our environment? Make sure to use supporting elements from the artwork itself, artist intent, and process to justify your answer.

It creates a commentary on how difficult it is for us to recreate the conditions made for ecosystems to function. The thesis of Mark Dion is that despite all the money and technology that humanity has, when we destroy a natural system, it's virtually impossible to get it back. This is emphasized by the great extents of technology and materials that were used to recreate the set-up already made in the natural environment to sustain the standards which the tree used to be in. It's also in a way the idea that we can do something to sustain the environment artificially after we destroyed, however, it will require gargantuan effort to sustain just a small ecosystem as compared to the natural world.

Another aspect of this artwork is that the trees bring life through their death in a continuous cycle of life in the natural environment as the nutrients from the tree sustains all the seeds and smaller life forms now inhabiting it. It's location in the city is to bring something of the world far removed from our daily life closer to the cosmopolitan society to show how much we've lost of the natural world and as a contrast the environment we now have to live in. The exhibit serves then as an informative showroom of the natural habitat, a laboratory of the science involved in the ecosystem and a classroom where the artist hopes visitors will leave with more questions than they had before they experienced the artwork.

For his artwork Rats and Tar, please answer the following:

1. What is the historical background of this work?

Rats were not native to the one of the islands off the coast of Wales. When people visited the island and inhabited it, the rats came along and because of their behavior and the micro-organisms they transported, destroyed many natural species in the island.

The use of tar to coat the rats dates back to the Middle Ages where it was coated on corpses as a sort of retribution and a sign of intolerance. It was similarly done in America when settlers who executed criminals and pirates coated the corpses with tar to preserve them longer for public display, a deterrence to the public and to demean the person the body represents.

The idea of hanging the rats on the tree similarly comes from humanity's horrible history of tying the said criminals to trees as warnings.

2. Depending on who you are, you may find this work humorous or offensive. Dion's work is creating a commentary. What is the work a commentary about, and do you believe that he is successful in getting his point across? Why or why not?

The work was a commentary of how rats was a species which wiped out other species and are as such seen as criminals in natural history. However, a human practice has been used against the animals, which was a warning to people previously. The irony is that the humans were the ones who introduced the rats to the environment in the first place. This work is then a warning to people that we are criminals with regard to the way we treat the environment and that we are no better than the rats, and possibly even worse because the extent of our damage far outstrips the "crime" that the rats were coated and hung up for in the installation.

I think he was successful in provoking people because of his unconventional use of rats' cadavers, and as with the pickled animals, often stimulates a lot of debate among people. But its only as successful as the extent that the viewers are willing to research and know about the criminal execution methods linked with the tar which is a strong symbol about the not so pristine records of the human race. The artwork carries a lot of weight with it but if its taken in the literal sense without any explanation, it is not an easy piece to interpret.

Don't recall the video? Catch it again @ PBS.org. Search Mark Dion.