Song Dong Opinion Piece
Song Dong is another innovative contemporary Chinese artist who allows both cultural and personal experiences to shape and influence his artistic practice. Song Dong is well known for the recent large-scale site specific installation ‘Waste Not’ (2013 Carriage works Sydney). ‘Waste Not’ is an original and individual work that is composed over 10,000 quotidian objects including old toys, threadbare clothes, plastic bags, (folded into neat triangles like origami) and hundreds of empty plastic bottles composed and categorized depending on their function. The installation was initially created to comfort his mother during the death of her husband, Song Dong’s father, even though his father was never enthusiastic like Song Dong’s mother Zhoa Xiangyuan of Song Dong’s artwork and love of art. Zhoa Xiangyuan had a hoarding problem, which enhanced with the process of grief; she lived a life of valuing material possessions, which had seemingly little significance. After the death of Zhao Xiangyuan, the piece became a memorial to both parents, but the death of Zhao took a real impact on the artwork because Zhao used to sit on a couch in the middle of the artwork and explain objects significance to the audience and the audience used to approach and tell Zhoa how the artwork related to themselves. So in a way Zhao was one of the main parts of the artwork. The sheer vastness of the objects explicitly comments on cultural experiences of commercialization in contemporary China, whilst implicitly symbolizes Song Dong’s parents experience during the Cultural Revolution where there was fear of extreme shortages, thus items were kept with the intention of being re-used. The artwork can represent junk translating into beauty if treated with aesthetic respect and the idea that a use of an infinite number of pieces of ‘junk’ challenges the notions of artisanship and the expectations of art. This artwork is a typical piece of Song Dong’s theme and the way he portrays his art work in a contemporary and individual way just like his artwork ‘A City Of Biscuits’. Over three days, Song Dong constructed an installation and ephemeral city of biscuits, which was a high concept artwork, it was a case of non-art materials and was uninhibited in the fact it was edible objects used as artwork. Both artworks used quotidian objects and are described as an installation artwork. As Song Dong said about his art ‘A City of Biscuits’, “They don't just look at my art, they consume it," As he ordered them to eat the artwork on the final day of the exhibition. I think that this can also compare to ‘Waste Not’ in a way that Song Dong creates art that the audience can really relate to or feel involved with. In regards to ‘Waste Not’, the audience feels more connected to the art due to the ability of being able to physically walk around the art, they experience it and they can relate back to their own childhood memories or there own experiences of the Cultural Revolution so in a way the audience is also consuming ‘Waste Not’. In both artworks I feel as those Song Dong has created them for someone else other than himself, ‘Waste Not’ is in memory of his father and a reflection for his mother at the same time as creating a reminiscent journey for the audience and the ‘City Of Biscuits’ is also a reflection of memories for the audience. The meaning behind “A City Of Biscuits’ is that “It is about the transitory nature of our lives," continued Song. "In Asia now, cities grow up in a day. You remember the city one way, and then it is gone." This quote from Song Dong completely sums up the meaning behind ‘A City Of Biscuits’ as Song Dong is expressing that the world is revolving so quickly that the city you once grew up knowing is gone, re-identified into something you have never seen before. ‘Waste Not’ implies that nothing should be wasted, resonates particularly with older Chinese generations who experienced the extreme shortages during the Cultural Revolution and explores notions of perception and the ephemeral nature of existence. Song Dong reflected about “Waste Not’ that the artwork “is about the relationships between people and people, people and things and things and things… it talks about love, family and how art could play a role in solving the real problems in our lives.” This definitely suggests that his artwork was created out of emotion and based upon conceptual meanings. As a conclusion I think that Song Dong is at the forefront of contemporary art, he is creating a new and innovative artist that will lead art into a new and contemporary way of existing. |
http://www.eatmedaily.com/2009/07/epic-hoarding-waste-not-by-song-dong-at-the-museum-of-modern-art/
www.eatmedaily.com "Waste Not," Song Dong, 2005 |