Matthew Harris: "Beyond China" at the Hyde Park Art Center
In the exhibition, "Beyond China" at the Hyde Park Art Center, artist Matthew Harris explores the gap between traditional Chinese heritage and the country's rapid Westernization (via its modern free-market economy.)
He conveys this rapid change by silkscreening modern images onto the cross-sections of ceramic busts (traditional Chinese statuary figures). This particular bust, which represents one in a series, makes me think of the baseball scene from Don Delillo's book, "Mao II." If you haven't read it, parents pack into a baseball stadium to watch their children get married down on the ballfield. The couples file in by the hundreds, and the parents struggle to find their children amidst the phlanx of young couples on the field.
Harris conveys the faceless masses that are lost in the country's radid economic development, which emphasizes profit above individual human rights and environmental concerns.
The exhibit speaks volumes, particularly in terms of the tension between preserving traditional Chinese art forms and rapid economic development, which tends to replace authenticity with sterile, glass cubes. (Think Mies Van der Rohe's "International Style.")
The exhibition reception will be held at the art center on July 19, 2009 from 3 to 5 PM.
（来源：Examiner，点击参看译文）
