From East To West

Liu Xiao Xian’s exhibition ‘From East to West’ at the RMIT gallery explored eastern and western culture and how Liu Xiao Xian fit into them. The gallery was set up in three rooms. I didn’t really like this as I felt it disconnected the work but obviously this is just the way the gallery is set up and can’t be helped. I also didn’t like how the work seemed to go backwards in chronological order when you viewed it. His oldest work was in the smallest room which was the one you saw last. I’m not sure if this was the intentional set up but I personally would have preferred to see his early works when there were the government problems in China and he became a refugee, before the others as I think this would have explained his story better.

My favourite work was ‘Our Gods’ created in 2000. The artwork was two large images of Jesus and Buddha made up of 18 panels of lambda prints; each being 300x 300 cm. Jesus’ faces is made up of thousands of tiny Buddha faces and vice versa for the Buddha image. I like the strong colours used in these works also. From looking at these two images, you can see the contrast between the two cultures. Buddha is smiling, like he always is, and Jesus is looking sad obviously as this is an image of him being crucified. The contrast is the views and outlook from the two different cultures and how their followers live their lives.

I also liked the artwork ‘Lock’ made in 1990. This was a series of a photo, mainly in black and white and sepia tones, but also incorporated blues and oranges in them. The photos showed a face with the eye and mouth stitched shut. This was representing him being silenced at the time in China when the communist Mao was in charge. I thought the way he made this artwork was very meaningful as it shows his pain and frustration at the time in China. It must have been horrible to be living there at the time and especially since he was forced to leave as a refugee.

I think the way Liu Xiao Xian went about creating his artwork and expressing his image was very interesting and effective. I liked how he represented the mixture of cultures and him trying to fit in through the family portraits in various western landmarks. I also like his use of various mediums such as film, photography and sculpture. I especially liked the two sculptures of the human body representing the east and west. At first I didn’t understand this but once I was told that the bronze had the pressure point markings used for acupuncture all over I was able to see the contrast between the two cultures he was trying to portray.

Overall, Liu Xiao Xian’s work was very successful, leaving the viewer thinking about the meaning and stories behind what you immediately see.

Ellen Lupton

What I took from Ellen Lupton’s talk is that we are continuously changing design, trying to make it ‘better’ with all these new features. However, like she said, we are simple messing up a good thing. We don’t need our toaster to poach eggs or be ovens, they were made for one thing and that’s making toast.

I think our generation is focused on inventing the new and the better technologies and we as consumers keep buying because we want the best gadget out there but what we really need is the original concept for which it was made. This is like with the toaster her husband bought her, it may have looked the best and been the best technology yet it didn’t even work.

Another point she made was that whenever we design something, it affects consumer’s behaviour. We know as students, when working on an assignment, we have an audience that we are designing for and we create a design that will appeal to them and make them feel a certain way. She showed this with the toilet roll dispenser. A simple object can create such emotion. With the spring dispenser, we are filled with rage because it is so much more difficult to use whereas a simpler design leaves us calmer as we can do it quicker.

She also made the point of designing for our own comfort. We design things so that consumers are more comfortable with the product and themselves. This was like with the luggage. Even though others may be uncomfortable with the amount of space it takes up, we aren’t because we can’t see it.

Overall, she shows how design affects all our lives, even those who are unaware, and continues to push the point that design in its simplest form is most effective.

Hello friends