We had lunch at Huang’s studio. Everyone in the artist community seems to be into photography now, including Li Gang. Both had purchased the same type of used camera in the market, Huang paying $8 and Gang paying $20. Li Gang had set up a dark room in his studio so all of the photographers in the area congregate at the studio to do experimental development work and to talk.

Li Gang’s theory is that every year you should focus on a new area of art. Last year it was wood cuts and this year it is photography. As we were going to the market I must’ve seen 25 separate photographers photographing from a moving vehicle, some with movie cameras but most with traditional non-digital cameras. The current rage in Beijing is based on the recent book published by a European photographer in which he traveled throughout Europe and the United States taking pictures from a moving vehicle. In one instance, a person was shooting movies through the open moon roof of a van. I also saw someone using a traditional twin reflex camera out of the back of a station wagon with the tailgate open and parallel to the road. He was not wearing any kind of seat belt or fastener. I wondered what would happen if the car stopped suddenly.

Although lunch was not heavy by Chinese standards, I realized that I would have no appetite for supper tonight. I wanted to do some more work on cleaning up the last of the small bronze deep sea critters and start on a new woodcut. I also made arrangements with Degao and his wife Grace, who both work at Ivy Zhou’s law firm, to meet them on Tuesday. He was taking the day off and had never been to the new Capital Museum, which opened about two months ago. It is apparently known for a fine collection of Chinese antiquities and historical documents. Since he was taking the day off to do this, I suggested that maybe we should try to do this on Sunday. But he said that he was not sure if the museum is open on Sunday and would be able to do his work before he met me. Since he was taking the day off I suggested that he come out to the artist community to see what was going on in the contemporary art world so he could contrast this with the antiquities at the Capitol Museum.. He and Grace thought this was a good idea so I will see them fairly early on Tuesday morning.

I was too tired and not in the mood to go out to dinner. I decided to do some reading and redraft some of my drawings for the new unit. Zhu Li and I met with a fourth contractor. I immediately recognized his wife , who was the same person who cleaned Lennart’s studio last August. She and her husband were now partners in his new contracting company. They submitted a professionally thought out bid, except for a few omissions. When they bid on the project they did not know that I was the person seeking a contract to build out the unit. She quoted very high prices for the two items not included in the estimate, and this was a turn-off.

Day Eleven

It was extremely hot. I tried to do some work on my new woodcut, but could not properly focus on the project. I then did some work on the computer while my clothes were being washed. I also walked into Sou Jou Cen to buy some more groceries and have some belt loops sewn on a pair of pants I previously purchased in Beijing. I then went for a walk around the SAC compound. It was Sunday and very hot. Almost all the studios were closed, but I found a couple open and talked with the artists. Shui Sehaoqing specialized in colorful landscapes and black and white oil paintings of two or more Chinesee people on motorcycles. Both styles were quite good. Liu Ruowang does resin and clay sculptures, which are variations of the Xian warriors or political persons. They are interesting, but shone in a group reminded me of a collection of porcelain dolls.

After hanging my laundry to dry, I decided to take a break and go to my favorite restaurant in Sou Jou Cen. One hour and three flat tires later, I made it to the restaurant which was empty by then. After a delicious lunch of sweet and sour cold winter cold carrots and a pork and vegetable dish I headed off to Jenny Lu’s and the candy store to replenish my phone and to buy some more groceries. I then got another flat and decided to visit my favorite copy shop where I worked with Adobe software. The young lady that I worked within the past was no longer there. She now worked in downtown Beijing. I felt good for her because she was probably making more money and had a much better chance for promotion but, I will miss working with her. They have replaced her with two new girls who appeared to be about 12 years old and they told me that they were very good.

Next time that I am there I will see if they can locate my files on their system. My file name there is “friend”. I then went off to get yet another flat tire fixed. Rather than trying to patch the tube, I purchased a new tube for 30 RMB. He had to re-drill the valve hole. By the time I got back from the compound the other tire was flat and this tire had lost a lot of air. Later I was told that when it is very hot the thin tires overheat and are very unreliable.

I took a shower to cool before going to an opening in New York Arts. This gallery is on another street in the Arts Village in Hegezhaung where I just rented a unit. Abraham now has two large galleries with a small gallery in between. There was chamber music in the background and beer and soda in the kitchen. One room was devoted to contemporary Chinese painters and sculptors. The other room was a group show featuring four sculptors from Denmark, Israel, Spain and Argentina. There were some interesting pieces and concepts.

The word got out that there was another party in the compound serving cold draft beer and Mongolian BBQ with loud rock and roll music. Eventually everyone ended up at that party being thrown by a Spanish artist. Judas was celebrating his renting that unit, which was only minimally built out and furnished because he had run out of money. But it was a good party. Abraham then took a group of people, including the visiting foreign artists and curator of the show, Fred Liang, to Ta Dun, a/k/a the Garden restaurant, for dinner. I sat with the visiting artists, Kristian’s current girlfriend, Yenni, Fred and Lela, a graduate from the Colombia masters film program, who was now working in Beijing for a new joint venture of Warner Bros. and Sony. Kristian had a lot of good ideas about converting unusual places into galleries, such as a glass cutting store, a shoe store and vacant industrial space.
After we were done with dinner, a bunch of Norwegian artists, who had been drinking at the prior party at Judas’ joined us. They were very hungry and ate all of the food we could not finish and were going to take home. They are big into social democracy and felt that the Europeans and Americans were unfairly taking advantage of China cheap labor, including sculptors. Of course they as painters did not need anyone other than themselves. As a result of the oil and gas in the North Sea and Norway’s social democracy, almost everyone in Norway as well off financially. They wondered if China and would continue on its way of decadent in capitalism at the expense of the abused workers. My response was to order more beer for everyone at the table. Kristian picked up on it and started to discuss where you can place art so people could enjoy it without going to a museum or gallery. People can either look at it or throw it away. It was getting quite rowdy and most of the people were going off to a night club. I decided to go home, call Leslie, read a little and then go to sleep.

Day Twelve

Li Gang’s second contractor met with me that morning. His bid seemed quite low and was very detailed. However, when I went through it item by item I noted that he had left out a number of key items, such as the heating system, the front portico, and the kitchen. Li Gang’s position was that we should finish the first stage of the construction and then we can discuss the cost for these. I said no, I wanted to deal with everyone fairly and I want his quotes for the missing components. What was by far the lowest cost estimate, all of a sudden became the highest cost estimate. I thanked the contractor for his time.

I then went and met with Zhu Li and told her that the two contractors that she had obtained for me were the final two choices and we then discussed the pros and cons of each. I ended up going with Li Kochen, even though he was approximately 20% higher than the other contractor. But I wanted to re-negotiate his overall price to make it lower if possible.
I then spent the afternoon continuing to work on the smaller version of Long and Slender, as well as, the new woodcut. The new woodcut was my vision of a sea animal that lived 500 feet below the surface. I also drafted out the details for the new bookcase unit in the new studio. In China, they do not use nails. The bookshelf in Li Gang’s studio were an excellent example of bricks and wood making up a functional and good looking shelving unit. Essentially when the bricks are at a certain level, the shelf is laid in and then the bricks are built around the shelf and in this way the shelf is strongly anchored. To prevent sagging, the shelf was fairly thick. I wanted that type of shelving unit in my new studio.

Before dinner I met with Li Kochen and Zhu Li and worked out the final details of what was to be constructed, as well as a final price. We shook hands and then I joined Peter Lewis and Brian for dinner at the brand new fish restaurant that had just opened the day before. The staff was extremely helpful because this is a brand new restaurant. But, as often happens in China there is a communications problem. Initially we picked out one fish from the pool. But then we decided that it was too large, and then picked out a different type of fish which was much smaller. Lo and behold when we got to the table and they heated up this special unit at the table to cook the fish in the broth, both fish were delivered. We tried to explain them about the mix up, but ended up deciding to have both fish to avoid a scene. Fortunately Brian had decided to join us, so we had another person to eat the fish and Peter wanted what we didn’t eat to take home and have for lunch the next day. I had an upset stomach that night and it may have been from the fish.

The new fad is pinhole cameras and now everyone congregates at Li Gang’s studio because of his personality and dark room. He is doing interesting things in mixing up different negatives and then developing them to look like abstract art. It seems everyone in the compound is into non-digital photography, and especially pinhole cameras.
The new fad is pinhole cameras and now everyone congregates at Li Gang’s studio because of his personality and dark room. He is doing interesting things in mixing up different negatives and then developing them to look like abstract art. It seems everyone in the compound is into non-digital photography, and especially pinhole cameras.

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