Charles Hecht  
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THE AMERICAN AND CHINESE FLAG SERIES


THE CHINA DIARY PART III: An Artist in Residence
By Charles J. Hecht

This is my third trip to Beijing to participate in the exchange program sponsored by the Pickled Arts Centre. I was met at the airport by Xiao Chen, one of Li Gang's secretaries, and we took a cab back to the arts center. It was good to be greeted by the staff as an old friend. Li Gang was watching a calligrapher from Taiwan, Yang Tze Yung, create some scrolls. Tze Yung had participated in the recent Beijing art exhibit, and sold all of his paintings at the show to one collector and was awaiting payment. He and his friend were each purchasing a unit at the new arts complex being built approximately two miles away. I had seen the land for the complex on my last visit. Li Gang and he were discussing his participation in a joint show in Berlin. I just enjoyed watching the calligraphy.

After he left, Li Gang and I had a chance to catch up with each other and I gave him a book of the recent Rueben's drawings on exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I also gave him my old Jackson ESQ welding helmet so he could do more intricate and accurate welds, while relieving the neck and head pains caused by the constant up-and-down motion of a helmet that is not equipped with a computerized light sensing device. He had asked me to bring him one prior to this visit, but did not have the money for a new helmet which lists for approximately $400 before shipping to China. Since all the rooms in the complex were full, I was assigned a couch for the first night with the understanding that once Brad moved out of his room the next day I would have that room for the rest of my visit. (...)

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THE CHINA DIARY PART II: An Artist in Residence
By Charles J. Hecht

The return trip to Beijing was a gift from Leslie since we had to cancel our dive vacation to the Solomon Islands and Australia. She made all the arrangements for me to use my air mileage to return to Beijing to finish the two sculptures that I had started on my last trip and to start some new projects.
I arrived at approximately 10:30 p.m. Again there was no Li Gang. Fortunately, he answered his cell phone and told me that his uncle was still asleep and I should make my own arrangements to get to the Pickled Arts Centre. Unfortunately, no taxi driver wants to take someone from the airport to Bei Gao because it is too short a ride and there is no assurance of a return fare late at night on a cold winter evening. Li Gang was eventually able to persuade someone from the Travelers Aid office to take me there for 100 RMB. I had to direct them to the Pickled Arts Centre. When we got to Bei Gao it was like a ghost town. Everything was shut down and the there were no people on the streets. The temperature was approximately zero degrees. (...)

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THE CHINA DIARY PART I: An Artist in Residence
By Charles J. Hecht

DAY 1

I arrived at the Beijing airport, but there was no Li Gang. Fortunately, I had his cell phone number and asked the traveler’s aid to call him. He told me that his daughter was sick and that he would be at the airport in 20 minutes, and he wanted me to wait outside at the departure level. Thirty minutes later a large Chinese Van pulled up and we met. He was very cheerful and told me that I was expected the following day.

The Pickled Arts Center is approximately 20 minutes from the airport. On the way we stopped at the grocery store to pick up breakfast supplies. The arts center is located in what is essentially a suburb of Beijing with lots of small shops and other small buildings. The artist commune setup is behind locked wooden gates on a quiet road off the main street. There is a courtyard with individual artist live-in/work-in studio apartments on each side of the initial entrance. The first floor is approximately 25' x 40' with the back having a kitchen and bathroom. You then go up a flight of stairs to two bedrooms covering the back one-third of the space on a deck above a portion of the work area and the kitchen and bathroom. (...)

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Charles Hecht