Finding beauty in the everyday
Erica van Zon spent two months at the Red Gate Gallery in Beijing as part of the Wellington Asia Residency Exchange (WARE). The exchange, jointly run by the Asia New Zealand Foundation and the Wellington City Council, is designed to build links between Wellington and Asia.
For an artist looking for inspiration, Beijing offers a wealth of possibilities – not all of it from the places you’d expect.
“I found Beijing a particularly stimulating city, with an abundance of historical and cultural features that made it an exciting, and vibrant city to make art in.
“Things that could be easily by passed by struck my attention – the Chinese obsession with fruit; specialist shops that sell only one thing, such as sellotape; traditional designs on metal gates; the recycling of almost everything; and small details in artifacts displayed in temples and museums.
“Each major sight was so immense that it needed to be visited twice – the cultural institutions match the scale of the country! I felt like a sponge sucking up a tonne of visual information in a very short time.”
During her residency at Red Gate, van Zon was based at the Bei Gao Studios, a one and a half-hour subway ride from central Beijing.
“A fantastic aspect of being situated outside of the city limits was the fact that the local village, Fei Jia Cun, gave a very insightful and precious view of life in China.
“In the village, daily life happens on the street – there is almost no division between public and private.”
Besides working on her own projects, van Zon spent some time exploring the Beijing art scene, which she described as an eye-opener.
“A whole district, 798, is oriented towards contemporary visual art. It is more popular than the Temple of Heaven as a tourist destination, and this is apparent through the abundance of shops and cafés.
“Other highlights included the many art-related activities run by institutions. A fellow resident and I attended a bike tour of hutong art spaces in Dongcheng. We visited spaces that were not so well-known, and were explained to us in detail. It was a valuable way to uncover some of the more grass-roots initiatives in Beijing.”
The Red Gate gallery also organised many events and outings for the residents to help them make connections, including trips to tea markets and artists' studios - though the flipside was that it sometimes kept them from work.
“Combined with the scale of the city and other more informal outings and meetings, it did take away large chunks of studio time.
“But overall I found the residency offered me the time and space I needed to make new work, be inspired by a different culture, and research exciting visual material, as well as have exposure to new art practices and ways of working.”
Van Zon came away with several series of new works, including a series of ceramic pieces she based on a children’s park ride that featured the animals of the Chinese zodiac. This tied in nicely with the curatorial project she’d also worked on during her residency.
“I’d curated an exhibition based around the Western zodiac at Enjoy Gallery earlier this year. I wanted to mirror this show for the Year of the Dragon, selecting 12 artists working in a range of mediums to respond to their Chinese zodiac animal sign.”
Being in Beijing gave her the chance to both learn more about the zodiac itself, and scope out artists to contribute to the project. Besides recruiting three artists to make pieces for the show, van Zon was also able to see just how much a part of daily life the zodiac is for the Chinese.
“I had no idea that the zodiac is an invisible force that is relevant to most Chinese. A highlight of my research was consulting Singaporean geomancer and astrologer Alvin Ang, who explained the system of reading the zodiac. He was very detailed, right down to auspicious dates and times to open the exhibition. He also explained aspects of Feng Shui, colours and geography that affect luck cycles. This will also be taken into account for the exhibition.”
Images courtesy of Erica van Zon:
1. Children’s rides in the village of Fei Jia Cun provided the inspiration for one series of ceramic works.
2. Tiger, from van Zon's Chinese zodiac series, is part of a series based on a children's ride at Ritan Park.
3. Designs on metal gates, such as this one in Fei Jia Cun, also proved to be an inspiration.