Just another found Performance art documentation project, Shanghai 2008 1st Installment

It was around Lunar New Year in Xujiahui, Shanghai's hyper modern mall district. On the busy sidewalk outside a photo printing store, might've even been a Kodak, a woman was burning ID photos in a dust pan. Of course I rushed to document this odd occurrence only to be barred by the woman. She kept pushing me away and told me I shouldn't be taking pictures She balked "How weird that you want to photograph this!" I replied " How weired that you are doing this!"
Anyway - the whole affair had the looks of some ancient ancestor worship ritual ... but in a very PM way. In effect- this whole 'found performance' solved one of the dilemmas of the contemporary arts in China in general- how to make traditional practices modern. Gu Wenda, Xu Bing, Zhang Huan, Huang Yongping, Qiu Zhijie at times, and a host of others including this photo store employee are all engaged in this arduous task.

Just another found Installation photo project, Shanghai 2008 2nd Installment

This one is called "Sunflowers and Garbage Can", various views, set of three, edition of 12, signed on the back

Post Partum and Proud

As I sit here listening to the blood curt ling cries of a 13day old being tortured with the ancient Chinese - getting the diaper changed - method I realize that everything anyone ever said about having a child is true... The good, the bad, the in between- all true. Now I can finally say that the twelve zillion times I've heard my mother say - "You'll know when you have children" and I smart aleking rebutted "I'm never having children", has all been with merit I guess I know ... or am just starting to know Either way it's one helluva lesson in humility
Here's the Birth story below ...

After an amazing show of triumph on the part of Yan our son was born yesterday March 18, 2008. He was 8 lbs. 8 is a lucky number in China and we feel SOOOO very LUCKY!. While it was super dramatic and emotional - It took less than two hours from water breaking to the birth - no meds, no C's. Yan and the baby are recovering just fine. While he still doesn't look like either one of us, he's healthy - eating, farting, sleeping, snoring and crying only once in a while. In the tradition of long, arty, un-pronounceable, multi-culti names that run in the family his is:
RUI VINCIEN YANG BORYSEVICZ but you can call him Ray :)
RUI (sounds like Ray - means morning dew and is Yan's grandfather's name- Yang Rui- his Chinese name is also a Tang Dynasty military hero)
VINCIEN (is a derivative of Vincent, the name of my grandfather that both my father and I never knew - He was killed while my dad was still an infant and has always remained a mystery and legend. Rui Vincien will be the first to carry on the Borysevicz name of his generation)
YANG (is Yan's sir name)
BORYSEVICZ (is mine)
Yes a little long and heavy. We don't expect him to live up to it. We just want him to happily keep farting and remain healthy! And we still can get out of it - we have yet to sign the birth certificate.

Thanks for all your love and support along the way!!! Mathieu and Yan