40 minutes into the outskirts and when, down in the deep warehouse alley, I open the cab door I crack a bicyclist- my worst fear as a bicyclist- no one hurt but the door doesn't close anymore I walk off quietly thinking that 6am thing's no good for no one
Xiang Jing, sculptress extraordinaire, who does these increasingly humongous naked female figures in fiberglass- almost Ron Muek ish but gentler and more mannered- many, like many other Chinese artists, seem to be modeled off herself (but hey they must be good- Charlie Saatchi's got one had a party to celebrate the opening of her new studio which she shares with her husband and fellow sculptor Qu Guangci. Qu, who for the longest time was doing these annoyingly cute port bellied little red guard figurines, has finally found a way with stainless steel and the ever giving myth of Mao.
He also has these fiberglass almost abstract expressionist Mao's as well that are pretty ugly in a good way.
The place was packed with mostly the couples students from the Shanghai Normal University, a few fellow artists Wang Xingwei, Lu Chunsheng, (the Shanghai scene infinitely getting more finite as time goes on) Qiu Anxiong who does these nice (excuse the endless referents to non Chinese artists) William Kentridge like animations from ink wash drawings that depict imaginary utopia dystopia Disney meets Qi Baishi little 8 min films that were showing before the band started.
There were a bunch of Germans who have been in China doing business [like cigarette paper production (very competitive here) and super large molds for things like buses, and then of course the architect, and something that has Kay on the road for 240 days of the year] for 15 plus years and wearing quite well... well, sort of damaged but altogether nice folks as they stood around munching on spicy lamb skewers, art farting, and speculating on the WC location.
