THE REVOLUTION CONTINUES: NEW CHINESE ART @ Saatchi

ELPIDA HADZI-VASILEVA: We Are Shadows

Over the past decade Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva has developed a reputation for producing ambitious and complex works in sculpture and installation. Central to her practice has been a desire to respond to the particularities of a given location, be it in terms of industry, community or (natural) environment. Hadzi-Vasileva’s compulsion for responding to location has enabled her to produce a staggeringly varied body of work incorporating sculpture, video installations, photography and architectural interventions that require a significant level of industry and resourcefulness.

Coming to a gallery near you in Beijing

doART. 261 Caochangdi, Airport Service Rd. Chaoyang District.

Young-hae Chang Heavy Industries

more drawings from day four

The next exercise was to reflect on what had been learnt from the weeks activities and demonstrate this through a drawing. Students were reminded of the key points covered in all the sessions and asked to choose their own subject. The subject should allow them to develop a drawing that explores their interests in the ideas, images and mark-making that came out through the project. The resulting drawings make clear the distance travelled this week. The vast majority of students automatically tackled some very abstract works that were both focussed and clearly intentional.

Drawing, day four

This is the last drawing class of the week. Following on from the previous sessions exploration of contact points, the session kicked off with the idea of exploring the absence of contact. Students were given an A4 sheet of paper and asked to do a representational drawing of an animal, bird, fish. However, this drawing must be done when you are in the air. No contact with the ground. This process produced some fantastic marks that demonstrate a struggle to control the media and bring form to the image. Click on the first image to see more images of the process.



Follow the link by clicking on the dog image to see a sample of some of the drawings that came out of this exercise. Unfortunately it is only a selection of the drawing just now, my camera powered down before I managed to get them all.

Drawing. Day three.

Today we introduced another element into the equation. The previous days were very much about an individual relationship with gravity. Today we introduced the 'other'. Students were asked to pair up and explore a pose that demonstrates a dependancy on the other to remain in equilibrium with gravity. The task was to draw an understanding of both contacts with the physical word, the ground and the other. Each pair of students would work on a large piece of paper placed side by side and draw their individual responses. This, in a way that the viewer would be able to recognise that there were two senses of self here at play here, held in a complex physical relationship.



Some very interesting things happened during this workshops. Some pairs of students used the pose to first of all restrain each other from drawing. This became a titanic struggle to put charcoal on paper, leaving something of the history of this effort in the marks left behind. A fantastic visual starting point to bring form too. I think the complexity of this workshop is very evident in the drawings. Check it out for yourself by clicking on either of the images.

English Class at CAFA

The joint course is taught in English. Students spend their mornings working on developing their language skills. The first session is an ESL class which deals purely with supporting everyone to get up to speed with English and prepares them of their IELTS exam. The second class in done in the studio, surrounded by the work from the previous days workshop. This class focusses on comprehension in relation to the specific language and terminology used in studio practice, particularly that used in the previous days workshop. This offers the opportunity to reflect on what has been learnt and to develops skills and confidence in articulating thoughts on abstract subjects.