北京 2008

been the school art coordinator for the last 3 years .... been churning up art scheme of work for all levels ... been learning a lot about art education... read somewhere that there's always a story behind every artwork but so far, i have not been really convinced until Li Jing posted the story behind the artwork, titled <<北京 2008>> on facebook

if i chanced upon this artwork in a gallery, i would just glanced at it and think that the artist is very boliao... why drew half and fully naked women playing mahjong...and people dun play mahjong lying down one lo....

anyway, did more readings about this artwork from the net.... the interpretation seems to come from people who studies art in detail but not from the artist itself.... and these interpretations are better explained on chinese websites than the english one which are very very vague... there are numerous similar interpretation and the one that i'm going to share is my favourite...cos it's the most gossipy version....hahahahaha....

< 北京 2008 >

Artist - 刘溢

the man featured in the portrait on the left is said to have the beard of Sun Yat Sen, the bald head of Chiang Kai-skek and the facial features of Mao Zedong.... basically, it's a combination of 3 very important people that shaped how China is today...so the picture symbolises the history of the last 100 or so years of China.

the players of the game include US (the one sitting facing the front and with her top on), China (the one with 2 pony tails and with a phoenix tattoo on her back), Japan (the one on the left) and Russia (the one who is lying down)...

China had 'pong' the 东风.. this could mean that China is the rising (崛起) star or the host (做东) ...

Russia is secretly exchanging tiles with China yet at the same time 有一腿-ing with US... this could mean the underground relationship between Russia, China and US...

Japan, on the other hand, is the only one that is fully naked... indicating that she's the biggest loser of this game (assuming that this is strip mahjong).... she is only focused on her tiles and seems to be very pleased with what she has ..... this could mean that Japan is involved in the confusing global relationship between the other 3 countries ...but being overly focused on what is directly in front of her, she failed to see the complexity of the situations around her....so Japan will lose out totally...

based on the fruits on the plate, the girl in the 肚兜, holding the plate of fruits and a knife is Taiwan... standing at the sideline, she could see the whole situation very clearly, but as she's not involved in the 'game', she is in no position to say anything....

US is looking at taiwan, concerned yet helpless at what to do.... just like how US is helpless towards taiwan with its china issue....

overall, it's an interesting experience for me to realise that there's so much thought behind an artwork.... =).....