12th June...Wet and Wild...Monkey Magic...Beat it...

We went to the Water park (Called Fantasy Beach) in the morning and got quite burnt again in the sun! The park itself was really good, with lots of great rides and surprisingly they served really nice food there too. Noodles and Veggies. In The afternoon I finished my first Image for the exhibition, of the tower. This has been quite painstaking work, but I'm really happy with the final result. Not sure It I should add some other elements to it...I will have to have a little ponder on that one.

I have also started working on a new film piece using episodes on the Classic 'Monkey' series I watched as a kid. Based of course on the Chinese story 'Journey to the west'. I am told that the Chinese are unhappy though as this was actually made in Japan.

This film really was my first introduction to any kind of Asian Culture and I used to watch it religiously.

Also I am thinking about making a sound work using telephones, which will play Chinese versions of 80's classics. But I am not sure how this will be developed as I am in the early stages of working on this idea.

11th June...Working in the Studio with Dina

10th June, Another afternoon in Ziggy's (Sigurður Guðmundsson) studio...

I spent the afternoon talking to Ziggy in his studio. I am very fond of spending time with him, as he is very wise and funny. And takes his time before explaining things and he has made me realize that I need to make more connections with galleries and try and sell my work. He isn't a typical commercial artist but he works a lot with established galleries that sell his work. My work currently takes a long time to make, however I feel I could develop work in the near future, that may have a commercial value. I need to think long and hard about how this will work. Ziggy is pretty amazing and knows a lot about the Artworld. We agree on a lot of things. It's rare for me these days to meet a kindred spirit like this and I feel that I would like to be like him in 30 years time. We talked about many things: Nietzsche, Sensorship, Poetry, The Alan Kaprov idea of the blurred line between Life and Art and The important of teaching students of art - critical thinking skills. He stressed the importance of independent thinking and told me that I should sell my work. He liked what I was doing, which gave me a fist pump realisation that I am on the right track. He also told me that artist and criminals were similar, in that they define their own rules. This made me laugh so much. I feel a reel kinship with this man, and I mooted to him the idea of my doing a Gigapan portrait (similar to my Patrick Moore work) of him. I hope this happens but we will see....

Day 9

As well as eating lots of nice food, getting sun stroke and nearly getting killed on a huge motorway and having to abandon our bikes...I also managed to have a great conversation with (Ziggy) Sigurdur Gudmundsson at his studio and I finished a large area on my Sukov Tower picture. Ziggy is a very interesting man, and I am really enjoying listening to his stories and tales of being a successful artist and travelling the world, having exhibtions at the Guggenheim, PS1 etc... He knows a lot of interesting facts...and has a very generous and poetic personality...

June 9

Foood.... If you like eating well then there is not place better then Xiamen! There's an Uncountable quantity of seafood restaurants, where fish will be cooked so delicious that you'll will eat plate it was on! Also Xiamen is a heaven for a vegetarian as there's diverse range of vegetarian dishes, our favorite one is across the road from Xiamen university, it provides unbelievable diverse and yummy vegetarian dishes!! Moreover you will find cute, little cafe's at every corner of the city! You will always will be able to cool yourself down with awesome mango-ice, btw I personally can eat and drink only mango and nothing but mango, but if you not so keen on this fruit there is more than enough to choose from:) I have been living in Xiamen only a week but already fallen in love with the city/Едаааа.... Если ты любишь вкусно покушать, то тебе дорога в Сямынь! Невероятное количество рыбных ресторанчиков, где приготовят свежую рыбку и прочих морских обитателей так, что от тарелки за уши не оттянешь:) А еще очень много вегетарианских ресторанов, наш любимый расположен напротив главного входа в Университет Сямыня, невообразимое разнообразие блюд и все без мяса! Маленькие и уютные, кофейни на каждом шагу! Ну и конечно же, полюбившееся нам еще в Нинбо, манговое смузи... Я вообще могу есть и пить только манго и ничего кроме манго:) Всего неделю в Сямыне, а уже влюбилась в этот город! 

Dina

June 8

Probably to have a bike ride around the Xiamen's coast wasn't good idea, after 3 hours of cycling we have got lost somewhere in the north! The Sun heat became unbearable and our search for the right way desperate... After another hour of searching with no success we just gave up, left our bikes on the side of the road and got taxi! The rest of the day we spent on the couch suffering from sun stroke but anyway it was worth it, we've seen amazing beaches, mountains, parks and interesting districts but next time we will make sure we take the map and go on the ride when sun not so active:)))/ Вероятно путешествие на велосипедах,вокруг побережья Сямыня, было не совсем удачной идеей, через три часа езды мы потеряли дорогу где-то на севере города. Жара стала невыносимой, а наши поиски дороги домой отчаянными.. Через час безуспешных исканий, мы сдались, оставили велики на обочине поймали такси и добрались наконец-то до дома. Остаток дня мы провели на диване, мучаясь от последствий солнечного удара. В любом случае наша поездка не была бессмысленной, мы увидели красивейшие пляжи и виды города, интересные его районы, здания и парки! Но в следующий раз, если мы опять решимся на такое приключение, мы убедимся что у нас есть карта и солнце не в зените:)

Dina

 

Day 7, Lunch, Town etc...

We had lunch with the residents and the people that work for CEAC. I spoke for a while with  Sigurdur, and was fascinated to learn that he knew and had worked with a lot of interesting artists from the 70, Joseph Beuys, Marina Abromovich, Richard Hamilton Etc...He said I could visit his studio and I look forward to hearing some more of his stories.

I thought today I would share some pictures of the central town area etc... so you can see what it is like.