So today i went to the chace center art gallary. There were installations and sculpture by some graduate students at RISD. Most of the works, in my view, are really bizzare and pointless(or maybe my sense of appreication in art isn't up the level yet). However there was this one installation that really provoked my thoughts. It was conprised of three oil paintings which looked almost exactly the same. At my first glance of them, I thought they were same paintings done three times and was confused about the artist's intention. Then I noticed colors at some places were slightly different and such. It's not until after I joined the discussion at the gallary did I realize that they have different levels of details. These three paintings, as the artist introduced, were ordered from a painting factory in Xiamen, China and their costs are $60. $70 and $90 respectively. A lot of the people present at the gallary were shocked that such good paintings cost so little even including shipping and materials.
Now the intention of the artist is clear. I can't help wonder: Do ppl who works in the painting factory consider themselves artists or just workers? Later I searched about the factory online and found out the words the factory use to describe the painters-"Most of our oil painters were strictly trained and cultivated when they were in schools and colleges, this helps us handle all classic style commissions easily, not only Chinese oil painting."
This lead to a larger issue-the art education in China.
China has a very different system of art college admission from the US. In the US, art schools generally require porfolios and home tests from the students in addition to the regular application materials such as the standalized test results, essays and recommendations. In China, the admission is usually based on a specific entrance examination during which you draw and paint in an exam room with other students. There are two assignments: an acrylic painting of stilllife and an pencil drawing of a portrait. Both of them are done from photograghs. You might have noticed that these tests have greatly restricted students' art talents in various forms of art and art mediums. The restriction becomes even more terrible when some students, in order to pass the exams, only practice what are required for the tests and ignore anything else. Art is not just about drawing portraits and painting stilllifes. Art is not simple duplication of things.
Talents are ruined. I can see people lose their initiative and creativeness even before they go to art colleges and become drawing and painting machines. Yes, they have brilliant techniques, yet aren't they just being human cameras? Why do we need artists when we have cameras and DVs and all these high-tech devices that can dupicate things exactly as they are in one second? They are incredbly pathetic. As has been said, true artists never see things as they really are. Artists don't dupilicate. Artists create. Artists are the ones that change the world around.(i know this sounds really self-centered. btw, engineers say they are the ones that change the world around too).
The current chinese art college admission system is greatly flawed and really need a change.
Though I am not entirely certain about the qualities of art college eduation in China, which I am very interested in finding out. I will not be surprised, however, if they suck. They are where the painters in those painting factories are from. What a shame.
Overall, the flawed chinese art education including the admission process and the education itself and a whole bunch of other reasons such as the increasing numbers of art college graduates who can't find jobs that can sustain their creative works, the interfering of some business companies in the chinese art industry that caused the decrease of prices of innovative artworks, and the impact of the global manufactoring of almost everything(art is no exception).
I really hope i can do something in the future to make a change to this. I can feel the responsibilities on my shoulders.
Now the intention of the artist is clear. I can't help wonder: Do ppl who works in the painting factory consider themselves artists or just workers? Later I searched about the factory online and found out the words the factory use to describe the painters-"Most of our oil painters were strictly trained and cultivated when they were in schools and colleges, this helps us handle all classic style commissions easily, not only Chinese oil painting."
This lead to a larger issue-the art education in China.
China has a very different system of art college admission from the US. In the US, art schools generally require porfolios and home tests from the students in addition to the regular application materials such as the standalized test results, essays and recommendations. In China, the admission is usually based on a specific entrance examination during which you draw and paint in an exam room with other students. There are two assignments: an acrylic painting of stilllife and an pencil drawing of a portrait. Both of them are done from photograghs. You might have noticed that these tests have greatly restricted students' art talents in various forms of art and art mediums. The restriction becomes even more terrible when some students, in order to pass the exams, only practice what are required for the tests and ignore anything else. Art is not just about drawing portraits and painting stilllifes. Art is not simple duplication of things.
Talents are ruined. I can see people lose their initiative and creativeness even before they go to art colleges and become drawing and painting machines. Yes, they have brilliant techniques, yet aren't they just being human cameras? Why do we need artists when we have cameras and DVs and all these high-tech devices that can dupicate things exactly as they are in one second? They are incredbly pathetic. As has been said, true artists never see things as they really are. Artists don't dupilicate. Artists create. Artists are the ones that change the world around.(i know this sounds really self-centered. btw, engineers say they are the ones that change the world around too).
The current chinese art college admission system is greatly flawed and really need a change.
Though I am not entirely certain about the qualities of art college eduation in China, which I am very interested in finding out. I will not be surprised, however, if they suck. They are where the painters in those painting factories are from. What a shame.
Overall, the flawed chinese art education including the admission process and the education itself and a whole bunch of other reasons such as the increasing numbers of art college graduates who can't find jobs that can sustain their creative works, the interfering of some business companies in the chinese art industry that caused the decrease of prices of innovative artworks, and the impact of the global manufactoring of almost everything(art is no exception).
I really hope i can do something in the future to make a change to this. I can feel the responsibilities on my shoulders.
I am lucky enough to go to RISD where I learn A LOT. But i truly hope what i have learned could be passed on to every art student in China.
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