Museum Visit to ACM

The trip to Asian Civilisation Museum was quite a fruitful one. What was great was we got to see the evolution of Buddhism as an artform as its teachings traveled through India. It also felt like a re-hash of the lecture on Buddhism as we read the descriptions of the various stupas and boddhisatva sculptures on display and reading the information on how they came about and its symbolism felt clearer since we learnt it during class. Eventhough it wasn’t related we also visited the shipwreck exhibition of the gallery and took a look at the salvaged artifacts.

So what inspired our final project was our first trip to the Asian Civilisation Museum. We saw many buddhas of different shapes and forms on display which we didn’t really think about the reason behind them and just simple saw the icons as being represented differently. But when the final project came out it just came to us to reflect on the changing Buddha image through the regions and that was what sprouted the idea for our final project.

2D Zine Process & Final

Overall I enjoyed the process in the beginning but I really regret changing the concept so late in the game just because I felt like doing something different. This project actually taught me more about myself that once I’ve settled on something I should just go through with it unless I really feel the burning desire to change it and not just change it like that. I would have liked to end 2D on a better note. But It’s alright. I’m glad how everything turned out aesthetically and I really enjoyed 2D for the past 2 semesters. Thank you so much Joy. You’re such an amazing tutor and I’ve really learnt a lot from you 🙂

Art History Reflection – Deconstructing the Buddha

What a great way to end this semester haha. For this final project I got to work with the fabulous Charmaine, Ying Xiang and Eng Seng! For our final project, we’ve decided to incorporate the idea of the morphing image of the Buddha corresponding to the region in which Buddhism had spread to and how different ideal standards of beauty in that region affected the iconography of the Buddha.

So the idea started out as a basic print-based format of photoshopped images of the Buddha on Fashion magazine covers of different regions around the world. Our initial research brought us to coming up with images concerned with popular culture.

Another idea we had was to satirize modern day MNCs as ‘religious cults’

However, we were thinking how to make it more interesting and interactive so the audience could immerse themselves into the work and not just see it visually.

Initial photoshopped concept

Creating the container was also a tiring process. Choosing the paint colours to match and the size in which to create our prototype.

So we finally found an artist whose works we felt really tied in with our concept of dissecting the Buddha image and placing it in a modern context to allow the audience to have a clearer picture of the concept. Monty Hurwitz also questioned the idea of identity and we felt this really resonated with our concept.

So one of the first problems we encountered was the medium in which the buddha head was going to sculpted and dissected. Should we use paper? Clay? Foam? So we got a large foam block and tried to saw it but we couldn’t quite get the right Buddha iconography and instead it turned out looking like a cute lego versio nof the Buddha. Sawing the foam block was really tiring and we didn’t really get the form we wanted. But at least we tried.

We then decided to move on to paper…

Turns out it worked beautifully! The first draft of the 3D piece was made with satay sticks and just flat 2D paper of the Buddha image with celebrity icons photoshopped on them.

However, we felt like it was too unpolished and wanted images to be displayed on the sides as the audience move around the piece. This we decided to use styrofoam blocks to create different perspectives. So we painted the sticks black so the ‘satay sticks’ weren’t too much of a distraction.

Final block composition prototype

So for me I mostly worked with the prototype ; me and my team mates constantly had to communicate to make sure that our concept is clear through the medium, the colours, the presentation and the overall concept in our proposal and artist statement.

Overall it was a tiring process but my group and I are really happy with how everything turned out! Great Semester of art history and a really nice way to end it. 🙂

Thanks Sugatha!

Artist Statement for the Changing Buddha Icon

The mock-up of our 3D installation. Many images of the Buddha formed by pop culture images.

Artist Reference :

Jonty Hurwitz

Hurwitz focuses on artworks which requires the movement of the audience as he utilises the audience’s point of perspective to create different images.

The Buddha image has been continuously appropriated through the different ages, by different civilizations to suit their own stylized idea of beauty. The Indians valued the lean look of the Buddha statues: they were a symbol of abstinence and virtue, while statues of a fat, Laughing Buddha have been found to be originated in China, and was thought to be attributed to prosperity and good fortune. The Japanese also adapted Buddha images that were similar to the Indians, but they contained features that were more oriental in nature. Inspired by these appropriations of the Buddha image that aim to achieve each civilization’s own aesthetical standard of beauty, the Dissecting an Icon was created as a visual response to these issues. Drawing a parallel with society’s cult following of popular culture and appearances today, the work consists of several suspended pieces of wood, that when combined, form a large Buddha head. But when approached from another angle, each piece is then seen to contain tongue-in-cheek images of the Buddha in altered popular images of pop culture. Dissecting an Icon represents the impermanence of beauty in every society; akin to the Buddhist ideals of transcendentalism. It provides an alternative perspective into the fanatical worshipping of trends and an obsession with getting the perfect appearance and body type at any cost.

Art History Final Project Idea

References of artworks from Asian Civilisation Museum :

We were intrigued by the fact that the image of Buddha was represented differently through various cultures and what caught our attention was the clothes and the size of Buddha. Upon further research we found out that when Buddhism spread to China, the icon of Buddha was represented as obese and it was because obesity in the Chinese culture meant prosperity and fortune.

Initial Idea :

Our response towards the changing image of Buddha was to show that the image of the Buddha is affected by the changing cultural standards of prosperity and the social needs. With that in mind, our group has decided to go with the idea of using the iconography of the Buddha and appropriating the image in a modern context to create a series of photographs/images/sculpture (we have not decided on the medium yet) to show how pop culture in today’s modern society acts as a sort of religion for the youth.

Some drafts that our group has come up with to encapsulate the idea.

Deep Fried Religion. Prosperity is linked to obesity in the ancient chinese culture.

Buddha’s head on Kim Kardashian’s body. She, like the Buddha, has many followers.

Hopefully we could improve according to the feedback received. Thank you!

Medium :