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.

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 :

Art History Presentation Research

Kwan Im Thong Temple – One of the 2 temples that we visited

So here are my thoughts on the field research and presentation on Buddhism about 3 weeks ago. So our group was kiasu at first and we thought we’d start early on the research and so we decided to visit the Asian Civilsation Museum in week 3 when our presentation was in week 6. We decided to first visit the Asian Civilisation Museum to first get an idea of various forms of Buddhism but we felt that the information was so diverse and it was condensed into basically a showcase of various Buddhist iconography and symbols around the world without much specifications. We then decided to visit the Kwan Im Thong Temple at Bugis to get a first hand look at the buddhist symbols but since we went so early on(Week 3), we went in clueless and not knowing what to look out for and on top of that the temple restricted photography and it was so crowded (as it was closing to Chinese New Year) and even if we wanted to learn more about the temple, the monks or caretakers were probably really busy with the crowd anyway. If we had any takeaway from this temple visit it would be to see how devoted the worshippers are as they fought the crowd and heavy incense to get their prayers in for their families and themselves. It was also a sight to see the temple caretakers constantly clearing the joss sticks to allow new devotees to put their joss sticks into the urn.

Technologically advanced ; Had wifi in the temple and their own website for enquiries

Since we did not benefit much, we decided to go to a temple which my parents had brought me to when I was young. Just memories of the large Mani Wheel and iconographic sculptures and the lit lotus candles to me felt like this other temple had more educational potential compared to the Asian Civilisation Museum and Kwan Im Thong temple combined. This temple was known as the TekChen Choling Temple. What was so amazing about this temple was that it was chucked away in a corner of Lavender( A place where crowds are seldom seen) and it was basically a neighbourhood temple. This Tibetan Temple just seemed like a dream temple to research with it being a 24 hour temple and amazingly nice monks and caretakers who actually took time to answer our questions as we went in clueless. When we first step foot into the entrance of the temple, we saw a sign which actually guided the devotees on how to pay respects and to pray in the temple. We decided to base our research on these 7 steps and use it to bring our audience(for the presentation) on a journey with us through the temple.

Lighting of lotus candles as a form of offering to ask for blessings

Burning incense as a greeting

Relic Hall where the tablets of the deceased lie

Here my group mate Huizhong is offering incense

Each step of prayer ritual was important as we had to greet the deities before entering the temples and minute details such as not stepping on the step of the doorway as a form of respect and the burning of incense as a greeting. Since we were learning about a new culture we did not want to offend anyone. We also decided to spend $20 each on a prayer blessing (we prayed for a smooth presentation so I guess it was money well spent).

Giant Mani Wheel – Spinning it as a prayer

Prayer template that we bought

We had to read this out while kneeling down when praying to Buddha Shakyamuni

One thing that really struck me was that the different iconography in the temple wasn’t limited to just Chinese Buddhism. There were Hindu icons as well as Taoist influences. This temple was truly a representation of Singapore(being multi-cultural) as this was not just a temple which had rituals and icons of a specific religion but different sections of Buddhism uniting as one in this temple.

After we left the temple, any unanswered queries were so easily clarified with the temple being opened 24 hours and there was this lady caretaker who was so gracious and helpful and even asked us to head down again so she could explain clearly in person.

Our group at the Asian Civilisation Museum

I think why our group enjoyed this project so much was that we genuinely were excited to learn more about this culture in Singapore that are hidden in our everyday lives such as the act of burning incense and offering joss sticks and for us we saw it as an eye opening experience. It was really enjoyable working with Val and Huizhong as we were really passionate about presenting this temple to the class and wanting to give justice to it since they really helped us so much.

Art History Research Outline

What is Chinese landscape painting? Compare Guo Xi’s Early Spring to a bird and flower painting by Emperor Hui-tsung.

Peach Blossom and Dove, Emperor Huizong

Early Spring, Guo Xi

What is chinese landscape painting?

Compare the style between the paintings (Artist background, medium, subject matter, style, meaning behind paintings)

Introduction :

What I plan to achieve through presenting the research paper

What are the points that fall under the umbrella of my point

Definition and contextual analysis of Chinese Landscape painting – Using the definition and context to post as an umbrella for both artists and how they branched out from there. (Putting a historical/social context behind chinese landscape paintings and use this information to define both artists’ intentions)

Introduction of Artists :

Both artist were from the Northern Song Dynasty and thus have similar cultural influences. However they have different social backgrounds as Huizong was an emperor while Guo Xi was an artist(Ironically, since Huizong’s paintings did not carry much of a political message)

Comparing Similarities and Differences

While both artists may have similarities, there are also differences for that particular characteristic (e.g. Both have similar subject of nature, but different portrayal and style)

Subjects for comparison

Medium

Subject

Style

Message and intention

Cultural influences

Techniques

Conclusion :

Linking back the sub-points in each body paragraph to give credit to the main point of the entire essay