Dong Yuan: Everything Under Heaven

Stage 6 Visual Arts Case Study

Dong Yuan       董媛       Everything Under Heaven

Dong Yuan in her Beijing studio, 2019. Photograph Luise Guest

For PRELIMINARY, HSC and IB students, this Case Study is focused on:

o   Reading and analysing extracts of art critical writing to model descriptive writing and critical analysis and interpretation

o   Understanding ‘visual codes’ and iconography – applying the structural frame to understand how artists create meanings in their works through their choices of materials and their visual language

o   Understanding how contemporary artists work in ways informed by art history as well as the present-day issues in society, and how art historians explain works in their context

o   Examining how contemporary artists reinvent genres and art conventions

o   Comparative writing – learning how to compare works (by the same or different artists) to make well-supported inferences and deductions

For Teachers – Some Information About Teaching / Learning:

This Case Study focuses on the practices of the artist and the critic. In the first instance, students encounter the artworks themselves, in the gallery and/or in reproduction and/or online. A sequence of learning activities begins with a discussion of selected works, followed by reading the examples of art writing provided (models of critical practice), and responding to focus questions. Whole class and small group tasks are suggested, with links to other artists, and to other useful resources. An extended response question, with marking guidelines, requires students to develop an argument that demonstrates their understanding of the artist’s practice in his social and historical context.

Dong Yuan, Grandmother's House and Bosch's Garden, Installation view, 2013, Image courtesy the artist.

The Case Study may be approached in a range of different ways, depending on the particular interests of teachers and students. Strategies may include:

o   Independent research or collaborative investigations

o   ‘Socratic Dialogues’ that unpack a range of meanings in specific works

o   Debates or dialogues exploring how Dong Yuan depicts intensely personal spaces and objects that yet have universal resonance and significance

o    The creation of student blogs or websites for the publication of critical art writing

A: Individually, students read each of the three texts and answer the focus questions before attempting the extended response.

B: To extend this case study, working independently or in small groups, students may choose to investigate:

o   The relationships between works by Dong Yuan and western traditions of still life painting such as Flemish still life by artists such as Pieter Claesz. Here is a useful source of information with examples from the Metropolitan Museum:  https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/nstl/hd_nstl.htm

o  Dong Yuan creates immersive installations in the art genre of 'interiors' with her organisations of (literally) hundreds of canvases. Compare her work with the interiors painted by Edward Hopper, Felix Valloton or Yuan Yuan. 

o   How does Dong Yuan’s practice connect with other art practitioners and their works such as Gao Rong's 'Static Eternity', Lin Tianmiao's 'The Proliferation of Thread Winding' or Do Ho Suh's fabric installations of his New York and/or Korean apartments

Dong Yuan, Grandmother's House (installation view, Beijing, 2013). Image courtesy the artist.

Essential Terminology for this Case Study

Still Life

Vanitas

Hyper-realism

Tromp l'Oeil

Installation

Feminism / Feminist Art

Dong Yuan, Painted Kitchen (detail), image courtesy the artist

"Dong Yuan never glamourises the ordinary things on which she focuses her astute gaze, but they are beautiful — and melancholy — nonetheless. With meticulous realism, she records the here and now, classifying, documenting and ordering her world. A meditation on the everyday, her works become a quiet memento mori, not unlike those of the Flemish painters she admires."

 http://theartlife.com.au/2017/a-short-history-of-everything-the-painted-world-of-dong-yuan/

Dong Yuan, Grandma's House (detail) 2013, acrylic and oil on separate canvases, image courtesy the artist

Background Information

Dong Yuan (b.1984) graduated from the Experimental Arts Department of Beijing’s Central Academy of Fine Arts in 2008. Her MFA work focused on discovering new ways to work with paint and canvas – creating large-scale 3D installations that simulate places invested with personal and cultural memory.

She applies a meticulous illusionist technique to paintings on separate small canvases that are placed together to make up ambitious installations, recording aspects of memory and a changing world.

Dong Yuan lives and works in Beijing.

To the young artist Dong Yuan, the world within her grandmother’s house was the context of her life’s initial visual memory as well as the earliest source of her world-view. These represent the most unadorned and down-to-earth way of living and experiencing. Dong Yuan reassembles her visual memory of grandmother’s house through one after another large or small picture. Each object in grandmother’s house, although mundane and plain, contain a soulful, ritual essence. (Busan Biennale, 2014 http://www.busanbiennale.org/eng/index.php?pCode=MN2000155&pg=2&mode=view&idx=2005)

References and Resources

•A Short History of Everything: the painted world of Dong Yuan: http://theartlife.com.au/2017/a-short-history-of-everything-the-painted-world-of-dong-yuan/

•In Grandmother’s House: Gao Rong and Dong Yuan http://www.randian-online.com/np_feature/in-grandmothers-house/

•Secret Language of Women: ‘Subterranean Feminism’ in the Work of Three Chinese Artists https://www.wagic.org/blank-2/2017/12/11/Secret-Language-of-Women-%E2%80%98Subterranean-Feminism%E2%80%99-in-the-Work-of-Three-Chinese-Artists

•Luise Guest, ‘Half the Sky: Conversations with Women Artists in China’. Piper Press, 2016

•White Rabbit Collection:

 https://explore.dangrove.org/objects?query=Dong+Yuan&limit=40  

Readings and Questions

Answer the questions after Readings 1 and 2, and complete Activity 3 before attempting the Extended Response question.

Reading 1: Excerpted from 'A Short History of Everything: the painted world of Dong Yuan', ART LIFE, Jul 03, 2017 http://theartlife.com.au/2017/a-short-history-of-everything-the-painted-world-of-dong-yuan/

When Dong Yuan learned that the place of her happiest childhood memories –– her grandmother’s house in the countryside near Dalian –– was about to be demolished, she decided to re-create it in paint, one room at a time, in a two-year-long project that she described as ‘fixing it in memory’. Exhibited in 2013 as ‘A Short History of Everything: Grandma’s House and Bosch’s Garden’, this installation of more than 800 separate paintings marries the fantastical universe imagined by Hieronymus Bosch in ‘Garden of Earthly Delights’ with a rural Chinese family home, replete with heavy furniture and cabinets filled with teacups, rice bowls, folded flowered quilts and New Year pictures. Bosch’s Paradise (2013), is a part of this larger work, an installation of more than 300 paintings and objects. Hanging on the walls and filling the drawers and shelves of ornate wooden cabinets, they depict elements taken from Bosch’s fevered imaginings, including tiny naked figures, monsters, animals and insects, plants and flowers, and landscapes that recall the rural beauty of the countryside around Dalian, long ago. Exhibited in Beijing alongside the painted contents of her grandmother’s house, these juxtapositions of Spring Festival folk art, porcelain figures of household gods in their shrines, mass-produced calendars, pictures of Mao, and all the patterned quotidian objects that once filled a humble rural home sit comfortably alongside a visual catalogue of Bosch’s imagery: removed from their original contexts they suggest that reality and imagination are two sides of the same coin. An astonishing feat of trompe l’oeil, it’s a reflection on Dong Yuan’s personal journey from rural Liaoning Province to the global megacity of Beijing, connecting her dreams and memories of a fast-vanishing world with the purely physical elements of everyday life.

Questions

1. Why did Dong Yuan decide to make the 'Grandmother's House' installation?

2. How does the work create a record of Dong Yuan's own life journey?

3. Can you speculate as to the connections she makes between her grandma's house and the fantastical world imagined by Hieronymus Bosch?

Dong Yuan, 'Grandmother's House' (details of works in progress in the artist's studio), 2019. Photograph Luise Guest

Reading 2: Excerpted and adapted from 'In Grandmother's House', Ran Dian, 2012 http://www.randian-online.com/np_feature/in-grandmothers-house/

Dong Yuan reflects on the significance of the quotidian; recreating in paint, object by object, the interior of the house near Dalian where she spent much of her childhood. Paintings of plants on the kitchen window ledge, an umbrella leaning in a corner (and even the individual raindrops it sheds on the floor), her uncle’s pants hanging from a hook on the wall, a portrait of Mao, are stacked against her studio walls. It is a process of “fixing it in memory” she says. Working from her own memories, conversations with relatives, sketches, photographs and diagrams, she has already completed more than 400 paintings. Previously she has painted the view from every stairwell window of her apartment block, and the entire contents of the tiny apartments in which she lived as a student [ ... ] her reflection on her own personal journey has taken her back to reflect on her family.

Dong Yuan’s works are a meditation on the beauty of the everyday and the familiar, providing a connection to the unsung domestic labor of women. They also memorialize childhood for her generation of artists, in the way that Cultural Revolution 'scar art' imagery functioned for the previous generation. In a similar way, albeit more nuanced and without the bitterness, her work can be seen as a response to the dramatic pace of change in China. At once personal and universal, she records a way of life which has ultimately turned out to be fragile and ephemeral. They are artifacts of memory.

Questions

1. How might it be possible to classify Dong Yuan's 'Grandmother's House' installation as a feminist work?

2. In what way does this work represent social change in China?

3. Why do you think the writer describes Dong Yuan's works as 'artifacts of memory'

3. Comparing Dong Yuan with Song Dong

Read this passage about Song Dong's 'Waste Not', an installation of 10,000 objects taken from his mother's house: https://www.art-almanac.com.au/song-dong-waste-not/. 

Write a paragraph describing Song Dong's installation 'Waste Not'.

Write a paragraph describing Dong Yuan's installation 'Grandmother's House'.

Write a paragraph comparing the two works in terms of both material and conceptual practice.

Dong Yuan, Grandmother's Cabinet No. 5, acrylic on multiple canvases. image courtesy the artist.

To conclude this Case Study, select THREE works by Dong Yuan and write a detailed description and analysis of each work, using the Structural Frame. 

Finally, attempt this Extended Response question. Refer to works by Dong Yuan and ONE additional artist in your response.

How do contemporary artists explore themes of private memory and/or public loss?

 

Zooming Through Chinese Contemporary Art

Bu Hua, 'The Light of Love 2', 2019, giclee print, image courtesy the artist

It's been such a pleasure working with wonderful teachers and senior art students from six different Sydney schools over the last few weeks, introducing them to aspects of contemporary art from China. Given the pandemic and current restrictions we've been using Zoom. Nothing can replace being physically present and engaging in dialogue and discussion, of course, but it's been a great experience for me to be 'zoomed' into many different classrooms - and I hope for the students too!

Recent talks for senior secondary students have included:

• 'From Mao to Now: Introducing Chinese Contemporary Art' - a historical survey
• 'Rethinking Ink in Contemporary Chinese Art' - a focus on the work of Xu Bing, Gu Wenda and Yang Yongliang
• 'Holding Up Half the Sky: Women Artists in China'
• 'A Woman's Work is Never Done: the everyday and the domestic in the work of Gao Rong, Dong Yuan and Tao Aimin' - a case study of three female contemporary artists
• 'The Art of Spectacle' - Xu Zhen and MadeIn Company
• 'Lost in Translation: unreadable calligraphy and the power of language in the work of Xu Bing,  Gu Wenda and Tao Aimin
• 'Folk Art to High Art?' - the work of Gao Rong, Wang Lei and Li Hongbo
• 'The Poetics of Porcelain: Clay and the Contemporary' - the work of Geng Xue and Liu Jianhua
• 'Urbanism and Contemporary Chinese Photography'

However, I will tailor a talk to the needs and interests of your particular group, focusing on the artists you want to include in your case studies, including sample short answer and extended response questions.

For more information about availability and pricing, or to book a talk for your students or a workshop or professional learning session for teachers, use this link on my 'Teaching Chinese Art' website: https://www.teachingchineseart.com/contact.html

To teachers:
In this Year of the Rat 2020, despite all our anxieties ranging from viral plagues to politicians, from bush fires to climatic catastrophe, art still matters. And the art produced by contemporary artists in China grapples with all the most significant issues of the day. I hope you will find inspiration here in these case studies and suggested learning activities, in artist interviews and extracts of art writing so that you can introduce your students to the extraordinary art emerging from mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. The Year of the Rat has certainly not been an auspicious one thus far, there is no denying, but I hope you will find materials here to assist you in learning about some interesting artists, whether you are learning/teaching from home in isolation or at school.

To students:
In the case studies and other resources here you'll find a wealth of interesting artists and artworks. I hope you enjoy the discovery!

Who should use this site?
Anybody with an interest in cutting-edge Chinese contemporary art! But most especially art students from Years 10 - 12 and their teachers.

Who/what will you find here?
A range of interesting, very diverse, contemporary Chinese artists - from painters to photographers, installation and conceptual artists to sculptors and video artists. The author of the site, Sydney-based art educator, researcher and writer, Luise Guest, has met and interviewed the artists represented here, and has reviewed exhibitions of their work. Some are younger emerging artists, some are very well-established significant figures in the artworld. They represent new ideas about practice. They indicate how the artworld and contemporary art in China is changing.

Who/what will you NOT find here?
Artists such as Ai Weiwei, Yue Minjun, Zhang Xiaogang or Wang Guangyi who are well represented in textbooks, journal articles, the popular press and museum/gallery web sites. They are referenced in the more general Chinese art pages but do not have a separate page for their work. The reason? You can easily look elsewhere to find research source material on those artists. The purpose of this blog is to open up a range of new and interesting artists for students to research and write about.

WHAT will you find here?

• A separate page, accessed by a tab at the top of the home page, for each artist
• Information about each artist's practice
• Extracts of critical writing, feature articles and interviews about each artist
• Links to other useful web sites and sources for further reading and research - these are listed within each artist's page
• Links to video interviews or relevant Youtube clips
• Images of the artists and their works - these are shown with their sources and should not be reproduced without permission
• Questions for student response ranging from fairly simple comprehension questions to more challenging and thought-provoking questions and suggestions for extended responses or essays - teachers and students may work through each question or choose those most appropriate to them - or modify them
• And a big 'what if' question to get you thinking at the end of each artist page

How will the site be kept up to date?

This blog will have new artists - and new questions or activities - added on a regular basis. 
So: watch this space!
You can add comments, suggestions or questions for the author.
Important: all images if reproduced (only for educational purposes) must be credited as they are here in this web site

Case Studies

Students and teachers:

Check out the Yang Yongliang Case Study Page - heaps of readings, focus questions, an essay question with marking guidelines, and lots of information about this wonderful artist!

Why learn about contemporary art in China?

Because it is so exciting, so new, so constantly changing and so important!

And because there is more to Chinese art than Ai Weiwei (interesting and important though he is)

Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong are recognised as three of the key art centres on the planet and their importance in the art market and the field of contemporary art continues to grow. Taipei continues to develop as a newer art centre and some of the most interesting artists practising in a range of disciplines are working in Taiwan.

This blog contains teaching/learning resources on contemporary artists practising in China right now. It includes painters, sculptors, photomedia artists and artists who work conceptually, in documenting performance works,multimedia, installation and a wide range of other expressive forms.

It includes some artists whose work is well known internationally, and for whom there is already a great wealth of research resources. It also includes artists who WILL be well known in the future, emerging artists whose work is developing in exciting directions.

It includes images of their work, interviews with the artists, extracts of critical writing and questions that can be adapted for Visual Arts students at different levels, and for different curruculum models.

It is searchable, and will grow over time as more interviews are conducted and more artists are added.

It includes links to other websites, including my blog www.anartteacherinchina.blogspot.com and links to other useful resources in this field including galleries, publications, pinterest boards, video clips and blogs.

Newsflash: it now links to my main website www.teachingchineseart.com

Click on the 'About' tab for more detailed information about ways to use the blog, and about other resources or teaching and learning ideas.

Click on the 'Art of Revolution' tab for some background information explaining where contemporary art in China came from and how it developed.

Each artist has a tab which will take you to their page. Each page could form the basis of a senior Visual Arts Case Study. Two or more artists could be compared to form comparitive art historical or critical essays.

The artists and their diverse practices will also provide sources of ideas and inspiration for student artworks and bodies of work.

Zhang Xiaogang, Big Family, oil on canvas, image source: Saatchi Gallery UK

The pages on artists Hu Qinwu, Liang Yuanwei, Lam Tung-pang, Carol Lee Mei-kuen. Shi Zhiying and Pu Jie originated with learning materials produced as a result of the NSW Premier's Kingold Chinese Creative Arts Travelling Scholarship in 2011.