Dutch artist Wouter Mijland sculpts monument to fallen Taliban fighters

Wouter Mijland´s sculpture in Dresden honoring fallen Taliban fighters

“After having finished the NATO jerry can at 4 (of course I got machine troubles at night) on Sunday morning, we left for Berlin at 6 a.m.

“There we placed it next to the Fernsehturm without any trouble. It was a beautiful day and reactions were positive.

“In the evening we placed it in the Neustadt in Dresden where we drank a beer with lemonade on my birthday.

“I must admit that I was a little bit worried, since my computer and some of others got hacked the day before and I found some pretty disturbing comments on right-wing and anti-Islam blogs.

“I am very happy that all went very peaceful and friendly, just like the sculpture itself.

“To you right-wingers, Islama-phobics and other jammed or angry people out there: hope you will find السلام and السلام.”—Wouter Mijland

Dutch contemporary artist Wouter Mijland´s “Monument to the Fallen Taliban Fighters” puts him on the wrong side of God in the eyes of right-wingers and Islamaphobics.

About September 8, he installed the monument first in Berlin, then in Dresden.

His website and blog emphasize: It´s not to commemorate deaths of Islamic martyrs who committed horrendous and vicious crimes against innocent people.

Yet, his title suggests otherwise, inciting a fair amount of controversy—wanted or unwanted.

The artist claims his mega-sized NATO jerry can with a heart carved in the middle stands not as a symbol praising terrorism, but as a monument against killing and war in general.

The Dresden-based artist, a scientist, specializes in reforestation and forest preservation.

Mijland has seen devastation in Africa caused multi-nationals exploiting raw resources of third-world countries.

According to his website and active blog isn´t taking sides.

He claims he´s taking only the side of humanity and peace.

“I do not think in terms of perpetrators and victims, which affects all sides.

"The September 11 attack on the twin towers in New York was a terrible attack where many people have died.

“Then the United States bombed Afghanistan, a third-world country with a long history of war, where everything was already broken.

“But the Taliban have not destroyed the Twin Towers in New York. I thought it was a shocking response.”

“My really sincere condolences go out to those who have lost a loved one in the war.”

Mijland appears fixated by jerry cans as raw material for some of his works.

He is as much a thinker as an artist.

Mijland believes Western propaganda has fanned flames of Islamaphobia, masking truth.

He says: “I believe that 99.9 percent of Muslims want to establish only work, life, and a family, stay healthy, and breathe. I do not believe in this large, dangerous, Islamist movement and find frightening the polarizing of views.”

The artist´s website quotes a song by John Frusciante called, "Will to Death." I originally incorrectly attributed these lyrics to Mijland. I regret the error.

  

And they're thought to be lies
But we saw them, saw them
We looked right in their eyes
Right at them, at them
Pinning space to the world
We slaughtered, slaughtered
Not a sound to be heard
We're awful, awful
And have you seen
How they run
Out of gas
They beat the pain
They sing in the rain
Endless and formless
They fly to the end
And back to the
Beginning again
Have you put them aside
Your crazy thoughts and dreams
No they're a part of me
And they all mean one thing
The will to death is what keeps me alive
It's one step away, step away
Limitations are set
Only then can we go all the way, all the way

And have you seen how the cars when they pass

They come your way

Then they´re speeding away

Coming to you and then going away

But for them nothing´s changed, for them nothing´s changed


"My poetry goes more like this"

by

Wouter Mijland

Once (the day after I edited that particular text), I woke up

after having dreamed about the butterfly effect thinking

that if we cannot love each other, there is no chance for

world peace.

A slight panic came over me. I got up, washed myself

with cold water, brewed a strong black coffee and fried 

bacon with two eggs. I did not read the newspaper and 

turned off the radio while having breakfast before I got 

on my bicycle to go to school. 

Ai Wei Wei isn´t winning a popularity contest with Chinese communist authorities.

Any political art activist simply pursues principle through art.

Art activism means artistic freedom to create and advance all points of view.

It can also lead to much heat and noise, which may be designed to simply create commercial notoriety.

Look at Mijland´s blog and website.

You be the judge.

I welcome your comments and discussion.

Wouter Mijland as seen through the heart of his "Monument to the Fallen Taliban Fighters"

Artist Wouter Mijland and his outsizied NATO jerry can work

Dutch contemporary artist Wouter Mijland at work on his "Monument to the Fallen Taliban Fighters"

Rock on and practice peace and love.

Stefan, the ArtTraveler ™

Visit Andalusia for a walking holiday or week-long sculpture or mosaics workshop. See: www.spanjeanders.nl and www.competafinearts.com.

"Spanish life stilled," photograph by Stefan van Drake (2009)

 ArtTraveler´s video: an interview with Scottish illustrator and painter, Gordon Wilson, about his new "I Love Fish" exhibition, inspired by a commissioned mural he did 12 years ago for a West Glasgow gangster, who loved supporting writers and artists as well as organized crime.

You may reach me at stefanvandrake@gmail.com or by calling (34) 915 067 703 or from the UK at BT landline rates, 0844 774 8349. 

Dutch digest: Jeanne van Heeswijk wins $25,000 prize for art activism

A giant wooden rabbit by Dutch artist Jeanne van Heeswijk

Dutch contemporary artist Jeanne van Heeswijk wins 2011 Leonore Annenberg Prize for Art and Social Change, Creative Time Summit, New York on 25 September.

Creative Time jurors for this year´s prize: curator Christine Tohme (Lebanese Association for Plastic Arts); curator Hou Hanru (San Francisco Art Institute) and Air America news personality Laura Flanders.

Previous winners of the New York not-for-profit group: Rick Lowe (2010) and the Yes Men (2009).

In other events featuring Dutch artists:

Vincent van Gogh, self-portrait

Vincent van Gogh´s life story will morph into another bio-film, this time by Kallipe Films. Online reports Kallipe is looking for a director for the shoot, which will be staged in authentic van Gogh haunts in Europe.

In Amsterdam, the Meneer de Wit Gallery, has opened this week with an eclectic group show: videos, graphics, music, paintings, designs, an installation, fashion presentations, even a dance party.

Palazzo Strozzi in Florence, Italy this week opened a Renaissance show, “Money and Beauty: Bankers, Botticelli and the Bonfire of the Vanities.”

One of the works by Marinus van Reymerswaele should provoke thought about Europe´s current financial crisis, titled: “The Money Changer and his Wife.”

The historical venue makes sense since Florence was the hub of the banking system in 1252, according to art historian Ludovica Sebregondi.

The show closes 22 January.

Bird artist Ewoud de Broot told an Arizona news outlet he is thrilled to be among the best of the best bird artists at what is considered the world´s largest gathering of high-flying international artists: Birds in Art, a show of 112 artists at the Woodson Art Museum, Flagstaff, AZ; 33 of the group are reported from the United States.

Hendrik van Leeuwen, artist and art critic, has inspired a show, “Apart Yet Together” opening 1 October at The Gallery at Pioneer Bluffs, Kansas.

Van Leeuwen worked with 21 students ages 10 to 75. The Dutch artist inspired and taught the novice abstract artists. See www.pioneerbluffs.org and look under “Masterclass.”

Willem de Kooning, “de Kooning: A Retrospective” through 9 January at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. It includes 200 paintings, sculptures and drawings.

“Rembrandt and the Face of Jesus” at the Philadelphia Museum of Art runs through 30 October.  The New York Times calls this show “a powerful declaration of faith.”

by Rembrandt van Rijn

Paintings depict the Jewish ethnicity of Jesus, his humanity.

Rembrandt and his circle on show at the Bruce Museum, Greenwich, Connecticut  (22 Sept. – 8 Jan.); 60 works selected from American collectors George Abrams and his late wife, Maida.

A work by Rembrandt´s Circle

Rock on and practice peace and love.

Stefan, the ArtTraveler ™

Visit Andalusia for a walking holiday or week-long sculpture or mosaics workshop. See: www.spanjeanders.nl and www.competafinearts.com.

"Spanish life stilled," photograph by Stefan van Drake (2009)

 ArtTraveler´s video: an interview with Scottish illustrator and painter, Gordon Wilson, about his new "I Love Fish" exhibition, inspired by a commissioned mural he did 12 years ago for a West Glasgow gangster, who loved supporting writers and artists as well as organized crime.

You may reach me at stefanvandrake@gmail.com or by calling (34) 915 067 703 or from the UK at BT landline rates, 0844 774 8349. 

Censored in Beijing, Rosfer & Shaokun launch new shows: Madrid & Geneva

Rosfer & Shaokun, whose Red Flag image was censored and banned in their recent Beijing show, opened a two-pronged attack this month in Madrid and Geneva with their works.

Joining three other artists, the pair of Beijing and Italy-based contemporary maestros opened a group show Artisti in Mostra at Aranapoveda Galeria in Madrid on 15 September.

The show runs to 8 November.

Other artists: Rosana Antoli, Rebeca Menendez and Geme Ruperez.

In Geneva, Rosfer & Shaokun opened 22 September, represented by La Galerie Hania Bailly Contemporary.

Shaokun, center, at her and Ruggero Rosfer´s "Face-Off-No Land" Beijing opening at ME Photo Art Gallery. Authorities ordered only this work--"No Land IV"--removed during the exhibition as politically sensitive.

“The distance that separates Ruggero Rosfer and Shaokun becomes the filter of two such different realities: Italy and China in the 21st Century.

“On this distance their experience and understanding of the world has to find a balance and a meaningful representation in the final lay-out of their art work.

"This process, difficult and unpredictable, provides constant creative tension and vitality.” –Alessandro Rolandi

"Face-Off I" by Rosfer & Shaokun (2011), image courtesy of artists

Italian fashion and fine art photographer Ruggero Rosfer and classically trained Chinese painter Shakoun concluded their show--"Face-Off No Land"--10 June at ME Photo Art Gallery in Beijing´s 798 District.

It opened 18 April.

The pair met in Beijing in about 2006 and have collaborated since. 

They opened “Face – Off No Land” 15 days after Beijing police snatched Ai Weiwei (3 April), currently detained and charged with evading  taxes.

This became a ticklish time to launch an edgy contemporary fine art show in Beijing. 

"Bureaucratic Beauty III" by Rosfer & Shaokun (2011), image courtesy of artists

Only one of their works, "No Land IV", which pictured Shaokun nestled into the Motherland´s crimson flag, her expression cutting, cunning, all-knowing and always watching you did not survive the run of the show.

Authorities invited the artists to remove what they deemed a sensitive work. 

They complied and experienced no other interference.

Collaboration & Cultural Fusion

Rosfer and Shaokun met and started working together in Beijing, collaborating using a formula, said Rolandi, Beijing-based art lecturer, artist and curator, who knows them well.

They jointly choose a subject or theme, then build an idea for a composition with a real set, he added.

In an interview with ArtTraveler this week, Shaokun said Rosfer takes all the photos.

"Bureaucratic Beauty" by Rosfer & Shoakun (2011)

Shaokun usually performs as subject, although other times they pay for models from different social classes, wealthy, children of migrant works, she said.

“I experiment and interpret many images in this thought phase.

"Second, I then have a clearer idea of what meaning or concept we want to express through body language and eyes.

“Most motivation for our works comes from my reaction and pondering cultural phenomenon and social issues of my Motherland,” she told me.

“So my body is the best channel of our concepts in these photographs.”

  

Shaokun described Rosfer as a very good friend who brings his years of experience (since 1996) as a professional photographer in London, shooting nightlife for Italian magazines and his collaborations with Vanity Fair, Vogue Russia and others.

"1980, My World II" by Rosfer & Shaokun (2011), image courtesy of the artists

He has exhibited in eight group shows, in Beijing, Verona, Milan, the Brussels Art Fair with Proyecto Arte Galeria (Madrid) plus a solo show in Millan and the current fusion: “Face – Off No Land.”

“His shooting is very culturally sensitive such as knowing typical characteristics of Chinese symbols, and also what I love is he brings his keen sense of fashion into the art photos,” Shaokun said.

Although Rosfer lives in Milan and Shaokun in Beijing, the duo continue collaborating, inventing new techniques and concepts.

Facing Off Against Facebook?

In their “Face--Off No Land” series, they probe the real and imagined space in a modern society. 

Shaokun describes “web life” versus “real life.” These, she said, constitute “our existence lived in multiple dimensions."

“In real life we enjoy relative freedom and even enjoy imprisonment with ethical boundaries, society´s regulations always placing control and pressure on the body and spirit to some degree in real life, while in the virtual world of web life, we can enjoy many different kinds of relative freedom and release of pressure.

"Face-Off III" by Rosfer & Shaokun (2011), image courtesy of the artists

“However, though this ´mouth’ only enjoys illusory and hazy freedom, from some perspectives of authority, this is seen as extremely dangerous, or morally corrupting.

“Concerning sensitive political affairs, when people are paying serious attention, many kinds of websites are blocked, making people even more curious to access them.

“Is this like the Chinese parable of the thief who wants to steal a bell, so he foolishly covers his own ears, thinking he can stop others hearing?” Shaokun wrote this last October about the artistic spine of "Face-Off No Land."

"Bureaucratic Beauty V" by Rosfer & Shaokun (2011)

Trained four years at the Academy of Traditional Chinese Painting in the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Shaokun continues drawing and painting.

“I particularly like her drawings, full of life and freshness, addressing traditional Chinese subjects with a joyful disrespect," said Rolandi.

“Her canvases are technically exquisite; that´s why several Chinese artists required her help as an assistant to finish their own works,” he added.

Rolandi has curated one of Ruggero´s shows in 2006 and two Shaokun performances.

THE PROCESS OF SYMBOLIC REPRESENTATION

By Denis Curti (December 2010)

Special to ArtTraveler

 
Rosfer & Shaokun’s photographic production is like a landmark statement and participates in the formulation of a renewed visual vocabulary, capable of building a new context.

I did try looking at these photographs standing still more to the side of the sheet rather than in front of it to withstand physical rapture. It didn’t work. 

These images capture your very inner core. It is a precipice of awareness. They are poems for the eye and scratches to the heart. They walk on the lines of a complex dialogue that moves amongst different forms of artistic expression. 

"1980, My World I" by Rosfer & Shoakun (2011), image courtesy of the artists

There is no real center of action. 

It's a powerful description of the new giant of world economy: China as we know it today. Contemporary China, a country that today can dictate what is acceptable and what is not with a single gesture. 

The collection of images is centered on a privileged subject: the female body. A useful metaphor to recall the history of a continent which has caused strong reactions and debate on woman’s condition and social status.

"No Land II" by Rosfer & Shaokun (2011), image courtesy of the artists

The strength of these images lies in the aesthetic logic that makes photography a surgical expression capable of penetrating the most hidden feelings and, at the same time, defining the essential characteristics of beauty.

Ruggero Rosfer’s distinctly western photographic vision becomes a chivalrous gesture, almost belonging to another time, and therefore fascinating.

"No Land I" by Rosfer & Shaokun (2011), image courtesy of the artists

His visual work gracefully combines with Shaokun’s artistic imaginary world, eventually enabling criticism of controversial socio-cultural aspects of new China to speak up and go on stage.

 ‘’FACE-OFF I/II/III’’ show the sinuous outlines of Shaokun scarred by the fragments of a mask, while Facebook’s homepage flakes off her body and face.

The metaphor emerges through the gestures of a woman-China that voluntarily divests of a social and cultural dress she refuses, interrupting the routes of communication with a world in which social networks dominate relationships and ideas. 

The three photographs lead to multi-level reading, in a blend of words and images, through dense and complex codes and meanings. 

"No Land III" by Rosfer & Shaokun (2011), image courtesy of the artists

The words "Welcome to Facebook" on Shaokun’s face reach beyond the mere textual value and are included in a semantic structure bearing connections with the oriental woman's body, with the Chinese continent and its relationship with freedom of expression and communication.

Rosfer and Shaokun’s artistic imaginary world stems from a complex and articulated reality which, beyond the limits of time and space, finds the symbolic dimension for her portrayal in photography.

"New 87 Angels I" by Shaokun (2011), image courtesy of the artist

 

Each shot contains the infinite ways of looking at the world that the two artists put at the basis of their creation, and everything seems wrapped up in the vortex of a very peculiar complicity.

"New 87 Angels II" by Shaokun (2011), image courtesy of the artist

All of the above images are provided exclusively to ArtTraveler by the artists through ME Photo Art Gallery. Special thanks to Alessandro Rolandi for making this post possible.


Rock on and practice peace and love.

Stefan, the ArtTraveler ™

Visit Andalusia for a walking holiday or week-long sculpture or mosaics workshop. See: www.spanjeanders.nl and www.competafinearts.com.

"Spanish life stilled," photograph by Stefan van Drake (2009)

 ArtTraveler´s video: an interview with Scottish illustrator and painter, Gordon Wilson, about his new "I Love Fish" exhibition, inspired by a commissioned mural he did 12 years ago for a West Glasgow gangster, who loved supporting writers and artists as well as organized crime.

You may reach me at stefanvandrake@gmail.com or by calling (34) 915 067 703 or from the UK at BT landline rates, 0844 774 8349. 

ArtTraveler photo gallery: "Funky random Sunday collection" to share

"Simplica" Photograph by Stefan van Drake (2011)

"Jim Morrison Bleeding II" Photograph by Stefan van Drake (2011) 

"Malaga Airport at 8 p.m. on Black Friday" Photograph by Stefan van Drake (2011)

"Improv Garden" Photograph by Stefan van Drake (2011)

"Can you think this way? Photograph by Stefan van Drake (2011)

"Call me now!" Photograph by Stefan van Drake (2011)

"Lost Tribe" by Stefan van Drake (2011)

"Suffering" Photograph by Stefan van Drake (2011)

"Horizontal View" Photograph by Stefan van Drake (2011)

"The Garden Within" Photograph by Stefan van Drake (2011)

"Color Edges" Photograph by Stefan van Drake (2011)

"Our spirit shall not perish!" Photograph by Stefan van Drake (2011)

"Open" Photograph by Stefan van Drake (2011)

"Tangled Lives" Photograph by Stefan van Drake (2011)

"Legs from Space" Photograph by Stefan van Drake (2011)

"Fanned Head" Photograph by Stefan van Drake (2011)

"Life" Photograph by Stefan van Drake (2011)

"Dave´s Not Here III" Photograph by Stefan van Drake (2011)

Rock on and practice peace and love.

Stefan, the ArtTraveler™

Art travel to Andalusia, to our mountains for a week-long mosaics or sculpture workshop or walking holiday. See:www.spanjeanders.nl and www.competafinearts.com.

Islamic art and design at Granada´s Alhambra, photograph by Stefan van Drake (2009)

Contact me at stefanvandrake@gmail.com or by calling (34) 951 067 703, or from the UK at BT landline rates, 0844 774 8349.

ArtTraveler video offering: A most talented soprano sax player scores coins at Southward Underground Station, London.

Sculptor Tom Otterness may lose $1.45 million commission for murdering dog

A public sculpture by Tom Otterness

 

About 35 years ago while making what Tom Otterness called an “art film,” he chained an adopted shelter dog to a fence and was filmed shooting the animal dead.

The artist called his film, “Dog Shot Film."

It was 1977 in New York City. Otterness was 25 years old.

In about 2007, author and philosopher-academic (New School, NYC) Gary Indiana publicly exposed Otterness´pre-meditated murder of the hapless and helpless black and white shelter dog, according to Wikipedia.

Tom Otterness

The furor over his past forced him to ultimately admit his evil ways.

In 2008, Otterness publicly apologized after a heated controversy over two bronze lions an anonymous donor commissioned him to build and install at the entry to a Bronx public library for a reported $750,000.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) protested.

Headlines barked. 

And Otterness, most of his professional life a public artist, rose to become dog lover´s Public Enemy No. 1.

A work by Tom Otterness

His past continues to dog him. (I´m sorry; I simply couldn’t resist.)

Despite petitions and protests, the bronze Bronx lions, with enhanced provenance, went ahead as scheduled. They cost the public nothing.

The artist knows how to get public commissions.

Otterness, beginning in 1978, started receiving U.S. government grants for his work.

In 1977. one of the original members of the Lower East Side art collective—CoLab (Collaborative Projects)—Otterness lived with the black and white adopted dog for some days, fed it and cared for it before eliminating it as art.

Now, the controversy has spread to the west coast.

San Francisco, poised to fulfill its $750,000 contract with Otterness to build a series of cheerful and funny sculptures for its $1.6 billion light rail Central Subway, has put the commission on hold, according to SFCityInsider  reporter Stephanie Lee.

The city bureaucrats charged with vetting artists claim they had no clue Otterness had a history of, to put it mildly, inhumanity to animals.

Otterness faces losing another San Franciso commission, a $700,000 contract to adorn San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center sometime in 2015.

That´s on hold also, Lee reported 20 September.

Playground sculpture by Tom Otterness

“Shot Dog Film,” the Otterness canine snuff film, debuted at 42d Street. 

In an online recorded interview shortly afterwards, there is this exchange:
 

Question: “You said earlier that when you showed “Dog Shot Film” at the screening room at 42d Street that you wanted to hurt the viewers.

Otterness: “Yeah, I mean that whole night on 42d Street, as best as I could do it, was the most aggressive way I could think of to show a film, the most damaging thing that I could do to the audience by showing a film.

“I hired a photographer with a camera so when people were leaving the theater, they were assaulted by a flash, attacked.”

In the same purported interview, Otterness was recorded saying:

"The “Shot Dog Film” was made before the four fight films (boxing). It´s about fucking someone…getting fucked by someone. That´s what the fight films are about, too. Running over someone; defeating someone, being defeated. They´re the same thing in those two films."

"Makin´ Hay" by Tom Otterness

In an interview with the Observer in the artist´s Bronx studio, journalist Michael H. Miller asked him about “Shot Dog Film.”

Miller recorded this exchange:

“What the fuck do I do with this?” he said. He grew visibly upset. “Certainly the scene it was part of ´´it was in the context of the times and the scene I was in.” He began again. “It is something I´ve brown to understand that nothing really excuses this kind of action. I had a very convoluted logic as to what effect I meant to have with that video. Whatever I had in mind, it was really inexcusable to take a life in service of that.”

And what about Otterness as the anti-establishment antagonist against capitalism through which he has thrived? The Observer quotes him:

“I mean the inherent contradictions of where I came from and where I am.

“To be a critic of capitalism but to have these benefits? That´s kind of strange. But I made this gamble knowingly. It´s a conscious risk or sacrifice—either way.”

The online comments to the Otterness dog murder are mixed. Some think he needs heavy duty shrinking. Others, even one dog owner, forgave him.

Some say what he did 34 years ago should not reflect on his art. Let´s judge him solely on his works.

One dog owner, however, said he wants to shoot Otterness. An eye for an eye.

The majority appeared upset and angry, perplexed.

It´s not like Otterness said he was stoned on acid at the time of his murdering the dog and immediately went in for drug rehab, turning himself over to police so justice could be done.

Acts of moral turpitude, even misdemeanors, become part of public domain when public funds are involved and should be considered for public art projects.

One might love his work but fail to find ways to appreciate it given this sordid history.

Rock on and practice peace and love.

Stefan, the ArtTraveler™

Art travel to Andalusia, to our mountains for a week-long mosaics or sculpture workshop or walking holiday. 

See: www.spanjeanders.nl and www.competafinearts.com.

Islamic art and design at Granada´s Alhambra, photograph by Stefan van Drake (2009)

Contact me at stefanvandrake@gmail.com or by calling (34) 951 067 703, or from the UK at BT landline rates, 0844 774 8349.

ArtTraveler video offering: A most talented soprano sax player scores coins at Southward Underground Station, London.