What I have learnt

I would like to explain what i have learnt after working a couple of months on this artist.

Unfortunately I did not have the luck to meet Tang Da Wu during my stay in Singapore. As I said during my few first articles, Mr Da Wu lives and works between Singapore and London. Moreover, the fact he has been re-presented his work “Earth work 1979” at the National Gallery of Singapore from January to June 2016, did not help me have an appointment with him.   

                                           

I landed in Singapore the 29^th of December, 2015. After a few days to discover the city, look for a flat and attend my first courses, I started looking for a contemporary artist in Singapore. Here is a very famous picture that Many people use to describe Singapore for the first time. It shows What theycall the Marina Bay, it is the financial heart of Singapore.

Tang Da Wu really appeared to be my first choice, with no doubt. The fact, that his works are really well known all over Asia and even the world brought some credibility to my work. I wanted to find a Singapore artist whose works have been spread all over the world. I have finally found it And i am proud of it! Here you can enjoy a photo of the famous Tang Da Wu speaking. According to Many people, Tang Da wu was also a good speaker on the stage, another quality.

I have never done this kind of work before. At the very beginning, I did not know what to expect from my articles. Does it have to be concise? Do I have to deeply focus on the methods of the artist? Moreover, it is my first time writing a blog. As a matter of fact, I also did not know how to present my blog. Should I take this color or this one? Which one can enhance the purpose of what I am talking about?

Fortunately, it did not take such a long time to adapt myself at this type of work. I started collecting some information about the artist just after I knew Tang Da Wu was my man. I did a very basic presentation on my blog; I simply wanted to catch the attention of the visitors in the first sight. I learnt how to make my paragraph concise and how to emphasize the few key points in very well-constructed sentences.

From an artistic point of view, I am now much more aware of how decrypt a work. The diversity in the work of Tang Da Wu made me able to broaden my point of view and developed analysis skills I tough I never had. Now, when I see a random artist work, I start by analysis what the artist wanted to mean when he dedicated many hours to his work. I try to put myself in his place. Afterwards, I pay attention to the materials used but the artist and how it shows off the work.

To conclude, I just want to say that this work, through my stay in Singapore, help me to think out the box.  I want not the most open-minded to art before this specific. Hopefully, throughout the semester, I enhanced my vision of modern art And really feel more confortable with it now! Thanks for pushing me to do this, i really appreciated And i am pretty sure the other students of the Magistère have the same feeling!

Artist working methods

Let’s talk about a more technical aspect of my blog: the methods of Tang Da Wu. Through performance, installation, painting, and drawing, Tang wants to talk about many subject including environmental issues for example. Let’s use the Tiger’s Whip to highlight the working methods of Tang Da Wu: For this work, in part a performance, Tang used a huge amount of papier-mâché in order to make him credible when visitors will see it. Papier-mâché is very simple: sheets and water. In the work’s installation component exhibited in the National Gallery of Singapore, a tiger stands with his two front paws on a wooden chair. Moreover, we can see that Tand Da Wu mixes very different artist style in a single performance. As you can notice, there is red cloth attached to the chair. As I said, the intention of the artist was to make the public aware of what is happening for the tigers in South East Asia. They are tracked down for their genitals because Chinese people find it superstitious: it makes a very good aphrodisiac.   
Here is a sample of few aphrodisiac use by chinese people that lead to the increasing number of Tiger deaths.

In tang’s paintings, this is a constant exploration of motion and energy, achieved through the use of water and paper as I said before with the tiger.

For example in this painting, we can easily notice the use of that kind of materials. Furthermore, he used to work during the day, saying that, it prefers that rather than after nightfall.

On the other hand, Tang Da Wu is also a performance artist. His implication in all kinds of arts makes him one on the most recognized modern artist in Asia.

In 1980, tang Da Wu staged a work of installation work called earthworks at the national museum art gallery. This installation included 2 works. The first one is “The product of the sun” and the other one is “The product of the rain and me”.  They were made with dishes of earth, lumps of soil, and pieces of soiled laundry. He found them in gullies at Ang Mo Kio, a construction site which has been turned into a public housing estate.

In most of the cases, Installation art uses sculptural materials, and sometimes other media such as sound, video and performance, to modify the way a particular space is experienced. It was a way for Tang Da Wu to diversify his work and to entertain people who were coming for his works.

In 1994, the performance artist Josef Ng cut off his pubic hair with his back to the audience during a performance protesting the media's coverage of gay issues. It resulted in the cease of funding from the national arts council of Singapore. After that, Tang Da Wu and many other performance artists decided to go abroad to perform. Then, most of the performance exhibitions of Tang Da Wu have been performed overseas during this difficult time for the Singaporean Art. Fortunately, he was able to come back and achieve his works in Singapore. Nowadays, he lives and works between London and Singapore

To conclude, we can just say that the works of Tang Da Wu have been much diversified: paintings, drawings, sculpture, and performance. This results of many different methods to achieve his works as I explained through this article.