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.