The Style of Tang Da Wu

We cannot really say that there is only one style corresponding to Tand Da Wu’s works. He has been indeed involved in many works form the paintings to the sculpture. Then, if we focus only on a technical point of view, Tang Da Wu uses many styles.  His diversity in his work is also part of his personality. He is famous for that. That is part of his talent And What he is known for.

For example for Tiger’s Whip, he uses papier-mâché for the design of the tiger. On the other hand, he also uses a wooden chair and a red scarf in the same work. He does not focus on one raw material to create what he wants. But stop talking about Tiger ´s Whip. Too Many people only focus on this work but it absolutely does not represent all the insane works that Tang Da Wu during his very long career (And it is not finished!!).

That is why i want to focus now on another type of work, his paintings. We can focus on this painting to emphasize what I want to say. Here is “Kappa playing in the stream”, a painting from 2010.

 In this painting, Tang Da Wu does not use any color, only the white and the gray. He has created an ambiguous atmosphere. If you take a closer look, you seem to be lost in this painting; it is difficult to perceive what Tang Da Wu wanted to make us feel. By the use of gray and white, and the hazardous contours of the painting, it might be possible that Tang Da Wu only wanted to make us feel lost.

In the following sculpture, Tang Da Wu used steel to represent what looks like  a big bird, or a dragon, at the first sight. It is a phoenix. This animal is placed over the lower part of the sculpture which is made of several pieces of mirror. We have seen that Tang Da Wu has been implicated in many environmental issues (tiger hunt…), this work is another example of his commitment in this kind of global issues. The use of steel makes the bird look amazing, powerful and beautiful.

Then as you can see, it is difficult to describe the style of Tang Da Wu. He embraces many styles. That is one the reasons why he is so respected in the art world. He thinks out of the box. It is impossible to reduce him to only one style art when you have a quick look to what he achieved in the past three or four decades. He used to say that the aim of his works was to provoke thoughts (about the environment and social issues, the national identities, etc.), not only entertain the viewer. By saying that, he does not set limits to himself according to the style of his works.

I hope you enjoy this article. More are coming. Enjoy your reading!

"Our Children"

I would like to focus this article on certainly one of most famous work of Tang Da Wu: “Our Children”. Most of the people knowing Tang Da Wu agreed on that point : this is one of his best art achievements!

I begin with a short recap. First of all this work is a sculpture. It has been created in 2012. That is quite recent compared to Tiger’s Whip for example which has been created in 1991. “Our Children” is currently exhibited at the Guggenheim Museum at New-York city. The dimensions are 120 * 200 * 60 cm. Here is a picture of the famous Guggenheim Museum, a very symbolic place for art in the United States Of America.

This work is made of galvanized steel, a glass and milk inside the glass. I decided to choose “Our Children” because I have been impressed by the simplicity of this sculpture. Then, it is only composed of two tables made of steel: the little one below the big one. This is a three-part sculpture, the two tables and the glass full of milk. This work has been quite often shown with a white wall in the back to emphatique this very typical atmosphere.

At first sight, the thing that stroke is the humanity that is created by the curve of the two tables. I personally believe that both of the tables represent two human beings, one children and one parent. My feeling has been strengthened by the name of the work “Our Children” which gave credibility to my theory. Furthermore, after looking on the Internet, I learnt indeed that it represents a baby suckling the milk of his mother. I understood then why the glass of milk was on the table.

One thing I really enjoy in every single work of Tang Da Wu is the presence of Chinese culture and society. We have seen in Tiger’s Whip that he claimed his strong commitment in favor of the spot of massacre of tigers by Chinese. With “Our Children”, Tang Da Wu emphasized the importance of family in the Chinese culture. More precisely, this sculpture decrypts the filiations between the mother and the child. The glass milk is the link between the two.

I find really difficult to show this kind of links with a stationary work. But the fact is, with the glass of milk, and the curve of the table legs, Tang Da Wu did it well, and I liked that. One important think not to forget is the position of the little table: directly under the big one, like a mother protecting her own baby. I have been really amazed by the simplicity of “Our Children”. This simplicity leads to a real power coming from this work. Unfortunately, I have not been able to see it, but I guess that the work is placed in a big empty showroom in order to deepen this feeling.

On the other hand, when I first see the work, I regretted not to see the same kind curves on the top of each table. I guess it could have brought more movement to the work and strengthened the atmosphere of the work.

To conclude, I really like this work. It puts forwards the analyze of the Asian society made by Tang Da Wu.