CRITIQUE OF MY FAVORITE ARTWORK

On December 4th, we went to Wu Weishan Cultural Figures Sculpture Gallery of Nanjing University to see an exhibition. Most of the art works are Chinese traditional Sculptures and made by the great artist Wu weishan. Some of them are contemporary and some of them are traditional.
I choose the sculpture named Ah Bing-a folk musician. It is made by Wu Weishan in 2007. The whole sculpture is made of copper. The artist Wu Weishan used curves and straight lines to describe a folk musician. He was a blind man wore a pair of round sunglasses. The whole body is oblong and it has a square head with a strange hat. The curves show the difficult that he faced. As we know, Ah Bing could not see anything in the world, but he could still use his ears to listen and learn about the nature. So he stood beside the spring in the mountain and listened to the voice of water-nature. Then he used a Chinese traditional instrument-erhu fiddle to express what he felt and how he weathered his life which was rugged.
When I stood in front of the artwork, I could see a great man who was imperishable and unyielding. He stood there straight and his clothes look like fluttering in the wind. He was very thin and his face was full of wrinkles but he looked erect and resolute. Although he was very poor, he still wore a smile and looked optimistic. He was not a materialist but model of all the disabled. That was all I see in the artwork.
I felt moved and ashamed when I saw the artwork. Ah Bing who was a blind man but he never felt sad, he wore a smile and was sanguine to his life. He got all out in designing music. I am a normal man but I did not work hard. He was a blind but got such big success. I felt very ashamed and moved.
The artwork makes me think about Ah Bing’s work-two springs in the moon. Anyone would shake when listen to the music. You can see the image that a man wore sunglasses stood by the spring and with erhu in his hands.
The artwork reminds me of a woman named Zhang Haidi who was a disabled. She could not walk and she had to stay in bed all day. However, she did not give up studying and finished the course of university on her own. Her spirit is very similar to Ah Bing I think. The artwork relates to the idea of respecting to disabled in the world. They are different from us but their spirit is imperishable. They use their action to honor our respects.
I think the artist’s attention is to express Ah Bing’s experience and talents. Also, he wants to tell us that music is that something natural fluid from one’s heart. It represents one’s characteristics and treasure of life.
I like the artwork very much because the artwork makes me see the splendid life of a resolute man and also, the artwork encourages me to study hard.
The sculpture’s smile and aged face makes me feel this way. His face is old and full of wrinkles and let me know we must fight with destiny and never give up. I think most of Chinese people might appreciate the artwork because we all know the story of Ah Bing and his famous music-two springs in the moon. And after they see the artwork, they will be conquered by the spirit and the vivid figure and then learn about how to face their life immediately.

Guest Artist

There was a speech made by Mr. Zhao who is a landscape architect in our school on December 1st. all the students in grade 10 listened to him and learnt a lot about garden designing. He talked about gardens in China first. The garden in china is called “Yuan” and it includes four different parts. The garden is considered as an area which has walls around it. And the area must have the transformation in geographical features. Also the garden must include water and hills to become more natural. This is very important in china while in western country, it is known as a paradise with boundaries. And the definition of garden in dictionary is an area with hills, rocks, water and plants which is designed by someone. After that, he focused on introducing gardens in Suzhou in china. Gardens in Suzhou can be divided into four different kinds. They are imperial gardens, private gardens, temple gardens and scenery gardens. Suzhou is a noisy city and Suzhou garden is a peaceful place in a brawl place. Suzhou garden is very famous not only for its beauty, but also people can see Chinese culture and history from it. Many scholars in different times in China lived in the gardens and the special environment　brought up the people.
The general art features of Suzhou garden is divide water and mountain into different parts. Water and mountains are very important in Chinese style gardens. Actually, the hills and mountains are all made of different kinds of rocks. And rocks have four characteristics. They are designed to be thin, and with many holes and creases. Many famous people found their values and goals of their lives.
A big mountain is often made of many small, tiny rocks and stones. The artists often stick them together into a bigger one which is considered as a mountain. And the mountains are usually arranged in the doorway so people who came into the garden can first see the mountain. This is Chinese custom and it is known as lucky to see the mountain first.
Water in the garden is alive. The water is come from somewhere outside the garden and he water must match the mountains because it seems to be more natural. And the rule is that one pond matches with three hills.
I totally agree with him because I think mountains and water are the symbols of nature and the garden is a place which people can get closer with nature. And I love Chinese style garden very much.