Art districts tour

We toured several of Beijing's art districts, as well as CAFA (Central Acadamy of Fine Arts). The empty architecture studios of CAFA looked just like our studios at the UO after the end of a quarter. From the outside CAFA is just another gray brick building amongst a sea of new construction on the outskirts of Beijing. Exploring the campus further unveils a remarkable museum which is now exhibiting a variety of designs proposed for the 2008 Olympics. The building is clad in heavy slate tiles which look like scales on the back of a dragon. It looks so heavy, how did they fasten those tiles!? Inside the gallery no photos are allowed, the entry displays bizarre clothing designs for the opening ceremony. It looks like something from a recent Star Trek set. They have a sea of promotional posters and an impressive collection of art made for or about the Olympics. The curvacious interior remains true to it's domed shell of massive slate tile. Very impressive!
Also at CAFA we met the much less conspicuous but equally impressive man behind the team of students who designed the Olympic medals!
Earlier in the day Brooke gave Mao a high five. Strange for so many reasons...
Pekin Art Studios was a bizarre and disorienting collection of cubic gray brick buildings housing much more intriguing artwork. The bottom floor of each studio exhibits the artist's work while the top floor is a work area. I was struck by the decision to use the same gray tile on the roads between buildings as on the walls themselves. The neutral background and monotonous pattern brought the natural wood grain of fences and doors out into the spotlight. This is a characteristic that I also noticed at the Commune. We use so much wood in the northwest, the beauty of it is often lost.
Our final stop before returning to the hostel is the private studio of a couple of young men who work for the CAFA professor mentioned earlier. I'm sorry we waited unti ldark to see this studio. It was easily the most intersting work space we toured. Two grids offset by about 30 degrees distinguish the two floors. A gargantuan smoke stack towers immediately adjacent and visible through a wall of glass - in fact a partial ceiling of glass affords a full view of the tower from within the studio. Out back there is a fish pond underfoot - yes, you actually walk over it thinking it's a strange place to use plexiglass tiles before it becomes aparent that there are fish in the shallow trough. The only part that really didn't appeal to me was the bathroom which is separated from the main work area by a hanging sheet. Not a lot of sound privacy there.