Li Songsong, Pig Years at Pace Gallery, New York

LI SONGSONG, Pig Years, 2010, oil on aluminum panel, 380 × 520 cm. Courtesy the Pace Gallery, New York.

My friend Lisa was just at the Pace Gallery in New York City, where there is an exhibit of the recent work of Beijing-born artist Li Songsong. This painting, Pig Years, is perhaps best described in Irina Makarova's review (here) of the show for ArtAsiaPacific. She writes:

Pig Years (2010), at 12 feet in height, is a gargantuan, multi-hued painting made of four separate panels—with each panel consisting of overlapping layers of smaller panels—attached together by aluminum plates. The panels, with their overlapping layout and sea of clashing colors (varying shades of gray, yellow and blue), appear as though they would not come together as one image. But upon stepping back from the painting, the content emerges: a massive pile of pigs that are heaped together like a mountain of rocks.

Li manages to capture the feeling of trying to recall a memory, which, with the passing of time, is reconfigured or blurred, and becomes an amalgamation of associated senses, patches of other memories and shadows of the original. Just as our perception of people, places and ideas are based on sensory experiences, which are overlaid and bound together to form memories, so are Li’s paintings, in which multiple panels, grids, layers and colors come together as one integrated image.

If you happen to be able to make it to New York City, it sure sounds like this is worth seeing in person, as this reproduction can't possibly convey a sense of the size and detail of Li's work.

Ai Weiwei's "Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads" (2009)

Ai Weiwei's "Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads" (2009) was officially dedicated yesterday. The twelve bronze statues, each representing a symbol from the Chinese zodiac, can be seen at the Pulitzer Fountain, located at Park Ave South and Fifth Avenue, New York City. Mr. Ai was not present at the dedication, as he was detained by the Chinese government back in April for his criticism of the Communist party. The New York Times has an article about the dedication and the calls for Mr. Ai's release here. There is also a review of the exhibition by Roberta Smith in today's paper that you can find here. These sculptures will be touring the United States, visiting Los Angeles, Houston, Washington, and Pittsburgh in the next year or so. Apparently there is another set on display in London.

An Origami Pig

The Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Mass. has an exhibit up through June 2008 entitled Origami Now. On the main page you'll find this lovely work, "Wilbur the Piglet" (1991), by master origami artist Michael LaFosse. Thanks to Lisa for sharing this with me. And, dear readers, please accept my apologies for the gaps between postings lately. I'm back on campus again after sabbatical and have been busier than expected teaching and administrating in addition to keeping up my work on all things porcine.

Armando Romero's "Pork Flakes (The Gladiator)"

I was visiting the Museum of Latin American Art here in Long Beach with my pal Lisa over the weekend when we saw this amazing painting as part of their exhibition "La Presencia: Latin American Art in the United States." There was no label for the painting on the wall, which was a bit strange. I looked at the exhibition catalog and didn't find it either, but did see a work in a similar style. Once at home, I got to work and finally tracked down Armando Romero's work. You can see five other of his works, most of which seem to be satires of master paintings, on artnet here. Based on what's there, this painting from 2006 is the odd man out, perhaps connoting a new direction in his work. All I know is that I love it.

Pigs & Medieval Studies

In the Middle, a medieval studies blog, has had several recent postings about pigs by Karl Steel, one of their contributors. You can find them here sorted by keyword. One post concerns anthropophagus pigs--pigs that eat human flesh. I've mentioned this theme a couple of times, as it's one that comes up in HBO's late-lamented Deadwood and in the on-going trial of accused Canadian serial killer Robert Pickton (for the latest news about his defense, see this BBC account). There is also a post about the Testamentum Porcelli, a satirical last will and testament from a pig that was popular with the kids back in the fourth century. If you happen to read Latin, you can find a copy here. If, like me, you haven't worked on your Latin since high school, there's a great 1987 article about it called "The Testament of the Piglet" that you can find here in J-Stor.

Thanks to the great porkopolis.org for the reference. Today's image comes from my friend Lisa from her trip to Nantucket. Painting and artist unknown, for now at least.

Il Porcellino in Sydney & Elsewhere

My pal Kelly, who is contributing Rhinoceros for the Reaktion Books "Animal Series" (here) was recently in Australia, where she saw a statue of a wild boar on Macquarie Street outside the Sydney Hospital. According to the sign attached to the sculpture of "Il Porcellino," if one drops a coin in the box (to benefit the sick in the hospital) "legend says that if you rub the nose of the boar you will be endowed with good fortune." Kelly suggested that this probably wasn't a custom original to the Aussies, and she was correct. The statue in Sydney of this wild boar is a copy of the Italian original that can be found in the Uffizi Galleries in Florence. According to the Sydney Hospital web site (here), the copy was presented to the hospital in 1968 by the Marchessa Clarissa Torrigiani in memory of her father and brother who had both been renowned surgeons at the hospital.

The photo to the right is of the "Il Cinghiale" ("Il Porcellino," or "piglet," is the statue's nickname) fountain in the Mercato Nuovo in Florence. Apparently, the wild boar was first sculpted and cast by Pietro Tacca in 1612, based on a marble Italian copy of a Hellenistic marble original that has been lost or destroyed. There are five copies of "Il Porcellino" made in 1962 in different locations, including one at the Derby Arboretum in England that replaced one destroyed by bombing during World War 2. According to the Public Art Around the World site (here), the other modern copies are in California, Florence (presumably the one above the the public can touch), and Canada (one in Waterloo and one in Victoria).

Paul Mullins, Kisser, 2003

My pal Lisa at the University of Arizona Museum of Art is always checking out work at various galleries and shared this lovely work by Paul Mullins entitled "Kisser" that she found at Nathan Larramendy Gallery. According to what I could find on the interweb, Mullins was born in 1970 and currently teaches at San Francisco State University. The Larrramendy Gallery site has a few other images from this series that involve men and animals. This makes sense, as apparently Mullins' work as a whole interrogates manhood and masculinity.

Walter Martin & Paloma Muñoz, Traveler 205

The artists Walter Martin and Paloma Muñoz create wonderful scenes in snowglobes in their studio in the Poconos. ArtNews had an article about their work last fall that you can read here. The artists have their own website, with lots of images, here. This work is entitled Traveler 205 [2006, glass, water, wood, plastic, 9 x 6 x 6]. It's lovely and can be found at P.P.O.W. in New York.

Thanks to Lisa for sharing the work of these fantastic artists with me.

Wim Delvoye's Tattooed Pigs

The Belgian artist Wim Delvoye is back with a gallery show in Paris featuring his (now stuffed) tattooed pigs. At the Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin on Rue de Turenne one can also watch a video about Delvoye's Art Farm in China, where the tattoos are done. It's hard to tell from the image on the left, but the pigs are tattooed with the logos of luxury goods, Disney characters, etc.

There's a good overview of the history of Delvoye's work on one of my favorite blogs, Needled.com. The proprietress of Needled, Marisa DiMattia, takes great pains to note that she didn't personally tattoo these pigs. I guess the last time she posted about Delvoye's work she was critiqued by animal activists. As she suggests, send any and all hate mail to him, not to us bloggers. You can find his website, with better images of one of his stuffed pigs (named Louise, tattooed all over with the Louis Vuitton logo) here. By the way, commercial pigs are frequently tattooed to track and manage the animals "from birth to pork." See, for example, the website of Ketchum Manufacturing, which provides a number of pig tattooing products.

I've previously posted about tattoos of pigs on people, a clearly different matter. You can find those in the archive here and here. There are a lot more out there since I last looked. I'll post about pig tattoos on chefs and other foodies later.