Assignment on Visual Literacy

Exhibits at the Asian Civilization Museum were displayed in a way to portray the life of Asians who were made up of different cultures and religions. Cultures and the ways of worship were touched on and thus Reshmi and I will be writing about the aesthetics of the entrance of the Hinduism gallery.

Hinduism is the third largest religion following Christianity and Islam. It evolved from the earliest pre- history. Throughout the entrance, different gods statues were displayed such as the serpent gods.

In Hinduism, worshippers acknowledge three main deities. They are Brahma, the creator of the universe, Vishnu, the preserver of the universe and Shiva, the destroyer of the universe.

Brahma
Vishnu
Shiva

Upon entering, both of us felt that not much recognition was given to the three gods, although the fact is that they are the main three gods in the religion. They were kept in an area which was quite gloomy and dark and the same environment was given to every other exhibit there. They were not emphasized upon, thus visitors to the museum who are oblivious about the culture might not recognize these three gods as the core of the religion. They will only grow to find out when they watch the short video on the small screen allocated at the exhibit. Also, not much information was given about the deities on display or the religion for the matter, even though it is claimed that Hinduism is the third largest religion in the world. They were not well introduced and only the appearances created the difference. So, we expected more of theoretical knowledge behind all these wonderful sculptures to be placed beside them. Doubts were clarified sometimes by watching the short video but since most of the visitors did not have many chances to explore to other ancient places, we believed many will want more details on the religion by coming to this particular exhibition. However, the museum did great effort in compiling many sculptures and art pieces from different countries. Different styles of creating the sculptures were visible and the difference in the years (era) this did reflect on the various cultures in Hinduism.

The cultures are regarded as very traditional. Yet, what is questioned now is the practice of the religion in today’s era. Hindus around the world worship Vishnu the most among the three gods. He is the preserver of life and order and whenever the principles of order and righteousness are threatened, the entire religion becomes endangered and he transcends to assume an earthly form. Similarly for Shiva and Brahma, people worship them for different reasons. For Brahma, people worship him because he is the first of the Hindu trinity and he is the Creator of the Universe. As for Shiva, Hindus keep a fast for him for one day called the “Maha Shivrathri”. This day is set aside to worship him because he had saved the world by drinking poison. People carry out various rituals at temples to worship these gods because they are seen as a symbol of respect and life. However, a totally different meaning is given to these sculptures when they are placed in a museum. In that case, they are seen as mere exhibits and even when Hindus go these exhibitions, they do not worship the deities on display there.

Of course these exhibits, like the Nataraja have a meaning behind them like for instance this particular sculpture is the lord of dance and it is associated with the “destruction of ignorance”, but many other aspects of this figure is left out, like for example, what is the real meaning of this form of his and who he is really. A completely different ambience is given out when one steps into a museum showcasing these deities compared to if one steps into a temple. Even though similar statues are found in the museum and in the temple, the environment is completely different. In the temple, a visitor feel more of the rich culture, more of the religion and faith than when in the museum when the visitor merely just see it as a stone statue.

Thus we proposed the idea of re- creating the entrance so the ambience can be felt. For example it is suitable for any ancient architecture's opening to be the entrance for the deities' sculptures. We saw a gateway to another part of India's civilization gallery and it was awesome to see beautiful and big opening. The lights were well adjusted and we could eventually step in and observed the fine details and carvings.

In addition, we thought that it will be better to display the gods statues in three different small compartments. This is because some of the gods statues' appearance have similarities and sometimes it causes slight confusion. Furthermore, we wanted to show the representational meaning and more details about them. As an example, the significance of the Shiva or also Nataraja sculpture is said to be that Shiva is shown of all the movement within the cosmos (the orderly universe) represented by the arch of flames. So by displaying the different 'lord of dancing' statues within the area will create more attraction.

the different statues of dancing Shiva

Hence, the meanings are communicated through various ways. The sculptures and the details of them act as representational meaning and reflect to the own culture.

Essay on 24 Jan at SAM

Gao Xing Jian
Title: Day and Night
Year: 2007
Medium: Chinese ink on paper

The painting 'Day and Night' attracted me through its simplicity yet it requires a deep thought for it. Different from other 'Chinese ink' paintings, the big artpiece also gave that feeling of wanting to explore into the meaning itself.

The use of chinese ink for this size of art work is uncommon and whenever the medium is mentioned, beautiful sceneries or scriptures enter my mind. However, after looking at the way it is painted and also, the idea of the topic addressed, it gives a new style of creating a painting by using the old medium itself. I was actually overwhelmed by the big black patches in it. Not much toning was visible and it was quite a dark painting. To think of it, somehow I felt closely related to the term 'Surrealism'.

Surrealism paintings are interesting and unique. They are full of feelings and thoughts. No exact and confirmed story about them and people are free to judge. I was reminded of the famous surrealist artist, 'Salvador Dali'. He was famous for his interpretation of dreams. He had remarkable memories and had fantastic theories behind all of them. His paintings were colourful and thus varies from Gao Xing Jian's work. The similarity of them however both managed to express their ideas through the art pieces. By using chinese ink, I believed that the artist wanted to show that chinese ink are not only limited to paint scriptures and beautiful landscapes. With him originating from China and since its one of the Asian cultures, creating a 'thinking' masterpiece but with input of 'Western' knowledge of interpretation and styles, it is creative in fact.

Another thought was about the artworks painted by Edward-Munch. In one of the paintings, The Scream, the main figure was screaming, expressing himself in the pathway. In addition the figures did not have a characteristic face or body shape similar to the figures in Gao's painting. Although the figure in his painting was not shown screaming, it actually similar to the 'lonely' and the focus was actually being put upon him. Also, viewers could feel that both were expressing something although in Gao's painting, it is more towards the silent expression of thoughts.

Due to the black and white term, the idea of portraying a sun is not that clear because it can also be mistook as the moon. Back to the title, 'Day and Night', I wondered too which time was the moment in the painting. Personally, I considered it to be during the night, since I viewed it as a dream.

Despite it, the artist has different perceptions and I agree that he has a wonderful hypothesis. The consciousness of self between the first, second and third stage do differ. Consciousness one might say comprised qualities such as self-awareness and the sensitivity between the person and the surrounding. This can lead to the part where one acknowledges oneself as I, You, He or She. It is a personal journey of self to original starting point from the various stages of awareness. Every person has undergone these stages and sometimes, from the consciousness state, he or she came to a different level, which is called the 'sub-conscious' state. During this very moment, I analyse this stage near to dreaming too. Besides that, the colour grey is being used to define the original colour of human existence, explaining the reality of mankind journey are all being divided into dissimilar ways. The shape like 'doors' maybe resembles the 'gate' to different levels of consciousness and the wind brewing adds on to the 'situation'.

Meanwhile, this particular artist too is well known for his creation of 'crisps' or 'cracks' on the paper itself. The urge of wanting to touch the paper must be restrained. They were well executed and some of the fine cracks were intricate, reflecting the marvellous technique of his.

In conclusion, Gao Xing Jian has managed to bring up this topic of consciousness through this 'Day and Night'. Regardless of the time, day or night, the perception of self through the different stages 'I', 'You', 'He' or 'She' is unlikely to be avoided.