My immediate attention upon entering the lobby that night was drawn to a large painting that was apparently commissioned specifically for that particular hotel. Being that the name of said establishment consists of two oft-misused terms, I was (and always am) skeptical of Western depictions of anything Asian-related. This particular painting, however, left me flummoxed. Please, if you will:
These are the thoughts in the order they went through my befuddled head:- Dude, Asian chick is on a swing. I've never known any ancient Chinese royalty to "swing"...
- ...speaking of, she doesn't even look Asian. More like Spanish, or even white, with a black wig--
- --flying monkeys? Where are they flying from? Where are they flying to?? What's up with the flying -
- - D.C.? Um, she's hovering over the landscape of downtown D.C... okay, so this painting was commissioned for D.C., that's very nice, but--
- ...where is chick hanging?? The Washington Monument and The Capitol are the two tallest edifices in D.C., and she looks to be miles above the landscape...
So maybe I'm missing the deeper artistic meaning of this work. Thoughts??
*many, many props and hollas and hooplah and etc. to JC for finding said painting online with only my muddled description of "so there's this really weird painting at the Mandarin Oriental..." He also discovered that the painting is of the legendary Dowager Empress Tzu-Hsi, who supposedly poisoned her nephew by painful, evil, conniving means to ascend the throne... maybe the "Mandarin Oriental" is just a cover up for the presence of the Chinese mafia in D.C....
10 comments:
Opium.
I'm pretty sure this painting represents the struggle of mankind to maintain a sense of self in a culturally evolving world wrought with instability. The swing the woman clings to is her link to past, but also allows her to gaze with uncertainty upon a futuristic landscape of the imposing American culture without necessarily making the committment to dive right in, the way her monkey friends already have.
Or maybe the hotel told the artist, "Just paint something pretty that has a D.C. theme. Maybe throw in something Asian and exotic. We do have the word 'Mandarin' in our name, after all. Oh, and make sure there are monkeys. People like monkeys."
-Annie
I forgot to mention, the picture cuts it off, but on the bottom left hand side you can see the back of another monkey, who, in the painting's full glory, is hunkered on the edge of the painting, staring malevolently at us, the audience. That only added to the bafflement factor... "Asian chick is swinging high above DC and this monkey is sitting in midair...?!"
It also added to the creepy Asian Witch of the West motif.
Hi Annie! Welcome welcome welcome. Your ideas are fascinating and present a credible explanation... but I think I'd have to agree with you on the monkeys. I also find it ironic Warren mentions opium, as you and I wrote a report on opium in seventh grade health... remember? :) Ah, Ms. Bourne...
Maybe it's telling the story of the artists last ditch effort to elude the immigration authorities and swing down from the plane deporting her back to Spain?
However, the flying monkeys are clearly a depiction of the repression of the common masses in our time.
I am a random person. This picture totally outdos any random thought I may have. Com'on a swinging Asian Chick hovering over Washington, D.C.?
But my random thought is about the circus. Have you ever counted the number of Asians who are the trapeze artists, or the ones flipping the plates in the air? This swiming Asian Chick reminds me of the circus. There is a large populations of Asian people if the Circus. Not to mention that monkeys are in the circus too.
AK-- How easily you forget that even a pure-blooded Asian like yourself can be mistaken for a Latina.
Miss ya!
Holy Flying-Asian Girl! What in the world could that be? It's a plane...it's a bird...no, it's just that freaky asian chick swinging in mid-air again. [collective sigh of disappointment]
Yeah. No words. I mean, if you were to simply walk past this painting, you might get the impression of a beautiful scene, what with the lavish colors and all. But then if you stop to examine it, you're suddenly struck with the unnerving incongruousness of the various elements it presents to the viewer. So thanks, Jen. I'm going to go have nightmares now.
This girl is definitely not Asian, but is posing as one in order to start a world war. She has obviously been traveling the world, hanging from a hot air balloon, and setting her flying monkeys, which are definitely infected with the bird flu, loose on all major cities. One might wonder why nobody has shot her down yet...it's all in the head dress, for who could attack anything that had such a lovely hair-do.
The magical headdress has properties the power of which you could never fathom. I know, I had to wear one once. It's complicated.
A Google search on flying monkeys came up with this
image. Ooh, those government people commissioning paintings in the capitol of our country sure are sneaky... are we supposed to subliminally defect back to the motherland? Who's running this place, anyway?!
Quote:
'Empress Dowager over DC'
Chinese artist Zhong-Yang Huang was commissioned to do a Washington, DC interpretation of his piece 'Above The Forbidden City' that depicts the Last Empress of China flying over Beijing, China. The Empress was a very powerful woman who was only barely behind the curtain of three emperors, as well as behind the introduction of Western powers and influences into China. She lived in the Forbidden City, the most powerful city in the Eastern World, and had a fascination with the West. The Empress is now swinging over Washington DC, the most powerful city in the world. Her fascination with the western world could be considered complete.
Unquote
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