It Looks Like a Landscape
Liu Wei, 2004 digital B/W photography
Liu Wei's "landscape" is an homage to traditional black and white Chinese brush paintings - created by digitally collaging photos of nude bodies. It's a surprisingly beautiful scene composed of parts we usually consider unbeautiful, including buttocks, knees, and body hair.
Unless you're familiar with Chinese brush painting, you may not think these look much like mountains at all. But the rounded, doubled forms of thighs and buttocks are very similar to the mountain shapes depicted in Song dynasty paintings, like this one, by Guo Xi.
Early Spring
Guo Xi (ca. 1020-1090) dated 1072
ink on silk
More by Guo Xi and his contemporaries here.
It Looks Like a Landscape is included in an exhibition of contemporary Chinese art running at the Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA) through Jan 4, 2009). Also included: a full-body landscape "tattoo" (really body paint) by Huang Yan. Tattoo #2 is another case of traditional Chinese art reimagined, with the human body as a canvas:
Chinese Landscape: Tattoo #2
Huang Yan, 1999
bodypaint; color photography
For those of you who, like me, can't drop by BAM/PFA, check out this friendly gallery page which features dozens of digital photos of the art for web visitors (thank you, BAM/PFA!)
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Hi Jessica, I just discovered your blog via a comment of yours on Erratic Phenomena. Great stuff here! I've bookmarked it. Thanks for exploring a line of thought that interests me very much.
This is really interesting. I particularly like how you twice used the word "buttocks", as if we are part of some medical school anatomy class that requires formal references to otherwise hilarious parts of the body (ie butts).
On the subject of tattoo art, I trust you're familiar with Skin, the short story by Roald Dahl. I wasn't impressed with most of Dahl's short stories for adults, but I liked Skin very much.
Thanks for posting that interesting image! It definitely takes the body as landscape concept a step further than I usually see it. Here (http://tracyduran.net/mfa.html) are some other great images by an artist (Tracy Duran) who's delving into this concept in a more Georgia O'Keeffe way than Liu Wei.
John, I used the word "buttocks" specifically because I know YOU would object. Ha ha ha, so there.
Also I just kinda like the word. "Derriere" is pretentious, gluteus maximus is too medical, "booty" is too sexual, "butt" looks juvenile, etc. "Buttocks" conveys just the right connotation of meaty, substantial behind area. But really, I should never have been led into this discussion.
I figured that much. "Buttocks" makes me far more uncomfortable than "butt". "Butts" is good one. It strikes a balance between informative and humorous. Why not "sits bones"? That's what my yoga instructor says. It makes absolutely no sense yet still makes me rather uncomfortable.
Eh, a little more mist would have been to my liking.
Beb: I laughed out loud when I read your comment. Funniest thing you've ever said...that I know of.
Well, the "mist" I was referring to was actually the, um, posterior hair on the top right "mountain". I don't want any more of that kind of mist.