Something, somewhere, somehow

Kate, 20, History of Art student

3,020 notes

Anti-Vice campaingn Series by Zhang Haiying

Anti-Vice campaingn Series is based on Internet photographs of young women caught up in the Chinese governments efforts to purge the city of prostitution and pornography. The highly publicized campaign to eliminate vice and illegal publications focuses on the apprehension and detention of young women such as these, who are among the most powerless of the countrys citizens. Victimized on one hand by gangs and threatened with fines and prison by authorities on the other, they are often paraded through streets to face insults and ridicule. Zhang is not attempting to present a case for the decriminalization of prostitution, but as an artist, hopes instead to portray their frail humanity and the sympathy their shame evokes.

source: http://www.saatchionline.com/haiyingzhang

(Source: meeresstille, via ruineshumaines)

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So in my three years at university, I’ve somehow gone from thinking “Hey, I actually know a fair bit about art.”,  to literally not knowing art at all. Why does the question of “What is art?” spring to mind whenever I visualise a piece of work? Well, thanks to the creation of Conceptual art. I mean, I used to think “Oh whatever, no one can POSSIBLY call this art.”….but was I just being ignorant? I like to think I’m somehow, more open-minded after having learn to eliminate the materials used in a work of art, but instead, look beyond the concept of it. I guess it’s not the idea of “I can make this myself.”, the point is no, no you did not make it. Therefore, someone else did and now, it is classified as a prized possession. DuChamp’s work of ‘Bicycle Wheel and a stool’ for example; he was the first to essentially, create what is known as a ‘ready-made’ and has changed the art world forever. He went beyond the conventional and did what no other artist would think of performing during his time, and up till today, artists are experimenting with more materials than ever. I genuinely do not think such work can be said as a ‘con’….it isn’t. And why can’t it be classified as art? No one knows what art is anyway, and it’s forever changing.

So in my three years at university, I’ve somehow gone from thinking “Hey, I actually know a fair bit about art.”,  to literally not knowing art at all. Why does the question of “What is art?” spring to mind whenever I visualise a piece of work? Well, thanks to the creation of Conceptual art. I mean, I used to think “Oh whatever, no one can POSSIBLY call this art.”….but was I just being ignorant? I like to think I’m somehow, more open-minded after having learn to eliminate the materials used in a work of art, but instead, look beyond the concept of it. I guess it’s not the idea of “I can make this myself.”, the point is no, no you did not make it. Therefore, someone else did and now, it is classified as a prized possession. DuChamp’s work of ‘Bicycle Wheel and a stool’ for example; he was the first to essentially, create what is known as a ‘ready-made’ and has changed the art world forever. He went beyond the conventional and did what no other artist would think of performing during his time, and up till today, artists are experimenting with more materials than ever. I genuinely do not think such work can be said as a ‘con’….it isn’t. And why can’t it be classified as art? No one knows what art is anyway, and it’s forever changing.

(Source: littlewingdings)