All News Great and Small: the Toilet Roll
Review of Zeng Hao's Looking Around
Entitled Looking Around, two installations by Zeng Hao are currently being showcased at the Shanghai Gallery of Art. One of them, an untitled installation drew immense interest to me when I visited the exhibition on the New Year's Day. The exhibition seems to usher in the year of 2007 timely, and when high time for news new and old to be summarized in various media. It is an installation of a toilet roll that is bulkier than human size. The following is the review while I entitle the installation Toilet Roll.
So what's the big deal with a toilet roll? Indeed, a toilet roll is an ingenious creation. It is a popular non-renewable everyday item, practical in use per needs, easy to keep and space saving, and replenishing for short-term use; however, trees are never saved for its production or reproduction.
Allocated within the not so dark exhibition hall but still silently basking in the limelight, the Toilet Roll receiving controlled spotlighting appears like some social farce, but it is not a black comedy. It is hardly a film reel since it is not sepia enough; it is not a newsreel since it is painted on or written on. It is not the Toilet Roll of the Year albeit it is also not the News of the Year.
News is news; news becomes old when it is soon on the news. News happens, timed and dated, and sooner or later, layered with imaginative thoughts or spinned off ideas, good or bad, right or wrong, worthless or invaluable for various practical or trivial purposes; all rolled into other news. Some news are memorable, some got splashed, some are overlooked, and some got dug up years later to become big news again, while most will turn into archaeological archive with room temperature control. Nowadays, news is simply digitized in this Digital Revolution; news could be permanently saved, recalled with a few keystrokes, and so easily manipulated via cables or wireless.
On further examining the textual and pictorial encryption on the Toilet Roll, it is not even polemic but didactic since the clipped news on it may not necessarily reflect truth, and imprinted with the selected or interested news, of course, together with mere decorative intents. The Toilet Roll is not a sitcom since it is not spontaneous and hilarious enough, however, it somewhat reminds Andy Warhol's trademarked bleached sizzling top.
Furthermore, the Toilet Roll is not a form of graffiti since all text and pictures found its own allocated area, even more so, meticulously arranged and composed with very clear visual syntax. It is considered as non-news since it leaves no room for any form of dialectic portal; it is simply not fresh from press. It seems to inform me that those selected news are larger than life and demand undivided attention. On the other hand, the installation seems even larger than life since its occupying largeness dominates my unassuming presence when standing but diminished next to it. However, it is a pure physical form yet tainted with lots of ideas. Despite all, the toilet roll is a spin off from Pop Art in this diverse Post Modern Era. It is a New Pop; and it is New Pop.
All in all, all news great and small shall all eventually be wiped, rolled up, and flushed into temporal oblivion.
Jeremy Tew
Art Explication
From Shanghai upon the Sea, China
January 1st. 2007
Review of Zeng Hao's Looking Around
Entitled Looking Around, two installations by Zeng Hao are currently being showcased at the Shanghai Gallery of Art. One of them, an untitled installation drew immense interest to me when I visited the exhibition on the New Year's Day. The exhibition seems to usher in the year of 2007 timely, and when high time for news new and old to be summarized in various media. It is an installation of a toilet roll that is bulkier than human size. The following is the review while I entitle the installation Toilet Roll.
So what's the big deal with a toilet roll? Indeed, a toilet roll is an ingenious creation. It is a popular non-renewable everyday item, practical in use per needs, easy to keep and space saving, and replenishing for short-term use; however, trees are never saved for its production or reproduction.
Allocated within the not so dark exhibition hall but still silently basking in the limelight, the Toilet Roll receiving controlled spotlighting appears like some social farce, but it is not a black comedy. It is hardly a film reel since it is not sepia enough; it is not a newsreel since it is painted on or written on. It is not the Toilet Roll of the Year albeit it is also not the News of the Year.
News is news; news becomes old when it is soon on the news. News happens, timed and dated, and sooner or later, layered with imaginative thoughts or spinned off ideas, good or bad, right or wrong, worthless or invaluable for various practical or trivial purposes; all rolled into other news. Some news are memorable, some got splashed, some are overlooked, and some got dug up years later to become big news again, while most will turn into archaeological archive with room temperature control. Nowadays, news is simply digitized in this Digital Revolution; news could be permanently saved, recalled with a few keystrokes, and so easily manipulated via cables or wireless.
On further examining the textual and pictorial encryption on the Toilet Roll, it is not even polemic but didactic since the clipped news on it may not necessarily reflect truth, and imprinted with the selected or interested news, of course, together with mere decorative intents. The Toilet Roll is not a sitcom since it is not spontaneous and hilarious enough, however, it somewhat reminds Andy Warhol's trademarked bleached sizzling top.
Furthermore, the Toilet Roll is not a form of graffiti since all text and pictures found its own allocated area, even more so, meticulously arranged and composed with very clear visual syntax. It is considered as non-news since it leaves no room for any form of dialectic portal; it is simply not fresh from press. It seems to inform me that those selected news are larger than life and demand undivided attention. On the other hand, the installation seems even larger than life since its occupying largeness dominates my unassuming presence when standing but diminished next to it. However, it is a pure physical form yet tainted with lots of ideas. Despite all, the toilet roll is a spin off from Pop Art in this diverse Post Modern Era. It is a New Pop; and it is New Pop.
All in all, all news great and small shall all eventually be wiped, rolled up, and flushed into temporal oblivion.
Jeremy Tew
Art Explication
From Shanghai upon the Sea, China
January 1st. 2007
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