~Nirvana~
"Happy Bonfire aka. Ugly Painting Barbecue aka. Nirvana"
Public Art Performance.
2016.
"Happy Bonfire aka. Ugly Painting Barbecue aka. Nirvana"
Public Art Performance.
2016.
<Back
Story
The idea of burning down my self portrait came from a very simple intention: I got too many ugly and useless oil paintings. In order to make the best use and best value of things, I decided to burn my works down. Having been talking to two instructors in my studio classes, I learned that it is not possible to burn things or simply make fire on campus. Nonetheless, I found that barbecue places such as the Illini Grove might be a plausible place for me to burn things down.
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The self portrait that I burnt down.
Now turned into a piece of charcoal. "Overflow". Oil on canvas. 18"x24". 2015. |
And it happened that my art class ARTS454 had a final project of public art, so I decided to use this opportunity to make my idea come true. I soon gathered materials and equipments (a video camera, a tripod, an easy light bag of coal, a lighter fluid, a lighter, and a fire extinguisher, as well as my selfportrait painting) and created an event page on Facebook to invite friends, which thing I don't really have. However, I did not make a clever choice of the date of the event (and also due to the fact that I got no friends). No one really showed up on a Saturday after Thanksgiving break.
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The event page on Facebook.
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Yet, I still decided to video shoot myself burning down the painting. My friend Ben and Felix came to witness the momment. There were also a few (<4) on Facebook interested in this event, but did not make it. Still, I am grateful to their actual and spiritual support.
Afterall, it was a Saturday after Thanksgiving break, who the f*ck want to go back to school, huh?
Afterall, it was a Saturday after Thanksgiving break, who the f*ck want to go back to school, huh?
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Afterwards
The burning of my ugly self portrait viewed in public is like a ritual practice.
The burn-down can be seen as self-descruction, as well as rebirth, reminding me of a dark witch trail, as well as a spiritual nirvana. The 18"x24" oil painting finally turned into a small piece of charcoal. Turning into some dumb drawings of mew. I am looking forward to burning down more of my bad works in the future to make a utilitarian good use and best value out of these works. For the next time, I hope I could pick out a better date so more people can come. |
And I pray to the God of Loners that I could make more friends by the next time.
Video Documentation
Background music: Kalafina, "Magia" from Album After Eden, SME Records, 2011.
Ending sound effect: "Twinkle", Apple Ringtone.
Thanks to Prof. Ross and Prof. Bakker for advice.
Thanks to friends Felix W. and Ben H. for attending, fire setting, video shooting, and junk food feeding.
Thanks to friends Jason J., Yu Z., Melon W., and many others who are interested in this project.
Ending sound effect: "Twinkle", Apple Ringtone.
Thanks to Prof. Ross and Prof. Bakker for advice.
Thanks to friends Felix W. and Ben H. for attending, fire setting, video shooting, and junk food feeding.
Thanks to friends Jason J., Yu Z., Melon W., and many others who are interested in this project.