We often focus on artists’ choices and the motivations behind them, but it’s interesting to think about the choices artists have to make because there are no realistic alternatives. Yun-Fei Ji, for example, is hindered in his modern exploration of ancient hand scrolls because he’s creating a public display of an inherently intimate art form. The hand scroll is traditionally a solitary (or at least very private) experience, and so to work with it in a public setting can mean the loss of certain elements, such as the sense of movement gained by unrolling a scroll or the element of physical interaction. And of course with an exhibition, the artist also has to consider the spectator, especially when many of the spectators will have a language barrier or be missing some sort of cultural context.
I really admired Yun-Fei Ji’s attitude towards these obstacles–of course some things are lost, but a lot is gained as well. At one point, he described art as “fragmentation and collage”–the artist must piece together what he can, where he can, and trust what he is doing.
I agree with your idea about art. While might not the results we wanted, the art we create will always have certain limitation we may not like. For instance his sculpture. While it may be a 3D art work I feel like it did not have the effects that his scrolls elicited. At one point we have to think about how we wanted our art to be presented and if we think we can execute it well enough.
Your point about how Yun-Fei said that art is like “fragmentation and collage,” with the artist putting together what, where, and when he can is interesting when considering the themes behind his work. Being an artist is obviously different from being a migrant who had been pushed out of their lands and who is not recognized by their own city, but I wonder if Yun-Fei drew parallels between his artistic experience and their migratory ones. For the migrants too, they had to make do with what they could (selling plungers, bike wheels, other goods) where (in Beijing’s markets) and when they could (when the authority figures weren’t chasing them away). There are some similarities between the processes behind which Yun-Fei and migrants carry out their jobs and lives, even though the stakes are different.
I love your point about the artist trusting what he is doing. Every artist is pretty brave to show their work to anyone else, because they always take the risk of letting that person interpret the art in their own way. Something that symbolizes peace and comfort to one person can represent danger and discomfort to the next person. An artist sacrifices having the sole perspective on what his/her work means when he/she publishes it.