Well, “Three Head Six Arm Buddha” by Shanghai artist Zhang Huan was dedicated today in Civic Center but the Internets are already burning up with talk of the Rapture. I went to the ribbon cutting ceremony today and didn't see one sign of transcendence or the second coming. Nobody ascended to heaven and the envelope supposedly separating this world from the next remained firmly in place. There were a lot of news people around, interviewing the guys in suits. Maybe they were the manifestations of the demons of evil? You think probably not?
Why the talk about the rapture: SF Citizen has the scoop:
‘Cause this 15-ton monster portends the arrival of the Antichrist Maitreya (or something). And then things will go downhill fairly quickly after that, apparently. (Actually, we were supposed to get the Rapture on January 11, 2009, because of Barack Obama of course, but then….)
Personally I think that it's more a sign of expensive dubious taste ($100,000 to ship it over here - or so I read), artistic ego and game playing, rather than any real spirituality or a protest against the Chinese destruction of Tibetan culture. But it's an interesting addition to the Civic Plaza. It's much more striking than Manolo Valdez's Infantes (aka, The Cowbells) up in 2008.
I just wish that we have been able to keep one of Louise Bourgeois' huge spiders in the city- there could be a face off of Giant Spider at one end and Buddha at the other. Where is Ray Harryhausen when you need him? We could offset the cost of shipping and installation by making a horror movie. Instead of Godzilla and Mothra destroying the city, we could have Buddha vs Spider aided by a cast of the floating denizens of the Civic Center Plaza.
If you want to see beautiful Buddha's, check out the marvelous ones at the Asian Art Museum, right across the street.
Speaking of the Asian, there's a lovely exhibit up to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the ship Kanrin Maru and the first Japanese embassy to the United States. This exhibit focuses on some of the first Japanese diplomats and cultural emissaries in San Francisco, and how they responded to the experience of being in America. It highlights more than 40 artworks and other visual media associated with the first mission and with Japanese artists and cultural leaders active in San Francisco between 1880 and 1927.
It’ll be in the Japanese Galleries ’til November 21, 2010.
http://www.asianart.org/japanambassadors.htm
Plus, there's the Asian Festival In Little Saigon this weekend.
http://asianfairsf.com/
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