Shanghai Art

Thanks for the warm welcomes yesterday! It's good to be back.

Here's another photo from Shanghai. This is on Nanjing Lu, a large tourist road. At one point on the road there was a collection of "art" on display. The "art" was very tacky and hideous (imho). Any western tourist would barf at this stuff. Yet the domestic chinese tourists seem to love taking pictures with them.

It seems to me that China is trying to present itself as a modern country as defined by the western world. They try to imitate (unsuccessfuly) western culture while not realizing that their traditional arts are just as amazing. The "art" on Nanjing Lu is clearly not inspired by traditional chinese art but seems to me like an unsuccessful knock-off of Andy Warhol-esque pop art (you should've seen some of the other stuff. oi). So the domestic tourists like standing next to these things and taking pictures with them. They arent even "admiring" them. They see this "art" as a symbol of modernity. It's not that they appreciate this "art", they are just proud of their country. Can't blame them. It's just unfortunate that this is what's important to the people of China and that tradtional arts and culture is disappearing.

Anywho enough ranting. And on a lighter note, I found this shot funny cuz the guy is actually "admiring" this "genius" piece of work. His outfit really suits the scene i think. :)

edit: ok maybe the piece isnt as hideous as i've ranted about but you really had to see the rest of the collection. as a whole it was honestly very horrible and especially out of place.

Shooting Info

Capture Date: October 18, 2005
Capture Time: 13:12:16.9

Camera: Nikon D50
Lens: 18-55mm F/3.5-5.6G

Aperature: F/5.3
Shutter Speed: 1/400
ISO Sensitivity: 800
Focal Length: 45mm

Shooting Mode: Aperature Priority
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern
Flash: None