The first pieces of art I remember buying.
I have often thought about what I would miss the most if my house caught fire and what is most valuable to me. My thoughts always return to this shelf that I have shared here. It contains the artwork of my friend and Taiwanese-based Artist Meng-Shu You. We attended graduate school together in a class of 6 MFA Candidates (much smaller than many art schools’ graduate programs). For Meng-Shu’s thesis exhibition she made 1000 of these hand painted porcelain bottles. Perhaps more but I forgot the exact number. She created several molds of mass produced coke bottles, put clay inside, fired them, and then hand painted each of them. I think the molds only last for so many casts and then you have to make a new mold. Since I’m a painter and not ceramic artist I don’t explain the ceramic process perfectly, but I’m slightly familiar. The artwork comments on American consumer culture and at the same time nods to the ancient traditions of Chinese decorative painting on ceramics. I believe in 2004 (could be wrong about the year) I bought ~20 of these hand painted bottles from her for Christmas gifts for my family. I kept three for myself. Since I was a graduate student in art you know I did not have a lot of money. But I did have some money so I bought what I thought was important- ART. I could have gone to Wal-Mart and bought something mass-produced but instead I bought direct from the artist Meng-Shu You. There is myth people hold that they cannot afford art or things from artists because that is for rich people. I’m here to debunk that myth. You can have art if you look hard enough but you do have to try and keep your mind open. I’m here to tell you why art is vital to our humanity. Meng-Shu didn’t have a lot of money either so I know that the sale helped her some while she was trying to graduate college. Everyone in my family was happy with their gift (or so I think). Five years later I came home acting like an ape and accidentally knocked one of my bottles off the shelf and it broke. I cried hard. So my group of three bottles became a group of two. I knew how expensive it would be for her to ship art from Taiwan even if she did have another one to send me. A few years later the Matriarch of my husband’s family (she calls herself the Ancient one) moved from a larger place to a smaller place. She no longer had room for the bottle that I gave her. I was given a chance to have the bottle again. SWEET! My set of three that became two now had a chance to become three again. YAY! My set is full. When you give a gift it sometimes can come back to you in a way you might not expect. I think they call it KARMA or sending out good energy into the universe. It is also called trust.
Please take a look and view Meng-Shu’s hand painted coke bottles project on her website here.
When I was in middle school I bought the canisters in the back of this shelf at the dollar store or some similar store. They decorated a shelf in my room at my parents’ house until I left for college. They have been in a box for many years. I only recently found them again in box not opened for at least a decade or perhaps two. I thought they would go perfectly with my Meng-Shu You hand painted coke bottles. They connect for several reasons that are personal to me but also speak to our collective cultures and differences. She probably forgot that I even had these artworks and I never told her how important they have been to me all this time. Because the canisters are sentimental from my youth, represent American consumer culture, and show Asian language it’s perfect for my favorite shelf. I have no idea if the writing is Japanese or Chinese, as I’ve never bothered to look it up. Perhaps some of my friends here can tell me what language it is? I’ve always loved the letters and characters of all the Asian alphabets because they are different from my own native language. It’s beautiful even if I don’t know what it says. I have always wanted to know what these canisters say. Perhaps today is the day I can find out what these canisters say. I guess there is an app for that but I have not downloaded it.
My heart wrenches for all the art students that were suppose to graduate this semester that will only be able to have virtual exhibitions. That really blows. I have my own art shows and projects that are postponed/evaporated and that is a bummer too. But I can’t wait until the arts open back up. I’m going to be dreaming about it over here you know it. I choose to inspire hope in others. That is what art is for. That is my job.
I juxtaposed my favorite shelf photo with a photo of my cat calendar as they go together for today or was that yesterday? I don’t remember. If I gave you one of these bottles many years ago and you still have it please take a photo of it and show me where it lives today. Send it to me via email or however you like to send messages. I honestly forgot whom I gave them to. Or even better if you have a special shelf in your house that you want to share with me I would love to see it. I LOVE special shelves, especially your favorite shelf.
Thank you for attending my March 26, 2020 RENEE ROBBINS TED talk/Second blog post on my website reneerobbins.com
