Circus in China

One of the most spectacular arts of China is of course circus. This art has been originated from the every day working routine of the plain peasants. During performing their every day activities the people used every single opportunity to develop their stamina and adroitness. Later the circus art became the obligatory part of Chinese martial and religious ceremonies. That’s why a wide range of weapon and household utensils are used in the modern Chinese circus performances. In the past the people used the things that they could easily find in their houses, such as plates or jars. Using plain chairs and other pieces of furniture the people developed the flexibility of their their bodies. Many of the acrobatic performances were originally some certain kinds of sports or games.

Rob Mulholland

Rob Mulholland is a Scottish artist who became famous mainly for his uncanny sculptures and installations. The models of Mulholland remind humans but being made of mirrored Perspex they look like actual ghosts haunting Scottish forests and lakes. The series Vestige consists of several Perspex-made male and female figures. And the view is really moving and disturbing at the same time. Initially Mulholland wanted to reveal the idea of human influence on nature. “The essence of who we are as individuals in relationship to others and our given environment forms a strong aspect of my artistic practice. In Vestige I wanted to explore this relationship further by creating a group, a community within the protective elements of the woods, reflecting the past inhabitants of the space”. The models distort the surrounding so that it looks very eerie and mysterious.

Scaring Art – Cursed Paintings

Art is beautiful in all its forms, however, the works of some painters make the audience fear of the picture rather than admire it. Some paintings are connected with strange and even mystic stories which can not be logically explained. The power of art can create miracles, but there are cases when these miracles are pretty scary ones.

The picture with the worst reputation is, probably, “Crying Boy” by Giovanni Bragolin. It presents a portrait of the painter’s son whom the artist made cry by holding burning matches in front of his face. The kid was afraid of fire and cried out of fear. A few weeks after the picture was finished the boy died from pneumonia, and Bragolin burnt alive in his house during a sudden conflagration. Then a series of conflagrations was reported in the Northern England – in all cases the houses were burnt to ashes except for the reproduction of “Crying Boy”. In result, the reproductions of this picture were declared cursed and the owners were told to get rid of them. The original “Crying Boy”, however, is still not found…

Michelangelo Pistoletto

Michelangelo Pistoletto is an Italian artist regarded as a leading figure of Arte Povera movement. Many of his works are socially oriented. Thus his famous installation The Third Paradise refers to the idea of creation a perfect place where people would live in harmony with nature. The work was presented for the first time in 2005 during the 51^st Venice Biennale. Why it has such a name? According to Pistoletto the third paradise combines features of the first and second paradises. The first one refers to the paradise where “humans were fully integrated into nature”. As for the second one then it is an artificially created place “developed by humans through a process that has now reached globalizing proportions. This paradise is made of artificial needs, artificial products, artificial comforts, artificial pleasures, and every other form of artifice”. What about the third paradise? Pistoletto sees it as “the passage to a new level of planetary civilization, essential to ensure the human race’s survival. The Third Paradise is the new myth that leads everyone to take personal responsibility at this momentous juncture”.