Let’s focus on the positives… this is an opportunity i simply Cannot waste. There is no room for half-assed watery paintings or experimentations. I Need to produce 3-5 works I am proud of in probably less than 3 weeks.
day 1 brainstorm- [painting over patterns like olive, japanese paper would be good but it would not make sense] [perhaps for another idea] [grand budapest hotel]
first impression, very grand, very red, like I’ve stepped into a grandiose belly of a dragon beast. I’ve been swallowed, but it is very comfortable, soft carpets, and spacious. in the lobby, crowded and louder, a lot of tourists, posing for photographs, second hand embarrassment but I am the same. in the guest room floors, so silent you hear only your own being. maybe that’s an exaggeration but it was quieter than I expected. there was a big area to walk out on from one of the guest floors, where you could see the view from the front of the hotel. and it was grand. It started pouring unnaturally, looked like one of those movie set rains that come in layers. Until it hit me, it didn’t feel real. Actually, even when it hit me, it didn’t feel real.
this is the country’s grandest hotel. when I met with the person who graciously gave me this opportunity, he outlined some things. that they don’t take outside art in, really. the art hung up here were all original pieces from its history, when there were hired painters to paint natural scenes. if not those, very expensive works from big artists. I really can’t mess this chance up. what on earth could I offer? a fresh perspective? sure. but it has to be good enough. at the end of the month, they’re taking in one of my finished pieces, but he also said there’s an expectation of 3-5. all of the paintings I saw in the hotel were natural chinese-style ink painting type pieces from the time. they were scattered in guest room levels. when I went to the VIP room for the meeting the view from there was quite phenomenal as well. I’ve always thought scenes from far away, notably from above, minimizing people or cars had a surreal feel, since it feels like I am looking at the miniature. at such a distance you wonder about them, and you wonder at yourself. what about this perspective makes this moment so special? they’ll never know you were wondering at them and you’ll forget in a few moments. everything is temporary. like the stay at this grand hotel. the best and biggest and most famous and definitely grandest hotel in the whole of taiwan. what do I want to say from being in such a special environment? I think I can only convey it from my naiive perspective. It is the only possible way. I cannot lie from my paintings. this establishment feels mountains above me, a simple person who’s never been inside this place until today. everything is so lush and luxurious. though, in contrast with the loud tourists and the less-than-new lobby carpet and the closed glass vendors, I feel I could easily be hidden in the redness of it all.
I just wonder what I want to convey through this series of (rushed, perhaps, trying to start and finish before I go back to london, under a month, but I will pull through) paintings. the impression of the grand hotel itself from an outsider like me, who looked curiously on their website, through each high-gloss photo, which were so polished it felt fake, like they were lifted straight from a magazine page and not from anywhere else… it’s a pity I got that impression as, in real life it is much more beautiful, even up close in the corners of the building from the outside, where dust has gathered and formed clusters. Another thing I noticed was the overwhelming noise of the patterns in and out of the hotel. they were so loud with the red! pattern after pattern, intricate details of dragons carved out of the staircase, marble number plates, floral carpets, they were everywhere. I almost don’t notice the plain furniture, with their lack of pattern. I’ve been describing the hotel in comments with negative connotations, but in reality I didn’t mean it that way. I don’t find the uneven textured carpet bad, really, or the grey corners on the building walls, it really was beautiful. It was so grand that I couldn’t help but notice these small details that made it real, I guess, essentially. anyway, I was exploring some levels of the hotel with my camera in hand like a real tourist, a tourist inside a hotel like it’s a big red city. and it kind of felt like it was. a big community. within one entity. it kind of reminds me of the anime series sword art online where the people were stuck in the video game, where the place had 100 floors they had to win over before getting let out into the real world. it is painful and devastating, but in brief moments it is still as real as on the outside, when connections were made between people and a community is formed as players visit different levels to gather whatever they need. anyway, this seems besides the point but it reminded me of that. how people can be so wonderful and have your back one second then stab you there the next.
of course, the idea of travel has been a concept swirling around through my paintings recently. and to take on this hotel project, it seems to merge this idea semi perfectly. I haven’t really stopped to think about the idea of hotels, a temporary home, a place to make you feel accommodated for a few nights, though you are never really at home. and the mass of identical shaped rooms, bath robes, window views. my personal experience with hotels is that, I am always exhausted or in a rush, never really enjoying it because there never seems to be enough time. maybe that’s just my problem now. I remember when I was a child, I was enchanted, at least in my (perhaps fake) memories. it was such an adventure! I didn’t need to worry about what to pack, getting ready, bringing bags of things out, all that chaos. It was all fun and games and warmth and endless time to bask in the sun!
time. that is a huge concept that surrounds us every waking and un-waking second. I know this is very broad, but it does relate to a lot of the things I’m thinking about in the hotel. 1) The obvious one is the physical weathering of the actual building, how it still stands, as grand as the first day, though now with some dust, at least in my imagination. 2) And of course, its history. I have to admit I am not familiar with taiwan’s history and this hotel and I fear if I get into it this work will turn political and that could be problematic. And I really wanted to keep this project going from a true first-impression type feeling. Is that lazy? I feel that not many tourists come here knowing that part either. and I do see myself as a tourist. especially at this grand hotel. I feel this is a tourist destination within itself. It’s an incredible presence. 3) the time people spend here - and how they spend their time, is it rushed? will it be remembered in their minds forever? or only frozen in time in photographs? there will always be something chilling about raw video footage, with the white noise in the background.
/ when you walk in, very loud (red and pattern and people and size). emphasis quietness of it all? cool colours? but still with some signature red. maybe I should watch grand budapest hotel again