Sometimes the writing on a painting may create a new depth to let viewers to know more about the artist’s idea. It happens in traditional Chinese painting very often. Cubists usually also write words on their paintings, it was one of the character of cubist’s style. When I wrote words on my Bird’s Nest painting, visually I made the style of the painting more like cubist and it is also a way to pass on my idea.

posted by Zhang Hongtu

by Zhao Mengfu (detail)

by Picasso (detail)

Many thanks for your comments. “Its China’s loss”, that’s right, but too bad that Chinese government  never drew a lesson from their loss.

what was your motivation for creating this work of art?

To express my feeling on this Beijing Olympic, to let people know that “human right(s)” is not a bad word and Tibetan people has the right to enjoy it.

Why did you pick this particular palette of colors for this work? did you ever consider doing the same work in another palette of color?

I was try to make my work  looks more like cubist style.

What did you like about painting this work? What was the most challenging /frustrating part for you? How long did it take you to complete?

To me, to paint it’s always enjoyable. Any time if I want do something new on my canvas, it is a challenging, because it’s a challenging, it’s enjoyable. I had never felt frustrating when I paint. For this “Bird’s Nest in the Style of Cubism”, I worked on canvas around 1 week, but spent more time to do the research.

posted by Zhang Hongtu

By Georges Braque

Wall Street Journal published an article by David D’Arcy on August 21, 2008, entitled Artist’s Pointed Critique Is Barred From Beijing. Please click on this link you can read it online:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121928312315258939.html

posted by Zhang Hongtu

Hi there Weihui,

Chinese customs gave three reasons for why this painting be censored:

1. The colors of the painting are too dull;

2. The image of the Bird’s Nest is no good;

3. The words on the painting are not acceptable.

First time I saw the Bird’s Nest stadium, it remained me of Picass’s cubist work. Because, as a building without an exterior, it looks deconstructed anyway. Also, when I painted this building from different perspectives, I made my painting no central point focus, made it more like an abstract work. These hand painted words -both English and Chinese-I found from newspapers and magazines, these words appeared on media almost every single day when I was working on this painting.

Hi Khaled,

The meanings are as follows:

奥运圣火－Olympic Holy Torch

同一个世界 同一个梦想 – One World, One Dream, the official Beijing Olympic motto.

家乐福－Carrefour, the French supermarket.

Dear Sohrab,

I had an interview with WNYC and I answered the same question. Please get on this URL link to hear my voice:

http://blogs.wnyc.org/culture/2008/09/05/big-shoes/

Zhang Hongtu

No, I didn’t know I would have trouble when I sending this painting to China. Instead, I had opposite thought, because when seven years ago China got the opportunity to host the Olympics, it promised more open and more freedom to people. I wish the Chinese would have the chance to hear different voices about many things that related to Olympics. I did know that my painting will be controversial, I think it’s good to have dialogs with your audiences and to get criticise from your audiences, but I never expected the painting was seized by Chinese authorities at Customs and I got zero audience in China.

Zhang Hongtu