Coming Up - The Historic Centre of Macao series - "The Revive of the Sleeping Lotus"
"...自李唐來 世人甚愛牡丹 予獨愛蓮之出淤泥而不染，濯清漣而不妖，中通外直，不蔓不枝，香遠益清，亭亭淨植，可遠觀而不可褻玩焉。..."- 周敦頤
"...People usually were interested in peony since Tong Dynasty.
However, I do like lotus which is clean even being in the muddy pond.
It is so pure, delicate and bright.
The lotus is consistent, continue and coherent deep inside.
It appears to be straight, proper and honest..
It gives a fantastically good smell and people could even sense its excellent smell far away.
It has no unnecessary branches.
It can be only appreciated distantly but not touched blasphemously..." A tale of lotus lover by Joy Duen Yi
Macao - "a city has been living in the shadow of Hong Kong for so long, and its image is tainted by its casinos, Mafia, and porn business, which reveals the darkest sides of humanity. The cityscape is of over-crowdedness, decadence and tiredness." - Gene K.King, Editor-in-Chief of "Urban Design and Planning Magazine"
Lotus - City flower of Macao, symbolizes the undefeated beauty coming from the most horrifying environment.
Macao has been sleeping inside the muddy pond for decades. In the beginning of the 21 century, through the handing over back to the motherland in 1999, the opening up of the casino market and the mainland China's "free-to-go" traveling policy. The pouring in of foreign investment and tourists has once again; given this tiny city an opportunity to awake from its solitude. The "crown" of the UNESCO World Heritage title has further widening the reputation of this city and for people to wipe out the dark side of Macao and catch its charm and characters on another perspective.
Articles will be posted in the coming weeks to preview and discuss the seaborne city of Macao under
the turning point of its time.
New Macau Souvenir Tee for the Hawkers
Sketchbook presents two “designer special souvenir t-shirts” in order to celebrate “The Historic Centre of Macao” becomes one of the UNESCO world heritage. The tee on the left hand side fits one of the basic criteria of a souvenir tee which is – low production cost. Black and white colour scheme (very much ryxx’s style) and simple graphic by playing with the composition of typeface which will definitely reduce the cost and the feasibility of production. A pair of eyes/telescope (depends on what u perceive, I call it “room for imagination) is formed by the enlargement of the letter “o”. (Imply the idea that as a tourist city, Macau has whole lots of interesting aspects for the tourist to explore instead of the“well known” casinos, Mafia, and porn business).
The second criteria of a souvenir tee – the used of the monument/symbol of the city. The Ruins of the St. Paul’s will not doubt be the symbolic representative of Macau. Quote from the Macao World Heritage homepage – “The historic centre of Macao is the product of East-West cultural exchange, constituting the most unique blend of cultural heritage existing the in china’s historic city.” Therefore I come up with a formula (W)est + (E)est = WE. The formula bends into the background picture of the Ruins of St.Paul’s by following the classical proportion of the façade.
The image of Ruins of St.Paul's, to a macao citizen, it seems too familiar or even boring simply because the curiosity and the beauty of it already vanish in our daily life. We walk pass it day after day and it just became part of our life that we almost forgot its exisitence.
If we miss the beauty of our surrounding and our origin. that's a tragedy.
Possibility is always there if we can realise the beauty of it once again. and I believe a simple Macao Souvenir tee can be a well designed item and hopefully next time when you visit Macau, you will able to see some hawkers selling these two t-shirts! : )
MY CITY - The Historic Center of Macao inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List
Report coming soon...with joy!
Macao World Heritage:
http://www.macauheritage.net/mherit/indexE.aspUNESCO World Heritage Center:
http://whc.unesco.org/
Psyché ranimée par le baiser de l'Amour
If anyone of you has ever visited a museum with me, for sure you will know how much I am addicted to those classical Greek and Roman sculptures. During my visited to the Louvre Museum last December, I was very impressed by the beauty of
The Psyche ranimee par le basiser de IÁmour by Italian Neoclassical sculptor
Antonio Canova.
This work portrays the final scene in the story of Cupid and Psyche which Cupid spreads his wing to give a kiss to the debilitated Psyche. The collapsing body of Psyche (force down) is lifted by Cupid (force up). Antonio Canova completely dissolved the materiality of the marble and turned it into something anti-gravity, completely weightless through the elegant gestures of the two figures. Through the hand of Canova, the single material used - marble had magical converted to different objects which their substantial reality were truly expressed - the roughness of the rock, the smoothness of the draperies…
I had done a few study sketches of the sculpture even through I dont really enjoy drawing in a public area while people are walking around…=..=
