Three Heads Six Arms

[Ries]

Chinese artist Zhang Huan loans a piece to San Francisco.
I kinda like it, but its sure to bother the traditionalists here- he does an initial sketch, then his prototype crew made a clay maquette, then one of his NINE in house workshop divisions hand forged and welded together copper sheet to make the finished piece.
This guy makes so much money selling his work (mostly to chinese collectors these days- they are the only ones left with money) that he has a veritable art factory, and can afford to make 15 ton artworks on speculation, and loan them to the broke but deserving first world- Us.

http://www.sfartscommission.org/puba...eads-six-arms/

Here is his personal website.
http://www.zhanghuan.com/

He is one of the new breed of chinese artists from the last ten years, who is an industry in and of himself, doing work in a lot of different mediums, showing in museums around the world, and selling literally millions of dollars worth of work a year.

[ironman]

Hi Ries, I didn't read the whole article yet but I saw a piece in the NY Times and it talked about american artists moving over there. One guy has a 10,000 sq. ft. studio in Beijing and it costs him a whopping $200, yes, that's right, $200 dollars a month rent.
Not bad, eh, boys and girls?
That gives you some idea of the costs of doing business over there.
Jeff

[suburbanartists]

Originally Posted by ironman

Hi Ries, I didn't read the whole article yet but I saw a piece in the NY Times and it talked about american artists moving over there. One guy has a 10,000 sq. ft. studio in Beijing and it costs him a whopping $200, yes, that's right, $200 dollars a month rent.
Not bad, eh, boys and girls?
That gives you some idea of the costs of doing business over there.
Jeff

Yeah but the cost to fix their black lungs.... Well, not sure they can do that yet at any price.

Caveat Emptor

[evaldart]

It doesnt matter WHERE you do it. It doesnt matter HOW MUCH IT COSTS to do it. It only matters THAT you do it. (and I'll re-iterate that last part with another emphasis) It only matters that YOU do it.

I havent been in the presence of it. But I dont suppose that I could pull-together a lasting interest in this thing. Disney has treats like this too.

[ironman]

suburbanartists, You do know that if you've been welding since the early 70s like I have, you've probably already got black lung.
Eval, You're right, it only matters that you do it but I'd kill for a 10,000 sq. ft. studio at $200 per month and so would you.
Jeff

[evaldart]

Jeff, I owned an 11,000 sq foot studio, 27 foot ceilings with views of Manhattan for 8 yrs (it wasnt 200 bucks a month). And you're right, its a sculptors dream. It hurt to sell the place but I have since re-invented myself in the outdoors (my inside space only adds up to about 3000 these days)...I utilize much more than 11,000 and NO ceiling at all. And its all paid for. But I always felt just as good in the early days in those dark hovels in the worst part of town.
No excuses. We all gotta just make what we must...and find a way to do it.

Besides, I need about 10,000 just for boneyard.


And you...you got the whole damned desert, right?

[suburbanartists]

Originally Posted by ironman

suburbanartists, You do know that if you've been welding since the early 70s like I have, you've probably already got black lung.

Jeff

Yeah that's true i'm sure. I've started wearing a dust mask at the coal forge now, probably does not do much but keeps the nostrils a bit cleaner.

Also just started to wear hearing protection too, as the tinnitus has been quickly getting worse.

[ironman]

yeah, I've had tinnitus most of my life, now along with hearing loss getting worse and yes the nostrils, I blow out black soot every day.
the trouble with welding outside in the desert is that it's so dry here that fires start and spread very quickly. I worked outside yesterday and before doing anything, I dragged the garden hose out there.

[marblecutter]

Why do we take safety measures after the fact of health problems?
I see people welding without any mask. Cutting and grinding metal and stones with no goggles and breathing masks. I worked at a place where they issued protective glasses that were not stylish and people were ashamed to wear them. And when they did wear them they made sure they took them off quickly before venturing out of the work area. The same goes for ear plugs. In spite of all those measures, it is still likely that damage may occur but to minimize it is the least we can do.
As it was posted in a work place that I was a part of SAFETY FIRST.