Surrealism Provokes with Arresting Images

Wolf Table shows the animal snarling at its tail

 

Yesterday my friend and I finally made it to "Mythologies: Surrealism and Beyond  -- Masterpieces from Centre Pompidou" at the Hong Kong Museum of Art. I say finally because two weeks ago we went on a Thursday and were surprised to find it is closed on Thursdays! 

In any event we were excited to see the exhibition, but we were soon in for a shock as surrealism explored the subconscious, repressed feelings, mythical animals and a lot of violence against women.

Max Ernst's sculpture with bull fight

The movement was founded in 1924 by French poet Andre Breton when he published the Surrealism Manifesto in Paris, which became the important centre of the movement. From there it spread all over the world, not only in literature, but also in visual arts, film, photography, as well as political thought, philosophy and social theory.

To set the scene of surrealism, the exhibition began with pictures of Paris by night, followed by other themes, such as chimera [fire-breathing monster], minotaur [half man, half bull], and acephale [headless].

One painting by Salvador Dali is in the show, called William Tell painted in 1930. Instead of the Swiss story of the father who risks his son's life by shooting the apple on his head with an arrow, he substitutes his father for castrating the artist, as he had castigated Dali for having an affair with a married woman.

There are a few sculptures in the exhibition, and they are all quite scary. One called Wolf Table by Victor Brauner features a wolf snarling at its own tail, but its body is a wooden table. It's quite jarring, to look at, the wolf or is it a fox? trapped in time looking fierce, and even the back legs of the table look similar to hind legs.

One work by Pablo Picasso is shown -- the debut cover of a magazine called Minotaure. The style of the drawing is very much Picasso, and thankfully the minotaur looks relatively happy, though it is holding a dagger in its right hand looking back at the viewer. 

Magritte's The Rape is disturbing

Another is an etching of a minotaur holding a champagne glass with a man as they enjoy the presence of naked women throwing themselves at them. Is it any wonder it is titled Bacchanal Scene with the Minotaur?

Spaniard Joan Miro also only has a painting shown here, The Bull Fight which is considered a seminal work featuring a textured background and an abstract representation of the bull.

Max Ernst's The King Playing with the Queen features the top half of a bull in an abstract sense, playing with large chess pieces. It was an interesting juxtaposition with a black and white film of a bull fight in Spain.

Rene Magritte was a famous for his painting of a man in a bowler hat with an apple covering his face. But at this show we have the disturbing image of what looks like a woman's face, but instead is her torso. Is it meant to look pleasant with its pastel palette? But the painting is called The Rape. It refers to his mother's suicide when he was 14 years old and he witnessed her body pulled out of the river, her nightgown covering her face, revealing her naked body.

Giacometti's Woman with Her Throat Cut

Another violent image is Alberto Giacometti's Woman with Her Throat Cut, a bronze sculpture of a woman with her legs spread out as she is being brutally murdered. It looks like the perpetrator could be a crustacean or an insect. It just looks disturbing all the same.

Interestingly there is one Jackson Pollock painting that isn't his abstract drip paintings, called The Moon-Woman Cuts the Circle. Earlier in his career the American artist was influenced by Miro and Picasso and was inspired by the idea of using the the unconscious as the source of art.

While it's interesting to see these works, particularly in a strange time like now during the pandemic, the vast majority of the art focus on violence against women. Are these really repressed feelings or was this a group of artists trying to outdo the other with more shocking images?

The show left us quite disturbed, but maybe that was the point as well? Hopefully the surrealism movement will not come back again in a big way. Much of what is going on in the real world is already too hard to comprehend...

Pollack's earlier surrealist painting

Mythologies: Surrealism and Beyond -- Masterpieces from Centre Pompidou

Until September 15

Hong Kong Museum of Art

10 Salisbury Road

Tsim Sha Tsui 

Review: Piazzolla: The Years of the Shark

Piazzolla (right) with his son Daniel in New York

 

A week after attending the Hong Kong Philharmonic's tribute to Argentinian composer Astor Piazzola, I went to see a documentary about him as part of the Hong Kong Arts Festival. Called Piazzolla: The Years of the Shark, it uses extensive film and recording footage from the family to reconstruct his life.

Before the movie started, we were supposed to be treated to a musician playing the bandoneon, the accordion-like instrument Piazzolla played, but this was cancelled due to social-distancing. Nevertheless we were told that the bandoneon is not like an accordion in that there is no keyboard, but lots of buttons on each side and you can't see them so you have to know how to play the bandoneon well.

Piazzolla and his bandoneon

It is also quite heavy, which is why many bandoneon players sit down, but Piazzolla preferred to stand. When playing the instrument moving the bellows in and out can result in key changes, playing one note then changing to another which was interesting to learn.

These tips helped us appreciate the film more, particularly watching Piazzolla play -- it's quite heavy and early on in Piazzolla: The Years of the Shark, after he was born, his right leg was disfigured because of polio and it took seven operations to fix it, though not completely; his right leg would forever be thinner and shorter than his left.

After having gone through so much when he was young, his parents decided not to have anymore children, but also his father may have felt Piazzolla learning an instrument would be better for him career-wise. After those operations in 1924, the family moved to New York from Buenos Aires by ship, and his father worked for a barber. 

He bought his eight-year-old son a bandoneon from a pawnshop and Piazzolla learned how to play it and was pretty good at it. He wanted to play JS Bach on the bandoneon as well as his teacher did on the piano.

Piazzolla's teacher Nadia Boulanger

When he was 17-years-old, Piazzolla was itching to perform and have his own orchestra and on his own moved back to Buenos Aires. He played with some bands -- the youngest of the group. Piazzolla had always had dreams of becoming a concert pianist and one time boldly met Arthur Rubenstein, who in turn introduced the young musician to teacher Alberto Ginastera, who taught him composition and the fundamentals of music.

In 1946 Piazzolla started his own band, though later focusing only on compositions, not wanting to play the bandoneon anymore.

It was winning a composing contest in 1951 that awarded him a scholarship to study in Paris under Nadia Boulanger, whose students include Aaron Copland, Philip Glass, Quincy Jones and Burt Bacharach.

She looked at the Argentine's scores and said this is not Piazzolla. She asked him what instrument he played and he said the bandoneon and she made him play some tango pieces.

This, she said, was Piazzolla.

He said from then onwards he never stopped playing the bandoneon.

In 1955 Piazzolla returned to Buenos Aires bursting with creativity and created his own style of tango, where the rhythm kept changing, more upbeat and experimenting with different sounds from instruments. 

Daniel did not speak to his father for 10 years

Traditionalists hated him -- even a taxi driver refused to pick him up for what he felt was ruining tango.

His personal life was also full of ups and downs. He married Dede Baralis and had two children, Daniel and Diana. But later on Piazzolla announced to the family he was leaving his wife and met his second love, Laura Escalada.

Needless to say the family was shocked -- his wife Dede sank into deep depression, after having supported her husband's career.

His son Daniel, shown in the film, had a falling out with his father at one point, claiming the music they were making was backwards. That led to a 10-year estrangement. Daniel goes over old tapes, recordings, family movies, as a museum prepares a major exhibition about his father.

Piazzolla perseveres, but not without health issues (smoking a lot and suffered a heart attack). One of the final scenes in the documentary shows him in a tuxedo performing with an orchestra, making his music legitimate in the classical music world, though he had been experimenting with all kinds of musicians and different styles throughout the decades.

Piazzolla is known for revolutionizing the tango

He was so passionate about his music, writing 750 compositions, many of them themed around the tango. In the end he was grateful to his father for giving him the bandoneon, for without it he would not know what he would have done with his life.

Director Daniel Rosenfeld went through a lot of raw material, tapes, recordings, family films, using archival footage to put most of the documentary together. Piazzolla's son Daniel is a vehicle to move from one aspect to another, and sometimes he says things, and other times it's recordings of his father and sometimes it was confusing to follow who is speaking. 

Not once does any subject do a straight-up interview to the camera. It is either narrated or clips are found from actual archival footage, which makes the film flow. And yes there's lots of Piazzolla performing, making it a film filled with music, music and more music.

Piazzolla: The Years of the Shark 

Director: Daniel Rosenfeld

94 minutes 

In Spanish, French and English with English subtitles

 

 

A Sombre Look to 2021

New Year's Eve is cancelled in Lan Kwai Fong tonight

 

This year's New Year's Eve will be muted with social distancing measures preventing people from marking the end of 2020 in restaurants and bars because of the coronavirus pandemic. Already after lunch streets around Lan Kwai Fong were blocked off by police and barricades about to be put in place.

But if no more than two people can gather what is the point of going there when everything there is closed and the possibility of being fined for not social distancing?

Lai on his way to the Court of Final Appeal

2020 is also ending on a disappointing note with Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai Chee-ying back in jail after the Court of Final Appeal agreed to the Department of Justice's argument to hear an appeal on the question of bail in a national security law case.

However, that case won't be heard until February 1 to decide if Justice Alex Lee Wan-tang erred in granting bail to Lai on December 23. 

Until February 1, the media tycoon will be in jail... his reprieve was a very short seven days.

As for 2021, there will be more of the same. Talking to people in the last few days we all expect social distancing measures to continue well into January in the hopes the pandemic will be under control by Chinese New Year, but for sure the protests have been forced underground for now.

The wave of emigration from Hong Kong has already begun, with people starting new lives elsewhere, lost as to what to do and sad for their hometown. More will join their ranks in the coming months.

Economically it will continue to be tough in Hong Kong, though the fact that businesses with restaurant licenses can operate is much better off than those in New York, Los Angeles, London and Paris. Retail has been hit the hardest, with people either not in the mood or lacking the funds to shop unless it's for necessities.

Looks like a sombre year ahead, but with vaccines coming there is a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. 

Wishing everyone a better and healthier 2021.

Hongkongers Fleeing Home

A lot of students doing a "we-fie" as they fly back to Hong Kong

After the Hong Kong government announced mandatory home quarantine for all travelers starting on March 19, people, many of them students, are scrambling to come back before the deadline.

First of all because of the scarcity of flights, prices have gone through the roof. A one-way ticket from London to Hong Kong now costs HK$51,817 (US$6,672) -- and that's just economy.

Check out the price of a one-way ticket back to Hong Kong!

Second, sitting on a plane for several hours raises people's fears of catching the coronavirus. One student was photographed today at Hong Kong International Airport wearing a hazmat suit, goggles and a mask.

He was probably right to do that.

Hong Kong now has 165 cases as of today, including an 18-year-old who was studying in Switzerland, a 21-year-old male university student who studied in London, a 27-year-old who studied elsewhere in Britain and a 24-year-old who worked in Denmark.

Other cases include a 69-year-old man who had traveled to Britain, Paris and Spain; and Cathay Pacific flight attendant who had been to Madrid, and a 30-year-old woman who had visited Paris and London.

A student didn't take any chances and suited up for the flight

Yesterday it was found at least 20 passengers who arrived at Hong Kong airport had a fever and were immediately sent to hospital. In addition there were about a dozen people who wrote on their health declaration form that they had symptoms (turns out mostly respiratory symptoms) and they too were hospitalized.

As a result Hong Kong's health care system is getting close to its limit in dealing with all these cases.

Unfortunately it has to be spelled out to everyone regardless of when they came back to Hong Kong that they should really self-isolate for two weeks out of courtesy and safety for everyone else. But there are some people who don't think this applies to them and go about their regular routine and may possibly be infecting others.

Hong Kong airport is much busier than in the last few weeks

Hong Kong's number of confirmed cases are going to increase in the next few days and weeks ahead. While we are doing well compared to other cities and countries, it would be less stressful for the rest of us who haven't traveled in the past two months if those who have (even before March 19) were more considerate towards the wider community during this time and do the right thing.

More Chaos in Sha Tin

There were battles between protesters and police in New Town Plaza tonight

Today is the 230th anniversary of the storming of Bastille in Paris, which is France's national day. Meanwhile tonight halfway around the world, some Hongkongers are currently pitched in a flight with police in riot gear in a shopping mall in Sha Tin in the New Territories.

As I write this, protesters against the extradition bill are throwing umbrellas and helmets at the police with shields in the mall -- a place where families usually spend their weekends to go shopping and have meals. But now it's a battleground and it is looking uglier by the minute.

Earlier this afternoon around 3pm the protest march started from Tai Wai to Sha Tin, and for the most part was peaceful, but afterwards some marchers refused to leave and began occupying streets. The police then moved in on three sides, which resulted in the protesters retreating to New Town Plaza and the ensuing battles within the mall, startling shoppers.

Some 28,000 people came out to protest in Sha Tin

On Twitter there were video clips of police in riot gear in a residential area above the shopping mall and the angry residents there demanded the police leave. "If you go away then everything will be fine! Just leave!" one woman shouted at them. Did the police think they were harbouring protesters? In any event the police eventually retreated the cheers (and jeers) of the residents.

Now at 10.45pm protesters are trying to leave Sha Tin on any train they can get on to escape from the police. It's just another chaotic protest day in Hong Kong.

When will it end? Surely the police are going to have enosugh of the pitched battles with protesters and tell Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor that they can't continue like this week after week?

Meanwhile the Financial Times is reporting that Lam tried to resign several times after the extradition bill fiasco but was ordered by Beijing to stay on to fix the mess that she created. "No one else can clean up the mess and no one else wants the job," said one source close to the situation.

At Tamar in Admiralty, journalists protested police violence

We knew that, but the reasoning is interesting. Beijing seems to want to leave Lam high and dry. How benevolent the motherland is...

Tonight's tense flare-ups are in total contrast to this morning when organizers said 1,000 (but seemed more like more than 2,000) journalists, photo-journalists, journalism instructors and freelancers showed up at a silent march starting from Admiralty's Harcourt Garden to the police headquarters next door.

People on buses took pictures as journalists marched in black to the police station in Wan Chai and showed their press passes. Then the marching continued around the Legislative Council, which is currently boarded up.

It's rare for journalists in Hong Kong to protest, but the treatment they have gotten from the police, especially since June 12 when they were pepper sprayed and attacked, it was time to stand up and formally protest.

Some marchers showed examples of violence against media

But tonight's mess is yet another reason for Lam to finally say the w-word (withdraw) and to call for an independent investigation into alleged police brutality against protesters. Keeping quiet is just going to lead to another protest this coming Sunday...

Tribute to IM Pei

The legendary architect IM Pei has died at the age of 102

This morning I woke up to the sad news that architect IM Pei had died at the age of 102. Tributes have been pouring in for the Chinese-American who is famous for his buildings scattered around the world, including the Louvre Pyramid in Paris, the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, and of course in Hong Kong, the Bank of China headquarters.

The Bank of China Building in Hong Kong

I pass by that building every time I go to the gym behind the bank, climbing up the stairs along the mini waterfalls. When the bank was first built, superstitious Hongkongers worried the building looked like a knife, cutting up the city, or that it looked like the devil with its two antennae at the top.

Pei's family has a long history with the bank -- in fact it just celebrated its 100th anniversary last year, making it around the same age as him!

His father, Tsuyee Pei, was one of China's leading bankers, according to the New York Times, and when Ieoh Ming Pei was an infant, the family moved to Hong Kong so that Pei senior could run the Hong Kong branch of the Bank of China.

A century later and two generations later, IM Pei's son, Li Chung Pei or Sandi, would lead the renovations of the old Bank of China just down the street from his father's shiny triangular building.

It's a wonderful anecdote that clearly illustrates the Pei's family roots in Hong Kong and its contribution to banking and architecture in the city.

The Suzhou Museum is symmetrical and calming

My other story is in 2008 I spent Chinese New Year in Shanghai on my own. One of my days there I caught the train to Suzhou for the day, wandering around when I stumbled on a building that didn't look like the typical mainland Chinese architectural style of big, boxy and lacking style.

I was immediately drawn to this building that was very symmetrical and discovered it was the Suzhou Museum -- designed by IM Pei.

But of course.

This realization made my visit to Suzhou exponentially better as I was immediately soothed by its simple lines, sitting on the edge of a man-made pond that had a calming effect.

Dramatic pyramid down below the Louvre

How did I not know this was here? The building itself was much more interesting than the exhibits inside.

Sadly the Bank of China building is the only IM Pei building in Hong Kong -- in October 2013 it was announced Sunning Plaza, a 31-storey office building in Causeway Bay, whose main feature was that there was a large open space around the buildings, thus creating an "urban oasis". People liked being able to sit outside and dine al fresco amid a quartet of palm trees.

But alas Pei's first project in Hong Kong was torn down by landlord Hysan Development that replaced it with -- what else -- a mixed retail and office building that is a non-descript office block -- literally. It opened late last year.

Nevertheless, in front of the cameras Pei was always smiling, looking dapper in his suits and wearing his trademark black frame round glasses. He knew how to charm potential clients and explain to existing clients why things had to be done his way. There were compromises too, but probably his biggest battle -- the Pyramid at the Louvre -- shows Pei's skills not only in design but also patience and persuasion.

I haven't seen this entire video of his lecture at MIT about the project, but he explains in great detail (with jokes aside), the challenges he went through and how he solved several issues.



Pei is not only a legend in architecture, but also for Chinese immigrants and ethnic Chinese the world over, an inspiration of being proud of his roots and being successful for his designs that changed the urban landscapes around the world.

Pei fought the controversy of having a pyramid at the Louvre

He may have left us but may his buildings continue to live on.

Munich's Museums

Beyond the Deutches Museum's planetarium is the Frauenkirche in Munich

Our last full day in Munich was a cold and rainy one... we took our hop on, hop off bus again just before 10am and got off at Deutches Museum, which focuses on science and technology with over 28,000 items.

A self-playing keyboard and drum!

the museum was founded in 1909 and is geared towards families and many had young kids. A random trivial fact is that for a time the museum was used to host rock and pop concerts for acts like The Who, Jimi Hendrix and Elton John.

When we arrived there was a lineup, but went quickly and we decided to tackle the museum from the top down. The top floor is a planetarium, but it wasn't open yet, and it talked about all kinds of things related to space, from the sun to the constellations, how telescopes can see so far into space and how the black hole works, using a silver ball rolling around slowly into a spiral that spins very quickly at the end before disappearing into the hole.

On the same floor, the sixth floor, there is an outdoor area where you can see the museum has a tower that shows the barometer and hygrometer, which measure the humidity and water vapor in the atmosphere; the recording was a bit on the high side because it was rainy that day, which sadly made it difficult for us to take some nice scenic pictures of Munich.

The Wright brothers' plane

We also saw exhibitions on things like engines, a man demonstrating how to blow glass, the history of ceramics and how bricks are made in a factory. Another one that I found interesting was musical instruments, though it focused on keyboards.

There was a very small keyboard with black keys called a spinett and a clavichord, both about two-thirds the size of a piano. There was even those self-playing pianos -- one that included the drums too -- and they were pretty massive machines.

One Yamaha looked like today's upright pianos, but this one was different -- it can help musicians record music, as the movement of the hammers is scanned by an LED light barrier. The information is then stored in a MIDI file in the computer. When the music is played back, the signals are electronically converted, and the piano keys move hydraulically in the same way the pianist struck them. Wow.

A plane that was similar to what The Red Baron flew

I had heard of the hurdy-gurdy, but this was my first time actually seeing it. It was a giant box on wheels, but it's supposed to be a stringed instrument that makes sound when it is cranked by hand. The roller rotates and the bellows are then operated, this makes the pins of the roller open valves so that air flows to the corresponding pipes.

There was even a very old jukebox and not the ones we think of from the 1950s -- this one was from 1900 that was shown at the World Exhibition in Paris. Very neat.

Down on the first floor were flying machines including the one made by the Wright brothers in 1909, the first engine-driven plane. We also saw the Fokker Dr. I, the World War I fighter plane made famous by Manfred von Richthofen, or The Red Baron.

The Alte Pinakothek is only 1 euro on Sundays!

The airplane's wings only had a span of 7 metres, making it easier for the plane to fly tight turns. To be honest I don't know much about The Red Baron -- only from what I read from Snoopy comic strips! Nevertheless it was fun to see the plane in person.

We had a quick lunch in the cafeteria which offered decent food and after we finished we noticed there was a big line out the door for people to get food. When we left the museum, we saw a very long line that was almost a block long. Perhaps this was a way to spend a rainy Sunday.

Gorgeous flowers by Rachel Ruysch

After our dose of science and technology, we headed to Alte Pinakothek, an art museum that houses over 700 artworks from the 14th to 18th centuries. The museum was commissioned by King Ludwig I and built from 1826 to 1836 in a Neoclassical style. Originally the building was meant to hold the entire art collection of the House of Wittelsbach, and the king allowed the public to view the works, and it continues this tradition today.

It was still raining when we got there, and there was a giant lineup to buy admission tickets. We soon found out why -- on Sundays admission is only 1 euro!

The building is long and narrow and basically two floors. There are a lot of religious paintings with all kinds of themes from the nativity scene to the crucifixion, angels and depictions of heaven and hell.

I preferred the non-religious pieces, portraits of ordinary people, country scenes, and there's one of a bouquet of flowers by Rachel Ruysch (1664-1750). She was the daughter of Dutch botany professor Frederik Ruysch and she used his vast collection of animal skeletons and botany samples to practice her drawings.

Albrecht Durer's self portrait that is Christ-like

She was so good that at one point she taught her father and sister how to paint. At the age of 15, Ruysch apprenticed with a well known flower painter, Willem van Aeist, and he taught her among other things how to arrange flowers so that they looked more spontaneous. While she continued to work with him, Ruysch was already selling her own work at 18.

Ruysch would later go on to marry Amsterdam portrait painter Juriaen Pool and have 10 children! She continued to paint while married.

Another famous work we had to see was Albrecht Durer's Self-Portrait with Fur-Trimmed Robe, 1500.

He painted this when he was 28 years old and it is considered unusual because of its frontal angle and meticulous details. Durer based the style of this portrait on icons of Christ the Saviour, his hand raised in the sign of the blessing.

Madame de Pompadour by Francois Boucher

One fabulous piece of Rococo art has to be Francois Boucher's Madame de Pompadour, 1756. She was the official mistress of King Louis XV of France and here she is wearing an elaborate afternoon dress surrounded by books, sheets of music and drawings. We were mesmerized by the detail in the folds of the dress as well as the reflection in the back. Her proportions seem a bit off though -- she must have been extremely tall according to this painting and had very tiny feet! In any event a beautiful portrait that shows off the lifestyle of the aristocracy in that period.

Guo Pei's Fantastical Fashion

Nothing short of wow... Guo Pei's weight-bearing long coat with embroidery

After two days of sun it was back to rainy weather in Vancouver. But that's OK because we had planned to go downtown to the Vancouver Art Gallery to check out the current exhibition, Guo Pei: Couture Beyond that is on until January 20.

Layers of organza give volume to this whimsical dress

When it opened in mid-October, it coincided with the Vancouver premiere of the documentary Yellow is Forbidden, which follows Guo preparing for her haute couture show in Paris, and how she became a fashion designer.

She was born at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution and learned how to sew at a very young age from her mother, but Guo didn't know there was such a thing as fashion, with everyone wearing the same dull Mao suits.

"When I was little, I didn't know what fashion was. The word didn't exist," says Guo in Yellow is Forbidden. "My Granny told me many stories about embroidery, what people wore in the palace, and I would fantasize about that. When I was eight years old, I asked Granny for a yellow dress, and she got very angry at me. She said, 'Yellow is forbidden'."

Guo later studied at Beijing's Second Light Industry School, graduating in 1986 and worked for a Chinese clothing manufacturer before launching her brand Rose Studio with her husband in 1997.

The "omelette" dress made famous by Rihanna in 2015

The exhibition features pieces from 2006 to 2017 and yes it includes that 25kg yellow dress with fox fur trim Rihanna wore to the 2015 China-themed Met Gala that put Guo in the global spotlight.

Looking at the pieces you can see Guo's fantastical imagination and you can't help but be in awe of both the design and the execution particularly in terms of the embroidery and beading. It is absolutely amazing how much work was poured into each outfit.

She has teams of some 500 artisans working with her in Beijing, training and learning from her. Apparently in the documentary, couture organizers weren't sure who Guo was because many fashion designers are usually the ones barking directions.

A dress as ornate as a Faberge egg

It's interesting to see her interpretation of religious iconography like the cross and royal symbols, as she has no strong connection or association with them. She freely uses bejewelled crosses to embellish crowns or even a headdress that looks like a human-sized Faberge egg with the model's head peeping through. Inside it's far from plain -- there are layers and layers of beading that are incredible.

One section was on Guo's reinterpretation of wedding dresses. Traditionally in China they are red, while in the West they are white, and so why not a completely white beaded Chinese wedding dress complete with buttons with 喜喜 or double happiness characters.

Another had a western scalloped neck with traditional Chinese floral embroidery that was gorgeous, complemented with sleeves decorated with long strings of gold beads, like a flapper dress.

That yellow dress was magnificent and yes it did look like a fancy omelette, but we preferred the turquoise embroidered coat and dress, the coat with massive long sleeves and a fur trim that needed assistants to help carry it. Now that's an entrance.

Why not a white beaded wedding gown?

The embroidery for each piece was different, colourful and dynamic -- the designs were hardly staid or routine. Many were long dresses, but there were some with pants, others using a kind of ribbon-like fabric to sculpt the skirt, or creating new shapes altogether.

It wasn't just the outfits themselves that were jaw-dropping. Guo also accessorized each piece with dazzling headdresses such as crowns or chunky jewellery around the neck or fingers, and even platform shoes that echoed those worn by women in the Imperial Palace.

The exhibition also has a video of Guo's fashion shows and you wonder how these models managed to walk the catwalk without falling over! In the documentary trailer, at one point someone says the models have to be athletes to be able to wear her clothes because they are so weighed down by the embroidery and beading.

Some of the pieces at first glance look very western, but look closer and there are some fine Chinese flourishes. Many of them look very regal, elegant and sophisticated, others are interesting experiments in shapes, textures and colours.

Curvaceous shapes created from this sculptural fabric

Being able to examine these pieces up close is very rare for haute couture, so it's a fun opportunity to see these ones in particular. They immediately make you appreciate the tens of thousands of hours put into each piece with so many people working on each one in tandem, with Guo as the visionary and conductor.

We left the show feeling in awe and proud of what Guo has accomplished -- the first Chinese to be invited to become a guest member of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture, and creating pieces she has always wanted to do.

Guo Pei: Beyond Couture
Until January 20, 2019
Vancouver Art Gallery

The Macanese Version of Paris

The ceiling of The Parisien with copy and paste angels for an ethereal look

In Macau we stayed at The Parisian, a relatively new hotel on the Cotai Strip that literally has a replica of the Eiffel Tower in front.

The fountain lights up in gaudy colours to classical music

Inside the hotel tries really hard to be old school European, but instead looks very nouveau riche. In the foyer there is a giant fountain that periodically lights up in gaudy colours to classical music. Above the fountain is a crazy dome ceiling covered in paintings of angels and figures that are randomly copied and pasted onto the dome and make no sense at all, but look somewhat heavenly.

Not.

The long corridors have more ethereal paintings on the long, narrow ceiling with massive crystal chandeliers suspended complete with Corinthian columns and marble floors to make guests feel like they're in the Palace of Versailles or some kind of rich chateau.

Very posh-looking corridor that goes forever

We just dreaded the long walks to get from point A to point B.

As we were staying in the hotel we were able to go up to the seventh floor observation deck for free. But before we were able to get there, we had to sit down for a picture with a green backdrop and got a photo slip for it.

Later when we arrived at the Eiffel Tower gift shop, there was a picture of us in a cardboard frame along with us in a snowglobe -- for over HK$200.

Uh, no thanks. And I hope you recycle that snowglobe...

The tower itself is hardly worth oohing and aahing over -- it's not that tall, though it has a nice fuchsia colour when it's lit up.

Meanwhile the long walkway to get to the tower has a railing that's covered in locks to imitate the Pont des Arts in Paris, where lovers will declare their love for each other by putting a lock on the bridge with their initials.

A very funky Eiffel Tower at night

If you didn't bring a lock, don't worry -- the gift shop kiosk nearby sells lock kits for HK$60, and the guy manning the booth even offers to help customers open the kit with scissors once they have bought it.

Thousands of others have declared their love at The Parisian -- why not you too?

Security, Everywhere

Beyond these gates is Zhongnanhai, the headquarters of the CPC

It was nice to be back in Beijing, a city I had lived in for three years.

However the growing anxiety over safety is growing more paranoid. Before the Olympics 10 years ago, it was mandated that everyone had to have their bags scanned in machines before entering the subway system.

We assumed it would just be for the Olympics, but no, the practice continued. At the time the roped off area was large enough so that some people with bags could slip through, but this later tightened up and everyone had to have their bags checked.

Intense security checks just before entering Tiananmen Square

During rush hour, those not carrying anything could go into a faster line. Kind of discriminates against women...

Then this year security was stepped up even more with metal detectors at every subway entrance -- and if that's not enough, some even have staff with metal detector paddles just in case the metal detectors weren't enough.

Many of the people manning these security check points are young people, which makes me think this is a make-work project for kids who couldn't find a job or aren't university graduates.

Twice this week my friend had to open up his bag to be checked because the person manning the screening machine saw a bottle in his bag. He had to demonstrate it was cologne and not some kind of Molotov cocktail in a black flask.

The young people are just doing their job, but it is a hassle. Not even New York or Paris have these kinds of security checks.

The square wasn't packed, but there was lots of surveillance

Security was extreme near Tiananmen Square when we visited on Tuesday. Our plan was to walk east from Xidan along Chang'An Avenue, make a pit stop at Tiananmen Square and then head to Wangfujing.

Before we were even close to Tiananmen Square, we encountered one of many check points. Everyone was corralled into a single file metal maze so that there was no getting out of the line. Citizens had to have their ID cards scanned into a machine, while foreigners like us had our passports checked.

After that check point we passed by a brightly coloured building with the Communist Party of China round logo at the top and the Chinese sign below "Xinhuamen (新华门)" or "New China Gate" which is actually the entrance to Zhongnanhai, the headquarters of the CPC and where Xi Jinping, the General Secretary of the Communist Party works. Too bad we weren't allowed in.

The biggest check point just before Tiananmen Square had its own stand, complete with digital messages on a ticker tape screen, saying people had to go through checks for safety reasons, complete with screening our bags.

Food trucks like these sell snacks, drinks and souvenirs

Finally we made it into Tiananmen Square, where parts of it were covered with floral designs for Mid-Autumn and/or National Day. These decorations give a lively atmosphere, but gone were the residents who flew kites in the large open space. We only saw one person attempting to fly a kite.

Swept off the street were the migrant workers selling Chinese flags and snacks like water and popsicles. They were replaced with mini food trucks on the square selling the flags, Pocky sticks, cookies and a variety of drinks.

For some reason Mao Zedong's mausoleum wasn't open -- it was barricaded off and looked dark inside. Maybe he was getting a touch-up.

Who knows how many undercover policemen were in the square, but definitely lots of cameras at every lamp post...
 

Au Revoir, Monsieur Robuchon

Culinary master Joel Robuchon has died at the age of 73

Another culinary giant has passed... Joel Robuchon. He died in Geneva today from pancreatic cancer at the age of 73.

I had heard that he had been ill for some time, and had lost quite a bit of weight. It's a terrible way for a chef to go, someone who loves to bring pleasure to people with food.

His signature foie gras dish at L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon

Unfortunately I never had the chance to interview him, but did take a picture with him in November 2015 when the Michelin guide announcement was made in Hong Kong.

Nevertheless he has trained and influenced so many chefs around the world. His army of chefs took their skills and knowledge to Robuchon restaurants in numerous cities and in turn they trained more people to cook the master's dishes.

Interestingly when he was boy he was training to become a priest and helped the nuns prepare food in the kitchen. He recalled only doing simple tasks like peeling vegetables and cleaning plates, but he found such joy in doing that.

He also remembers his mother holding a loaf of bread to her chest and then portioning it out to each person, as if giving the food from her heart. Robuchon took that philosophy to his kitchens -- how it was important to put passion in preparing food, as diners would feel that love in the dishes.

Robuchon lost a lot of weight in the past year

His career started in the early 1980s with his Paris restaurant Jamin, named "Chef of the Year" in 1987, and then "Chef of the Century" in 1987 by Gault-Millau.

Many years ago I had a chance to have lunch at Robuchon Au Dome, the fine dining restaurant at the top of the Grand Lisboa in Macau. It was such a decadent meal, several courses, with beautiful breads, salted and unsalted butter, and not only a dessert trolley but also one for sweets. I felt like a child cooing in a candy shop.

In my work I have met several chefs who have trained under Robuchon and acknowledge the master for his demands for the best ingredients cooked perfectly. He was most famous for elevating mashed potatoes into a fine dining dish (by adding lots of butter)...

As he got older he moved away from classic French techniques and preferring simplicity of flavours on the plate.

His famous gourmet mashed potatoes were very buttery

"The older I get, the more I realize the truth is: the simpler the food, the more exceptional it can be," he said in 2014. "I never try to marry more than three flavours in one dish. I like walking into a kitchen and knowing that the dishes are identifiable and the ingredients within them easy to detect."

Chefs who have worked under him are posting pictures of Robuchon on social media tonight and describing him as a father, mentor, teacher. He once said, "When a grandfather dies, a library burns", meaning the knowledge that person has accumulated is gone. That is why he felt it was so important to teach as many people as he could what he knew so that the knowledge would not disappear.

This year has been a terrible series of losses in the culinary world -- Paul Bocuse, Anthony Bourdain, Jonathan Gold, and now Joel Robuchon.

A bientot, chef!