2016年CRI A Camel Tattooed with Datura Stramonium on Display in Beijing

 

Yang Maoyuan is a Chinese multidisciplinary artist particularly noted¹ for his taxidermy techniques to misshape an animal, like camels and horses. 

He has recently had a piece of his artwork on exhibition at the Beijing Minsheng Art Museum. The artist explains why he created his artwork on a camel.

"I have a strong interest in camels, since the animal is a bridge to cultural divisions. As we mentioned camels are cargo² carriers within China's remote western region for both transporting commodities and facilitating cultural exchange. On the back of a camel, visitors can find a big ball inscribed³ with a stramonium design." 

Yang Maoyuan is very interested in the concept of the "sphere," considered as a symbol of harmony and perfect representation of reality in the Western culture.

In his artwork on a camel, the animal loses its original form by just retaining four legs and become a strange figure bearing a spherical⁴ balloon on its back. 

According to the artist, the repetitive use of the sphere, associated with the action of blowing, is interpreted as a metaphor⁵ of life: the ultimate substantial form of our universe and the original source of all beings.

But one new feature about the misshaped camel is that the animal has a tattoo⁶ of Datura stramonium, as Yang Maoyuan explains:

"Plants convey to people the law of growth in life, including the blossoming of flowers and burgeoning⁷ of tree leaves. This is the law for being a living being. This is what I think about stramonium, aside from its meaning in religion."

As we all know Datura stramonium is often found in the remote waste ground, and also camel is a tall desert-dwelling creature. The artist said these two things appeared frequently during his previous travelling experiences at Takla Makan desert, Lop Nur and Loulan ruins. And loaded with archaeological connotations, this trip is behind his artistic⁸ creations.

"The route from Jiuquan to Dunhuang before entering the desert area and then reaching further to the Middle-East, like Iraq, used to be a key travel route, which gradually faded out and is now little known to the outside world. The evolution of blending different nationalities has generated unique cultures, which were once buried and have now been rediscovered. The process of discovery aroused my interest." 

Along with three other artists, Fang⁹ Lijin, Wang Yin and Xiao Yu, Yang Maoyuan's several other artworks are also on display at an exhibition titled Clues 3 in the Beijing Minsheng Art Museum. 

The Clues series exhibition was initiated¹⁰ in 2005, and held every five years. 

The current exhibition aims to present the creative working of these four artists over the past five years, thereby¹¹ trying a new investigating pattern of Chinese contemporary art ecology. It will run until June 12th. 

For Studio Plus, I'm Wang Lei.

1 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

2 cargo   

n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物

参考例句：

• The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
• A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。

3 inscribed   

v.写，刻( inscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；内接

参考例句：

• His name was inscribed on the trophy. 他的名字刻在奖杯上。
• The names of the dead were inscribed on the wall. 死者的名字被刻在墙上。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 spherical   

adj.球形的；球面的

参考例句：

• The Earth is a nearly spherical planet.地球是一个近似球体的行星。
• Many engineers shy away from spherical projection methods.许多工程师对球面投影法有畏难情绪。

5 metaphor   

n.隐喻，暗喻

参考例句：

• Using metaphor,we say that computers have senses and a memory.打个比方，我们可以说计算机有感觉和记忆力。
• In poetry the rose is often a metaphor for love.玫瑰在诗中通常作为爱的象征。

6 tattoo   

n.纹身，(皮肤上的)刺花纹；vt.刺花纹于

参考例句：

• I've decided to get my tattoo removed.我已经决定去掉我身上的纹身。
• He had a tattoo on the back of his hand.他手背上刺有花纹。

7 burgeoning   

adj.迅速成长的，迅速发展的v.发芽，抽枝( burgeon的现在分词 )；迅速发展；发（芽），抽（枝）

参考例句：

• Our company's business is burgeoning now. 我们公司的业务现在发展很迅速。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• These efforts were insufficient to contain the burgeoning crisis. 这些努力不足以抑制迅速扩散的危机。 来自辞典例句

8 artistic   

adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的

参考例句：

• The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
• These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。

9 fang   

n.尖牙，犬牙

参考例句：

• Look how the bone sticks out of the flesh like a dog's fang.瞧瞧,这根骨头从肉里露出来，象一只犬牙似的。
• The green fairy's fang thrusting between his lips.绿妖精的尖牙从他的嘴唇里龇出来。

10 initiated   

n. 创始人 adj. 新加入的 vt. 开始，创始，启蒙，介绍加入

参考例句：

• He has not yet been thoroughly initiated into the mysteries of computers. 他对计算机的奥秘尚未入门。
• The artist initiated the girl into the art world in France. 这个艺术家介绍这个女孩加入巴黎艺术界。

11 thereby   

adv.因此，从而

参考例句：

• I have never been to that city,,ereby I don't know much about it.我从未去过那座城市，因此对它不怎么熟悉。
• He became a British citizen,thereby gaining the right to vote.他成了英国公民，因而得到了投票权。