The Wall That Heals - Fullerton Observer

EARLY APRIL 2012 EVENTS
Chinese Modern: Designing 20th Century Popular Culture
Opens at the Museum Center April 14
China’s use of advertising images
as well as graphic and product
design to shape its political ideologies
and cultural values in the 20th
century is the focus of “China
Modern: Designing 20th
Century Popular Culture,” a new
exhibit opening at the Fullerton
Museum Center.
An opening reception will be
held from 6-9 p.m. on Saturday,
April 14th, and will feature tours
of the exhibit, a curator’s talk,
refreshments and live entertainment.
$10 (free to members). The
Museum Center is located at the
corner of E. Wilshire and N.
Pomona one block from Harbor in
Downtown Fullerton.
Featuring more than 170
objects, the exhibit brings two contrasting
20th century ideologies -
capitalism and communism - to
the level of popular culture. The
exhibit shows how, despite vastly
different goals, the means of instilling
these values was often strikingly
similar.
Objects displayed in “China
Modern” include lychee and cigarette
boxes, children’s toys, an
extensive collection of product
labels and advertisements, and
communist propaganda from the
rule of Mao Zedong.
Intricately detailed wood block
prints and lithographs showcase
the high quality craftsmanship of
Chinese print designers and artisans.
The exhibit consists of four sections.
“A Graphic Tradition:
Popular Design from Late Qing to
Early Republic” serves as a prologue
to the exhibit and features
early New Year’s Day prints and
imagery of household gods.
The second section,
“Cosmopolitan Capitalism:
Shanghai under the Republic,”
examines a range of materials, from
product packaging to film ads,
illustrating the commercial practices
of pre-Revolutionary China.
“A Revolution in Culture:
Designing the People’s Republic”
focuses on household goods, advertising
and propaganda materials.
The final section, “The
Aesthetics of Nostalgia,” demon-
PÄS Gallery presents Form
Drawing Gestures, the artwork
of René Cardona. The opening
reception will be held on the
first Friday of April to coincide
with the Downtown Fullerton
Art Walk. René’s anatomy-like
oil paintings accentuate human
muscles blending like solar systems
intertwining within a
well-planned composition. It’s
poetic. It’s prophetic. It’s so
good, it’s puzzling. His work
screams motion, punches
dimension while possessing an
angelic aura. Every piece feels as
if it were commissioned by the
strates the ongoing impact of
these embodiments of China’s
graphic culture today.
The exhibit was developed by
the Pacific Asia Museum of
Pasadena, CA, one of only four
U.S. institutions dedicated to the
arts and culture of Asia. The
tour was organized by
International Arts & Artists of
Washington, DC, a nonprofit arts
service organization dedicated to
increasing cross-cultural understanding
and exposure to the arts
internationally.
The exhibit was curated by
Kalim Winata, an independent
scholar specializing in print and
popular cultures of the 20th century,
with a focus on Asia. Earning
a master of fine arts degree from
the Academy of Art, Winata
worked closely with collector Reed
Darmon to produce “Made in
China,” the book which first
inspired the exhibit.
The exhibit will run through
July 1. Regular museum hours are
noon-4pm Tuesday-Wednesday
and Friday-Sunday, and noon-8pm
on Thursday.
Admission is $4/adults, $3/students
& senior citizens 65 and
older, $1/children 6 to 12, and free
to children under 5 and to members.
Call the Fullerton Museum
Center at (714) 738-6545 for more
info.
René Cardona Exhibit Opens at PAS
During April 6 Downtown Art Walk
Pope, his murals are worthy of
the Sistine Chapel. Come love
this self-proclaimed transcendental
painter in raw form,
mostly ink sketches, on April
6, 2012, from 6-10pm. Also
featuring experimental music
behind his spoken word poetry.
On Exhibit through April 26,
2012.
PAS Gallery is located at 223
W. Santa Fe in the SOCO district
of Downtown Fullerton
(just south of Commonwealth).
Go to www.2pas.org for
more information on the
gallery.
FULLERTON OBSERVER Page 13
The Newstead Trio, Michael Jamanis, violin, Sara Male, cello,
and Xun Pan, piano perform April 15
Newstead Trio in Free
Friends of Music Concert
by Claude Coppel
On Sunday, April 15, at
3:30 pm at the Sunny Hills
Performing Arts Center,
Sunny Hills High School,
Fullerton Friends of Music
will present the Newstead
Trio. Admission is free.
The Newstead Trio made
their New York debut at
Carnegie Hall and has been
broadcast live on radio and
television. Their innovative
and uniquely accessible concert
programming combines
traditional piano trio literature
with more contemporary
works. Their programs
are notable for warmth, energy,
and depth of expression.
In more than fifteen years
together they have performed
for audiences throughout the
United States, Canada, Italy,
Hungary, Singapore, and
China, where they gave their
concerto debut performing
Beethoven’s Triple Concerto
with the Shenzen Symphony
Orchestra.
They have since given a
sold-out concert at Beijing’s
National Performing Arts
Center.
The Newstead has also
commissioned numerous
works by widely respected
composers and have included
a world premier performance
on several of their recordings.
They are ‘ensemble in residence’
at the Pennsylvania
Academy of Music. This will
be their second
concert for
F ullerton
Friends of
Music.
F ullerton
Friends of Music
is honored to
have them
return in a concert
of Mozart,
Beethoven and
Brahms.