Traditional meets digital

Xiaohong Zhang’s talk, ‘Traversing medium and re-appropriating motifs in contemporary art,’ expressed an innovative way to merge art traditions with new, digital media.

I enjoyed how the whole talk went on a journey, showing what Zhang’s artistic influences were, and how she adapted her art style base off her culture. The socialist realism style is the main basis for Zhang’s work, and no matter what medium she uses, her traditional flare remains the epitome of each of her pieces. She represents the oriental art form through paper cuts, 2D and 3D form.

The paper cuttings that Zhang does resonates strongly in my own work. Not only do I relate to the meticulous effort and time put into cutting intricate designs, but I also appreciate the final outcome and the beauty in the piece. I really liked the piece ‘Pregnancy’ as I like the delicacy of the paper cuts. The influence of nature shines through and helps add additional levels to the piece, showing the strength of women. I also think the stark contrast between the white paper and the background emphasizes the fragility of the piece. I see a lot of my own work and ideas in Zhang’s work.

I was also intrigued by ‘Spring Mountain’ as I thought Zhang had experimented with digital art in an interesting way. As animation is one of my passions, I loved how she used Maya to build the landscape and develop her art.

Overall, I like the correlation between eastern art being influenced by western advances, much like traditional art techniques being adapted by technology. I think Zhang’s work is a perfect example of how digital media is being infiltrated into the art world and gaining prominence. "Our is a brand new world of allatonceness" (McLuhan).