Squid Game poster
Recently, the Korean drama "Squid Game" produced by Netflix and directed by Hwang Dong Hyuk has swept the screen of major social media platforms. The show tells the story of 456 people whose lives are unsustainable and participate in six games that determine life and death for huge prize money. When these games enter the art world, who is likely to be the winner?
"Round 1: 123 Wooden Men"
Game Rules: Players can move when the referee shouts "123 Wooden Man" and remain still the rest of the time. Reaching the finish line within the stipulated time is a win.
Stills from Squid Games
In addition to testing the player's concentration, the game is also very important for speed. There is a form of painting that is very similar to its setting: the painter completes the creation within the specified time, and when the timer is over, whether the painting is completed or not, it is considered complete. This kind of painting is called Speed Painting, which arose at the end of the last century, and its creative process often has a certain performance. Artists see sketching as a challenge to their painting skills, but it is also a way to practice avoiding overthinking and making themselves more intuitive.
Speed painter Jared
The American artist Denny Dent is often considered a pioneer in speed painting. He fuses paintings, music and dance to complete a single piece in just a few songs. Dante calls his creative process "Two-Fisted Art Attack"—a rapid painting of music bare-handedly on a 1.8-meter-tall black canvas. With this wild and rapid approach to creation, It is certainly wonderful for Dante to compete with other players in the game.
Danny Dante is creating
Danny Dante, "John Lennon"
"Round 2: Lime Sugar"
Rules of the Game: Lime is a Korean folk dim sum similar to caramel cake. The player chooses in advance from the given four patterns, and the winner is to use a needle to remove the pattern embossed in the caramel in its entirety.
This seemingly simple game actually tests the patience of the participants and the precision of the force. In the field of art, genres such as classicism, rococo and pre-Raphaelites also require a lot of painstaking efforts by artists.
Nicholas Poussin, The Poet's Inspiration, oil on canvas, 1630
The representative painter of classicism, Nicolas Poussin, was an artist who was good at crafting pictures. The appearance of the characters in his works, the luster of the skin and the shaping of the folds of the clothes all reveal a kind of rationality in the details. Unlike this rational shaping, the French painter Francois Boucher took the Rococo style to the extreme. His paintings for Madame de Pompadour are gorgeous and delicate, and the intricate decorative details between the skirts and mattresses fully demonstrate the exquisite skill of his painting.
François Boucher, Madame de Pompadour, oil on canvas, 201×157cm, 1756
More than a hundred years later, John Everett Millais, the youngest founder of the pre-Raphaelite school, in his masterpiece Ophelia, created a poetic and sad environment with great delicacy and realism. With Ophelia's slightly fluttering eyelashes, one seemed to be able to feel the floating of the grass and trees and her sigh. The above three painters with exquisite painting skills and different styles may be able to face the test of sophistication with ease.
John Everett Milles, Ophelia, oil on canvas, 76.2×111.8cm, 1851-1852
"Game 3: Tug of War"
Rules of the game: Ten people per team, tug-of-war on two high bridges, the first team to pull each other off the bridge wins.
In everyone's impression, tug-of-war may be a game that wins by strength. However, several of the protagonists of The Squid Game, despite their great disadvantage in strength, still won with their scheming. And painting does not rely only on skill, "wisdom" is also the highlight of its soul.
The Dutch printmaker Maurits Cornelis Escher was known for the mathematical nature of his paintings. Elements such as shape gradients, geometric combinations, and optical illusions in his work have inspired many well-known films and games, and have been studied by many scientists. In the "wisdom game" of painting, Escher can be described as a leader.
Moritz Cornelis Escher, "Bumps and Concaves", woodcut printing, 27.5×33.5 cm, 1955
Moritz Cornelis Escher, Day and Night, woodcut, 39.2×67.6cm, 1938
Game Monument Valley
"Round 4: Marbles Game"
Game rules: two people in a pair, each person ten marbles, discuss the game method, the first to win all the marbles in the opponent's hand to win.
Francis Bacon, Study of the Portrait of Pope Innocent X, oil on canvas, 153×188cm, 1953
In this game in the play, whether it is using the trust of friends or sacrificing themselves for the sake of the other party, "feelings" are the key factors affecting victory or defeat. And it also influenced the creative careers of artists.
Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon, oil on canvas, 1952
The once-controversial friendship between the controversial English painter Francis Bacon and the expressionist master Lucian Freud is intriguing. The two were intimate and accomplished: Bacon gave Freud financial support, and the latter was also influenced by his painting style to become bold and bold. But as the contradictions and misunderstandings increased, the two drifted apart until they broke up in the 1970s. They have left a strong mark on each other's lives, and if they are put into a game that tests human nature, will they betray each other or complete each other?
Francis Bacon, The Study of Lucian Freud, oil on canvas, 1967
"Round 5: Glass Bridge"
Game rules: The two glass bridges are randomly combined with tempered glass and ordinary glass, and if you step on ordinary glass, you will fall to your death, and players will pass in the order they have chosen in advance.
In this game, almost only by luck can move forward. The person who chooses first is the "price of trial and error", and the protagonist group survives by virtue of the order of the latter. In the art world, there are also some "good luck" artists.
David Hockney, known as the "godfather of British art," has known since he was 11 years old that he would become an artist in the working class, which was unrealistic. Fortunately, compared to the tragic childhood experiences of many artists, Hockney's parents respected their freedom in an almost avant-garde manner, even including the issue of sexual orientation, which was pressured by public opinion, and this tolerance allowed him to successfully complete his self-awareness.
David Hockney, The Bigger Splash, Acrylic on Canvas, 1967
During college, Hockney refused to take the written exam. If he were another student, he would not be able to graduate, but the Royal College of Art in London changed the school rules for it, and this dramatic turn made him look like he had the "aura of the protagonist", and Hockney also won many awards in his subsequent career, successfully passing through the "glass bridge" of the art world.
David Hockney, No. 599, iPad Painting, 2020
"Round 6: Squid Game"
Rules of the game: The attacker enters the "squid pattern", and the defender steps on the head circle of the squid pattern to win; the defender throws the attacker out of the pattern as a win; when either party enters, it is impossible
Continue the state of the game (e.g. death or disability) and the other party wins.
This is the most brutal of all the games, and the one with the most physical contact. And when the limb collides with the painting, what kind of spark will be rubbed?
American artist David Hammons has been experimenting with "body prints" since the late 1960s. He lubricates the body and embosses it on paper, then uses pigments or inks to make the body print. In these "X-ray"-like images, the viewer can feel the original sense of power of the human body. Hammons' creativity with the "body" may have won him the "body game" in the art world.
David Hammons, Body Print, Grease and Pigments on Paper, 52.7×63.5cm, 1974-1979
David Hammons, Untitled, Greases, Pigments and Mixed Media on Paper, 104.1×78.7 cm, 1975
In the play, the different games all point to a cruel purpose – in exchange for money. But in the artist's world, different talents or art forms are the rich possibilities for them to lead to their ultimate artistic pursuit. Which artist is the winner of these six games in your mind? Welcome to leave a message to discuss.
Editor, Wen Ma added wings
This article is original by Harper's Bazaar Art Department and may not be reproduced without permission