On the thought of Chinese public art by yellow duck

【Abstract】：Today， the yellow duck has become one of the world's cultural hotspots， In London， Osaka， Sydney， Sao Paulo， and Amsterdam， almost twelve cities have been enthusiastically pursued， in 1992， a cargo ship from China bound for Tacoma port in Washington， a container filled with a lot of tub toy duckies， the wind and waves on the sea made the container break free of the chains and fell into the sea， 29000 toy yellow ducks began their drift from the broken box， Dutch artist Florentence Hoffman created the duck in front of us based on the story.

【Keyword】： public art yellow duck environment function

Do you still remember how the yellow duck in Victoria harbour attracted the citizen and tourists interest？ It's no exaggeration to say， it almost can be seen as one of the most popular culture phenomenon in this year， the visitors surrounded in the harbour and took photos with this yellow duck， a larger version of the yellow duck， what makes it so popular？ If take the point of view of public art， how does this yellow duck with its interesting taste write the legend of its own？

As a public art， the yellow duck is so popular and it must can be analyzed.

First of all， on the material， the yellow duck though as a public art， but in some extent， the material indicates that it is not exit as permanent. When the image of the yellow duck is first produced， its material property is rubber， the first available rubber duck appeared around 1886， at first it was used as bait， and then after continuous evolution and become the image of the toy， but a sculptor in the United States， Peter Gannan， combined the image of many toy ducks， toy duck was born out of the current yellow duck. Compared with other traditional materials such as metal， marble and other public works of art， at this point it is break the inherent pattern. Of course， there are a lot of avant-garde designs that use new materials nowadays， for example， the Crown Fountain， designed and made by designer Taume Plensa， is located in millennium park， Chicago， It boldly introduced new media art installations into the public environment， combining water and electronic video， LED lamp modern technology， presents a very original image. So at this time， return to the design of the yellow duck， already mentioned， the material is rubber， at the same time， in order to be able to let it float on the surface of the water， like every other toy duck， fill it up inside， so over time， the duck's demise will be inevitable.

Second， on the modeling， in the above， the yellow duck is designed by the American sculptor Peter Gannan already mentioned， after that， he patented his image and then copied it into a mass-produced bath toy， It was estimated that the rubber duck had sold more than 50 million copies at that time， that is enough to say that before the duck had been zoomed in to become public art， it had been loved by the people， the yellow duck is a public art that can arouse people's sensibility， Its selling point may also cater to the needs of the masses， looks up from its image， its biggest characteristic is cute， in fact， these so-called \"cute\" characteristics of image truly with scientific basis， In biology， such a feature is referred to as the \"continuation of the young\"， It is based on this that many designers will enlarge such features to highlight their images when they are creating， The overall image of the yellow duck is also consistent with this concept， and than， the yellow duck's yellow is bright yellow， from a scientific point of view， yellow can stimulate areas of the brain associated with anxiety， It is suitable for more joyful occasions， Therefore， an enlarged miniature yellow duck must be a public works of art that brings visual impact and powerful pleasure.

Finally， in function， or in spirit， the yellow duck is a completely interactive public art work， there is no doubt that the duck is a temporary public works of art， although in a certain category， a public works of art can be seen from the time of its existence， However， many temporary public art can't exist in the environment for long time， But when their influence is beyond the ordinary， the cultural meaning they carry， the cultural creativity that they exploit must also have been handed down for a long time， Hoffman's magnification of the yellow duck brings happiness to the public， the magnification of the duckling seems to have a magical force， many people seem to have a childhood memory when they talk about the yellow duck， the big yellow duck in front of Victoria harbour makes many people feel almost instantaneous. there is a duckling in the bathtub！

So through the red-hot yellow duck， can we stretch out some of the questions about the status quo of China's modern public art， first of all， we may be relatively conservative in material selection， and then the modeling aspect， we often see the public art of depicting a character or something， so most of it is still in the category of a plastic arts， second， it is also relatively conservative in function， there are relatively few interactive works， finally， in terms of content， there is lack of sense of humor and imagination in a general. The yellow duck is a very hot cultural phenomenon， and also a public works of art with high participation， It may be accidental， but if we can get some insight from it， and apply it to the public art around us， Maybe the sight around us will seem different.

References：

[1] Shukai Gao Hongtan Bai. The spread of public art in the view of landscape theory - the discussion of Hoffmann's \"yellow duck\" [J]. Modern audio-video arts， 2014.01.15

[2] Xiaohua Yang. The reason for the popularity of \"duck\" is analyzed[J]. Beauty Times， 2014.11.15

[3] Yingwu Liu. Public art design and public public. Art Education [J]. 2008.03.01

[4] Hongju Chen. On the publicity of public art design. Art Journal [J]. 2006.04.20

作者簡介：瞿震，男，漢族，籍貫：江蘇鹽城，齊魯工業大學藝術學院，16級在讀研究生，碩士學位，專業：藝術設計，研究方向：裝飾藝術設計。