Drawing at Beijing Capital Airport

Walking the length of the Beijing Capital Airport, I pass the third Starbucks on this wing of the terminal, and something magic happens. An old style pavilion appears before me. Walking closer, a bronze plaque proclaims this the Pavilion of Chinese Character Culture. Just past the plaque, I see that the pavilion comes complete with many Chinese character elements, and also a fish pond, a stone bridge, and various indoor and outdoor sitting rooms.

After taking some obligatory photos of the calligraphy on display for Suhee’s dad, I sit down in one of the rooms of the pavilion, already a bit weary from the travel so far. Above the building, the overhead lights in the terminal flicker on, and likewise the lights of the luxury duty free shops go dark for the night. If it weren’t for the sound of the planes and the Starbucks just outside the window, it would be hard to believe that I am in an airport.

This building feels like a tiny private palace and the thought of getting some sleep here meanders around my head. Yet so does the thought of missing my 2 a.m. flight. So out comes the pencil and drawing paper. This is my ticket to stay awake during the several hour layover.

Above is the desk where I sit, right there in the middle of the room. There is much to see from this vantage point.

The patterns in this little place draw the eye first. They are all over. Every space which can afford some decoration or detail has it. The fountain tiles, posts, floors, walls, doors, windows. If I could not be in Beijing proper this time, at least they had imported an interesting piece of it into the airport terminal.

Sitting at the desk, I notice something about the view. The entry and bridge — which takes one over the pond and into the main pavilion — is shifted, all to one side. It is an important detail, and not just for the sake of skewing uniformity. The asymmetry means that every person who walks across the pond can be spied through the lattice work of the side window, yet we would never have direct eye contact with each other. The intention in this design might have to do with offering a better view of the pond, or perhaps with modesty, privacy, spying, or just giving more space for concentration. There might also be some Feng shui, or something about the way the sun moves, or the spirits, or the winds — even though the only wind in here is from the air conditioning.

Regardless of any of that, the arrangement makes it comfortable to sit here. So do all the small details, which I can easily spend not just hours but months or years looking at and drawing, and still not be bored.

Then again, given the massive line of folks forming at the Starbucks behind me — none of whom have so much as wandered in here yet with the same curiosity — this feeling might also just be me. The fact stands however, that at the moment, this pavilion is keeping me awake better than coffee would.

I’ll leave you with a short film of the pavilion taken with my phone. If you are even on a layover here at Terminal 3, this is a great spot, coffee or not.

Postscript

It has been a busy month for me, which has included co-directing the arts programming at The Nature of Cities Festival in Berlin with Carmen Bouyer; film editing for The US Forest Service; final edits of a journal article for Elsevier about using Art as a Catalyst for Ecological Consciousness; and continuing interior construction work here at the studio in Daejeon. My daily schedule has not had its chance to find a rhythm recently. It has been exhilarating, of course. But we all need some pockets of time and place set aside for slowing down too, otherwise that exhilaration soon turns to exhaustion.

Now at home in Daejeon now after three weeks in Europe, I can say two things. First, that I absolutely loved the time working with the artists, curators, and festival staff. We all worked hard and with deep sincerity, and together we created something beautiful that could not have existed in this world otherwise. That circumstance always feels good, no matter what it is we are doing. Second, I am glad to be home. To have had some solid sleep. To have a nice home cooked meal and Suhee’s home baked bread. Now I feel ready to focus on the kind of thinking, drawing, and writing that has been on standby for some time.

While I can not say exactly what the result of all that will be, I can say it will find its way here in some form very soon. Till next time then. Thank you for your support and for being here with me. Stay well.