Chinese Relativity: Part 2

A Group Exhibition

November 21 - January 6, 2007

Cai Guo-Qiang, Life Beneath the Shadow: Conan Doyle, 2005, gunpowder, ink on paper, 79 x 60 in (200.5 x 152.5 cm)

 

Cai Guo-Qiang, Sketch of Project For Extraterretrials No.9: Fetus Movement, gunpowder, ink on peper,  34.25 x 25.75 in (87 x 65.5 cm)

Yan Pei Ming, Eros Center, Prostituee de Francfort, 2005, oil on canvas, 98 x 98 in (250 x 250 cm)

Wei Dong, Girl with Pet, 2006, acrylic on canvas, 24 x 48 in (61 x 122 cm)

Wei Dong, Touch #2, 2006, acrylic on canvas, 36 x 48 in (91.5 x 122 cm)

Yan Pei Ming, Portrait de la Tante YYZ, 1999, oil on canvas, 79 x 79 in (200.5 x 200.5 cm)

Yang Shaobin, Circumstance No. 4, 1995, oil on canvas, 70.5 x 82 in (179 x 208 cm)

Yan Lei, Untitled, 2004, acrylic on canvas, 58 x 77.5 in (147.5 x 197 cm)

Cang Xin, Communication Series ( Tongue on Gun), 99, C-print, 24 x 20 in, (61 x 53.34 cm)

Cang Xin, Communication Series ( Tongue on Pot), 99, C-print, 24 x 20 in, (61 x 53.34 cm)

Cang Xin, Communication Series ( Tongue on Cane), 99, C-print, 24 x 20 in, (61 x 53.34 cm)

Cang Xin, Communication Series ( Tongue on Stamp), 99, C-print, 24 x 20 in, (61 x 53.34 cm)

Cang Xin, Communication Series ( Tongue on Horse), 99, C-print, 24 x 20 in, (61 x 53.34 cm)

Cang Xin, Communication Series ( Tongue on Emperor), 99, C-print, 24 x 20 in, (61 x 53.34 cm)

Cang Xin, Harmony of Nature and Human, 2004, Digital Color Print, 88.5 x 70 in (225 x 178 cm)

Wang Qingsong, Another Battle No.1, 2001, C-print mounted on Diasec, 39.25 x 26 in (99.5 x 66 cm)

Wang Qingsong, Preschool, 2002, C-print, 47.25 x 26 in (120 x 66 cm), edition 4 of 10

 

Zhang Dali, Demolition Series (81), 2004, C-print, 43.5 x 32 in (110.5 x 81 cm)

Zhang Dali, Demolition Seriies (13A), 1998, C-print, 43.5 x 32 in (110.5 x 81 cm)

Zhang Dali, Demolition Seriies (101A), 1998, C-print, 43.5 x 32 in (110.5 x 81 cm)

Hong Hao, 22,861,518, 2004, didgital scanner photograph, 47 x 82.75 (199.5 x 210 cm)

Yan Lei, Climbing Space #28, 2002, acrylic on canvas, 44 x 59 in (111.5 x 150 cm)

Yan Pei Ming, Buddhas's Warrior, 1996, charcoal on paper, 70 x 48.5 in (178 x 123.5 cm)

Stux Gallery is pleased to present Chinese Relativity, a selection of Contemporary Chinese

painting and photography. Focusing, primarily, on the identity of the individual in relation to

the socio-political situation from which it occurred, this exhibition is to serve as a cross

section, rather than an absolute statement, of Contemporary Chinese painting and

photography today. Stemming, in part, from increasing cultural globalization, large

exhibitions such as the Taipei, Gwangju and Shanghai biennials have introduced

Contemporary Chinese art and artists to the global stage. This increased interest can be

traced, overtime, alongside political upheaval starting with the death of Mao Tse-tung in

1978 and the end of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976).

The 1990’s saw China’s shift toward an open market economy and the emergence of Political

Pop as a popular trend among painters in China. This began with the general appropriation

of Western Pop with American icons replaced with elements from earlier Chinese

propaganda posters (commonly seen during the Cultural Revolution). With time, these icons

were replaced with symbols from everyday life (Hong Hao, Yan Lei, Yan Pei Ming) and

Chinese history and tended to feature cheerful colors and an irreverent attitude. This Pop

style was followed by, among others, Neo-Reality and Neo-Figuration (Yang Shaobin),

where emphasis was placed on everyday life, new political boldness and explicit personal and

social awareness.

Spurred further by the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989, artists began to search out

alternative environments in which to make their art under a less stifling regime (Cai Guo-

Qiang, Wei Dong). With an increase in migration of artists from Mainland China to the West

and back, opportunity arose for a great crossover and exchange of ideas. It is during this

period that we see the growth of experimental media originally banned in China, such as

performance and installation art, and a surge in the use of photography (Zhang Dali, Wang

Qingsong, Cang Xin) to document a more open and radical form of contemporary Chinese

art.

Severe political turmoil is bound to have a powerful relative effect on not only practicing

artists, but on the uncharted urban landscape that they inhabit. This landscape included the

mid-twentieth century art schools and academies of the People’s Republic of China, heavily

ensconced in technical schooling and laden with a hefty dose of realism. Such schooling

geared artists of the time to focus on Soviet socialist realism -- “art for the people” -- in an

attempt to build support for the presiding political forces. The imprint left by this academic

system on the artists of the 1980’s and 1990’s would be a significant one felt in the works of

Chinese artists for many years to come