MCLC: materials on contemporary Chinese art (3)

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: Andrew Field <shanghaidrew at gmail.com>
Subject: materials on contemporary Chinese art (3)
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I'm writing to thank Kirk, Kevin, and Chang Tan for their suggestions
about sources on contemporary Chinese art.  To be honest, I'm already
aware of most of these sources, especially the Asia Art Archive, and
of people such as Wu Hung and Gao Minglu who have written extensively
on the contemporary art scene.  The listing of "avant-garde art" in
the MCLC online bibliography is helpful, as are Chang Tan's
suggestions of readings on the history of modern Chinese art.

One of the issues that one confronts when researching into this
subject is how art in China since the 1980s is categorized.  I recall
reading somebody's critique of the term "avant-garde art", after all,
how can art that has now been around for 30 years be labeled
"avant-garde"?  Others seem to be using the term "post-modern art,"
which carries its own set of problematic baggage.  "Contemporary
Chinese art" is also problematic given the 30 year time span (or more
if you look into the connections to art movements during the 1970s).

In the Sept issue of Art Forum, Craig Clunas has written a good review
of Gao Minglu's book on contemporary Chinese art, "Total Modernity and
the Avant-Garde"  in which he criticizes his concept of "total
modernity," his essentialization of "east" vs. "west" and some of the
categories that he uses to analyze Chinese art.  But there is no doubt
that much contemporary art in China is strongly rooted in earlier
movements and trends in art in China including the Mao and Republican
eras, but also stretching back to imperial times, and many Chinese
artists today cultivate themselves in a style similar to the literati
of earlier times.  So as Clunas writes, our understanding of
contemporary art in China must be grounded in both modern Western art
movements, which Chinese artists draw from extensively, but also in
Chinese traditions.

It is also interesting that so few people have researched this
phenomenon.  My impression is that this is one of the most vibrant,
dynamic, and lucrative fields of cultural production in China today.
Beijing is bursting with new art villages that have been growing out
of the original sites such as "East Village" (dongcun)--in addition to
798 and Caochangdi there is Heiqiao and Songzhuang, and who knows what
else.  Shanghai is also seeing the rapid growth of new art clusters.
Some are labeled as "creative clusters" with the imprimatur and
monitoring of the government, while others seem to be growing
independently.  The creation of these art clusters seems to bear some
resemblance to geographical movements of artist communities in Paris
and New York (and perhaps London as well).  In addition, new museums
and of course galleries are also growing rapidly in numbers.  I've
been reading a book by Barbara Pollack, an American journalist who did
some extensive investigations into the Chinese art world and writes in
a breezy, easy-going style about her encounters with artists,
curators, and collectors.  If anybody out there has any other
suggestions for reading or websites (in English or Chinese) that cover
the contemporary Chinese art world, I'd love to hear them.

Andrew