MCLC: Contemporary Chinese Portraiture exhibition

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: Claire Roberts <clairer8 at tpg.com.au>
Subject: Contemporary Chinese Portraiture exhibition
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Go Figure! Contemporary Chinese Portraiture 相想 ！ 中国当代艺术 is a major
exhibition currently showing in Australia at the National Portrait Gallery
(NPG) Canberra and Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation (SCAF) Sydney. The
works are drawn from the Swiss-based Uli Sigg collection. In June Sigg
donated the majority of his collection to Hong Kong’s M+ Museum for Visual
Culture which will open in 2017, part of the West Kowloon Cultural
District Authority development.

The exhibition curated by Claire Roberts places the individual at the
centre. In the hands of artists the figure or face becomes a means to
express larger concerns about the situation of China and its people.
Figure painting and body art have been at the heart of Chinese avant-garde
concerns making portraiture a revealing frame for a fresh consideration of
contemporary art practice and the relationship between the artist and
society. ‘Portraits’ in the exhibition span the period from 1979 to the
present and take many forms in a wide variety of media, from oil painting,
sculpture, installation, photography and new media, to the artist’s naked
body. Some artworks are ‘anti-portraits’ using satire and the absurd to
communicate. The exhibition is accompanied by a substantial publication
with essays by Claire Roberts, Eugene Y Wang and Zhang Letian.

 
Artists included in the exhibition: Ai Weiwei, Chen Wei, Fang Lijun, Geng
Jianyi, Han Yajuan, He Xiangyu, Hu Xiangqian, Ji Wenyu & Zhu Weibing, Jing
Kewen, Kan Xuan, Li Dafang, Li Songsong, Li Yongbin, Liu Wei, Liu
Xiaodong, Ma Liuming, Miao Xiaochun, Qiu Xiaofei, Rong Rong, Shao Fan,
Shen Shaomin, Song Dong, Sun Yuan & Peng Yu, Wang Guangyi, Wang Jianwei,
Wang Keping, Wang Qingsong, Wang Xingwei, Weng Fen, Wu Gaozhong, Yang Jun,
Yang Na, Yin Xiuzhen, Yu Hong, Yu Youhan, Yue Minjun, Zeng Fanzhi, Zhang
Huan, Zhang Peili, Zhang Xiaogang, Zhou Tao, Zhou Tiehai, Zhu Ming, Zhuang
Hui & Dan’er.

 
National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, until 17 February 2013
http://www.portrait.gov.au/site/exhibition_subsite_gofigure.php

 
Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation, Sydney, until 1 December 2012
http://www.sherman-scaf.org.au/exhibitions/#/exhibitions/