4 Asian video artists make top 30 – Art Report’s international rankings

ASIAN VIDEO NEW MEDIA

Art-Report, a German art website, has published a list that ranks the top 30 living contemporary video artists globally. By video artist, it refers to artists whose works are based on video and film as their preferred medium. 

Although Asian artists are still in the minority, four artists – Yoko Ono, Paul Chan, Kutlug Ataman and Yang Fudong – are included in the rankings. Find below links and video clips for the three artists who have East Asian roots.

Ranked 3^rd place is Yoko Ono. The Japanese avant-garde artist is dedicated to the formulation of conceptual and performance art. One of her representative performances is Cut Piece, in which Yoko Ono asked members of the audience to cut away her clothing piece by piece until she was almost naked.

 On 6 June 2009, her achievements were once again recognized as she received a Venice Biennale Accolade –the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement.

Link: Article on Golden Lion Award

At the 16^th rank finds Paul Chan’s name. Paul Chan is Hong Kong-born but New York-based artist. Chan defines himself with a dual identity as an artist and activist. His works are characterized by the amalgamation of political, age-old, cutting-edge, religious and erotic elements.

Light and Drawings is Chan’s first major museum presentation in Europe in Stedelijk Museum. According to AbsoluteArts, Chan intended to make a group of works that delivers a physical experience and simultaneously provides a commentary on a world on the edge of disintegration. With one exception, the Lights are projected from the ceiling onto the floor, or partly on the floor and wall. The works are structured as a cycle of day and night, sunrise to sunset.

More on Paul Chan’s Work.             

The last Asian video artist in the list- Yang Fudong- stands at the 26^th place. Carnegie International describes this Chinese artist’s films as psychologically dense, visually beautiful meditations on the philosophical questions of existence as they are played out in the exterior world and the interior lives of his subjects.

Below is a link to an article about his best-known work -“Seven Intellectuals in a Bamboo Forest”. The work depicts the journey of seven poets and artists as they move through various phases of experience in their quest to transcend their earthly lives.

Link:   Article – New York Times review 

LLH/KCE

Related Posts:

• Bani Abidi on Indian video art, a medium on the rise – interview Tehelka Magazine August 2009
• Questioning “Made in China” – Interview Avant-Garde Beijing Artist: Huang Rui October 2009
• Shahzia Sikander questions authority with new video art medium at Para/Site Hong Kong September 2009
• First of its kind in Asia – Taiwan’s Digital Art Center officially opens July 2009
• MOMA acquires Israeli artist Guy Ben-Ner’s video Moby Dick April 2009

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