14 China rim artists show landscapes at opinion-leading Hong Kong gallery Hanart

Wucius Wong, Water Melody #5, Ink acrylic watercolour

Zheng Duanxiang Moebius 2

CHINESE LANDSCAPE SHOW

This show interests us because it points to the classic/contemporary trend in which we see a juxtaposition of  the historic and traditional with the new. Many contemporary Chinese artists are rediscovering the traditional medium of ink and using it in new ways or to depict contemporary concerns. In  this show we see ink used in this way but we also also see an interesting reversal, the classical quintessentially Chinese subject of landscapes is reinterpreted using modern media. The slow art trend – a backlash against fast-paced motion of new media – is here too and this show is a good place to get acquainted with some of the China rim (Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan) artists who are attracting growing interest.

Landscape Panorama

Hanart Gallery, Hong Kong 25 Feb to 31 March 2009

From the Press Release:

This exhibition features a variety of landscape images created by veteran artists from Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and Mainland China of diverse media including oil, ink, relief sculpture, lacquer and video works.

As veteran ink painter Wucius Wong has mentioned: “We can make use of this very nature to create a new approach to ink painting by seeking new directions that cut across cultures, across media, and across forms. The shifting paradigm in landscape painting is also seen among younger Chinese painters. For example, Qiu Anxiong has shifted from painting on canvas to classical Chinese ink medium. Feng Mengbo, now a leading figure in contemporary multi-media Chinese art moved the main crux of his creation to computer-generated video sequences. The line of these works, often criticizing the cynicism of computer games and aimed at utilizing their formal procedures, recently ended in a return to painting.

Participating artists:

Arnaldo Acconci
Feng Mengbo
Li Xubai
Leung Kui Ting
Liu Guosong
Lois Conner
Lucia Cheung
Qiu Anxiong
Qiu Shihua
Wang Tiande
Wang Tianliang
Wucius Wong
Yu Peng
Zheng Duanxiang

About Hanart

“This very tiny gallery (in the same building as American Express) has been exhibiting, promoting, and selling experimental art from mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan since 1983. ” Frommer’s Review New York Times more

Sources: Hanart

Related categories: Ink, photography, reports from Hong Kong, Chinese artists

Related posts:

• What are the latest trends emerging from China? Melissa Chiu video Feb 2009
• Chinese ink artist Nobel Laureate Gao Xingjian shows 80 works in Spain – Guardian, Int Literary Quarterly Jan 2009
• Goedhuis New York launches series of 15 Chinese New Ink solo shows Oct 2008
• Top 5 books on Chinese art Asian Art Forum Oct 2008

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Video of Miami Beach Art Asia 2008: art scene influencers discuss emerging Chinese artists

ART BASEL MIAMI BEACH ART ASIA 2008 VIDEO

Watch the Miami Beach Art Asia video here

Andrew Erdos, a young US artist who has exhibited in China, attends the Preview Party of the Art Asia and interviews leaders of the Asian art scene including Ethan Cohen, founder of Art Asia and Jim Becker Project Coordinator of the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing.

Not only valuable for putting faces to the names of influencers in the current Asian art scene, there are snips of interesting content for example:

• Ethan Cohen points out that 13 of the top 50 contemporary artists are Asian and
• Jim Becker introduces the intriguing work of Feng Mengbo, a Chinese artist who recodes video games to include Chinese iconography creating a form of art which can be played.

Though titled ‘The Influencers of Art Asia’ the video is heavily biassed towards Chinese art.

Other artists covered in the video include Huang Yan (photgrapher, sculptor, painter and promoter of arts), Wang Xiaodi an emerging Chinese artist and Yue Minjun.

Watch the Miami Beach Art Asia video by PlumTV here

Book: Chinese Contemporary Art 7 Things You Should Know

BOOK OVERVIEW CHINESE CONTEMPORARY ART

Chinese Contemporary Art: 7 Things You Should Know – Melissa Chiu

In China today, contemporary art is readily available in public museums and private galleries in burgeoning gallery districts, and in three new art fairs in Beijing and Shanghai. Abroad, Chinese artists are the subject of museum retrospective exhibitions and grace the covers of international art magazines.

Chinese contemporary art has come of age; yet there are few reference books for the reader who wants a quick but precise history of the field. This book aims to fill that gap. Short and to the point, it is arranged into seven sections outlining the rudiments of Chinese contemporary art: what you need to know about the artists, the art market, and what can legitimately be called a new art movement, perhaps the first great art movement of the 21st century.

Sections:

• Contemporary art in China began decades ago
• Chinese contemporary art is more diverse than you might think
• Museums and galleries have promoted Chinese contemporary art since the 1990s
• Government censorship has been an influence on Chinese artists, and sometimes still is
• The Chinese artists’ diaspora is returning to China
• Contemporary art museums in China are on the rise
• The world is collecting Chinese contemporary art

 Artists:

Weiwei AI(艾未未), Guoqiang CAI(蔡國強), Xin CANG(蒼鑫), Fei CAO(曹斐 b.1978), Danqing CHEN(陳丹青 b.1953), Zhen CHEN(陳箴), Xiuwen CUI(崔岫聞 b.1970), Lijun FANG(方力鈞), Mengbo FENG(馮夢波), Jianyi GENG(耿建翌), Dexin GU(顧德新), Wenda GU(谷文達), Bo HAI(海波), Duoling HE(何多苓 b.1948), Hao HONG(洪浩), Lei HONG(洪磊), Rui HUANG(黃銳), Yan HUANG(黃岩 b.1966), Yongping HUANG(黃永砅), Shan LI(李山 b.1942), Shuang LI(李爽), Tianmiao LIN(林天苗), Yilin LIN(林一林 b.1964), Wei LIU(劉煒 b.1965), Xiaodong LIU(劉小東), Desheng MA(馬德升), Liuming MA(馬六明), Zhilong QI(祁志龍 b.1962), Zhijie QIU(邱志傑 b.1969), Rong RONG(榮榮), Dong SONG(宋冬), Jianguo SUI(隨建國), Du WANG(王度), Gongxin WANG(王功新), Guangyi WANG(王廣義), Jianwei WANG(汪建偉), Jin WANG(王晉 b.1962), Jinsong WANG(王勁松), Keping WANG(王克平 b.1949), Qingsong WANG(王慶松), Shanzhuan WU(吳山專), Lu XIAO(肖魯 b.1962), Danwen XING(邢丹文), Bing XU(徐冰), Lei YAN(顏磊), Peiming YAN(嚴培明), Fudong YANG(楊福東 b.1971), Jiechang YANG(楊詰蒼 b.1956), Shaobin YANG(楊少斌), Xiuzhen YIN(尹秀珍 b.1963), Minjun YUE(岳敏君 b.1962), Fanzhi ZENG(曾梵志), Wang ZHAN(展望), Dali ZHANG(張大力), Huan ZHANG(張洹), Peili ZHANG(張培力), Xiaogang ZHANG(張曉剛 b.1958), Chunya ZHOU(周春芽), Ming ZHU(朱冥 b.1972)

Buy this book on Amazon.

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