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10 artworks that will change the way you see China
10 unforgettable Chinese artworks —
The 1990s was a period of experimentation. Many of the works dealt with explorations of the self and identity. Qiu Zhijie painted the Chinese character "No" across his body and the wall behind him such that his body becomes negated in the process. "Self portraiture was rejected during the Cultural Revolution — collectivity was great, individuality was bad. Artists afterward tried to rediscover their individuality," says Wu Hung. Qiu Zhijie "Tattoo 1" (1997).
Courtesy Thames & Hudson
10 unforgettable Chinese artworks —
The tortured figure above, gagged and blinded in one eye, was one of the most powerful and politically outspoken works at a historic exhibition held by the avant-garde Stars group of artists in 1979. The showing, unapproved by officials, was held outside the National Art Gallery in Beijing, making a daring statement against censorship. "They tried to express their identity as outsiders of the mainstream, they were young and rebellious and they tried to open up a future for Chinese artists," says Wu Hung. The exhibition ended in public demonstrations against its forced closure. Wang Keping "Silence" (1978).
Courtesy Thames & Hudson
10 unforgettable Chinese artworks —
Late master Wu Guanzhong was the first to move the traditional medium of ink on paper away from context and toward an emphasis on the beauty of form. This abstract work was created just two years after the Cultural Revolution. "This was very daring at the time. During the Cultural Revolution artists were not allowed to paint in such an abstract way," says Wu Hung. This work was auctioned for a record-breaking HK$2.55 million in Hong Kong in 1991. Wu Guanzhong, "Ancient City of Jiaohe" (1981)
Thames & Hudson
10 unforgettable Chinese artworks —
The '85 New Wave Movement swept across the nation between 1985 and 1989, with avant-garde Chinese artists engaged in extreme works and performances. The Xiamen Dada group from southeast China pulled their own paintings from an exhibition hall and burned them to extract themselves from the commercial circulation of art. "Artists started to embrace Western concepts about contemporary art, rejecting commercialization and even rejecting art itself. There was also a lot of mistrust of the image because of the propaganda in previous decades," says Wu Hung. Xiamen Dada, photograph of the burning of art works in front of the Xiamen New Art Gallery on November 24, 1986.
Courtesy Thames & Hudson
10 unforgettable Chinese artworks —
Xu Bing spent three years carving individual blocks of Chinese characters to print these books that were bound in a style from the Ming dynasty. "When people walked into the installation their first impression was wow, such a beautiful work, but when they walked closer they realized they couldn't read anything as the writing is all nonsensical. For one artist to spend three years to create this nonsense writing was just baffling. He has rejected meaning," says Wu Hung. Xu Bing "Book from the Sky" (1987-1991) installation at the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa in 1998.
Courtesy Thames & Hudson
10 unforgettable Chinese artworks —
This heavily symbolic work marks a turning point in the career of China's greatest contemporary oil painter. After the tumultuous year of 1989 when the army cracked down on student demonstrations for democracy in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, Zhang Xiaogang began to turn away from imitating Western oil works and started to address China's social issues. On the wall behind the baby are black and white photographs of young students during the Cultural Revolution. "The artist's memory of the Cultural Revolution was triggered by recent Tiananmen events," says Wu Hung. Zhang Xiaogang "Genesis" (1992) oil, cotton tape, and photocopy on canvas.
Courtesy Thames & Hudson
10 unforgettable Chinese artworks —
In the 1990s, China's major cities were swept up in vast redevelopment projects and the campus of the Central Academy of Fine Arts could not escape relocation despite student and teacher protests. One of the faculty was artist Sui Jianguo, who continued to teach despite the destruction of his classroom. "The artist's comment on what's going on in the immediate city is particular to contemporary art," says Wu Hung. "When the whole area was destroyed, the work was destroyed as well." Sui Jianguo "Ruins" part of the project "Property Development" by the Three Men United Studio (1994) site-specific installation on the former caps of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing.
Courtesy Thames & Hudson
Globalization characterized the art scene starting in the mid-1990s. Artists began to move abroad and build second homes. New media artist Wang Gongxin spent time in the U.S. before returning to China. He dug a deep well in his Beijing home and placed a little monitor inside showing a piece of Brooklyn sky. "It turns around the Western myth that if you dig deep enough you'll reach China. In a simple way, it shows how the artist's body is in Beijing, but his mind is in New York and summarizes the personal experience of globalization," says Wu Hung. Wang Gongxin, "Brooklyn Sky" (1995) site-specific video installation, Beijing.
Courtesy Thames & Hudson
10 unforgettable Chinese artworks —
The artist of the work on the left depicts scenes along the Yangtze River just as construction began on the Three Gorges Dam. "The work is a dialogue with the traditional," says Wu Hung. "Compared to Fan Kuan's Song dynasty depiction (right) of a heroic, wholesome mountain, Yun-Fei Ji's mountains are fragmented like they are about to fall apart. By comparing themselves with traditional art, artists can find their own contemporality." Yun-Fei Ji "Below the 143 Meter Watermark" (2006) ink and color on paper, (left).
Courtesy Thames & Hudson
10 unforgettable Chinese artworks —
Each sunflower seed in this staggering installation was created by hand by craftsmen from Jingdezhen, a famed ceramic production base in China. "Chairman Mao was the sun and the whole population turned towards the sun like sunflowers. Each sunflower seed represents the individual. The work is based on this Cultural Revolution memory, but also evokes the density of China's population, adding to this is the fact that the work was created by anonymous people in China. It's a minimalist work with a lot of meaning connected with the past and present," says Wu Hung. Ai Weiwei "Sunflower Seeds" (2010) installation at the Turbine Hall at the Tate Modern, London.