In the recent ten years, the international community, especially the Western artistic industry in the US, is interested in Chinese contemporary art and pays attention to it. Because of the speed and the high prices, Chinese contemporary art has attracted people's attention and debates in the international market. The debates, certainly include criticism and suspicious opinions. Similarly, it has the appraisal regarding Chinese Contemporary Art which is not identical. Therefore, under such background, the National Art Museum of China (NAMOC) in Beijing and the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Washington DC has organised an exhibition, which was limited in size, but significative and it reflected the development of a new generation of Chinese contemporary artists: METROPOLIS NOW! A Selection of Chinese Contemporary Art, is a very challenging topic and project.
The exhibition tries to reflect the relationship of Chinese urbanization and contemporary art, by focusing on the art philosophy and technique of some young artists in China. We believe that this approach to Chinese art is appropriate. With the advent of the 21th century, there is no social change more obvious than the process of urbanization, which not only brings the great change of city landscape and people’s life, but also alters people’s way to exist in both rural and urban area. The process forms new and complex relationships between people, between people and self, between people and society and between people and environment, providing sensitive artists with rich experience and presenting them unprecedented opportunities. Although their perspectives of art and their experiences vary greatly, their topics of art and aesthetic preference share a lot in common, displaying a kind of fresh cultural quality. The advent of network age, couple with urbanization, promises possibility bound by nothing, because Chinese artists are now creating their artworks with a cross-media approach they have never imagined before. Media has become the carrier of their expression of feelings and their speech of reality. In their works, their perceptual experience of urbanization and the phenomenological description of the world are intertwined with each other, visually integrating linguistic vitality and social imagination. The achievement of Chinese contemporary art is an unprecedented experience to China and the whole world.
METROPOLIS NOW! A Selection of Chinese Contemporary Art is a commemorative activity for the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States, it is also the first large-scale exchange project of Chinese contemporary art between China and the US. The exhibition starts on March 24, 2009 and is until August 24, 2009. It will last for 5 months. Since the opening, the exhibition has won wide acclaims from the United States, especially with such a big gathering at the opening ceremony, we can say it's an unprecedented scene.
Participating Artists:
Cao Jingping, Chen Hongzhi, Chen Wenbo, Chen Wenling, Chen Zhiguang, Chi Peng, Gao Lei, Han Yajuan, He Sen, He Wenjue, Li Jikai, Li Wei, Lin Tianmiao, Liu Jianhua, Liu Liyun, Liu Qinghe, Liu Ren, Liu Ye, Lv Shanchuan, Miu Xiaochun, THEY, Tu Shaohui, Wang Mai, Wang Mingxian, Wang Xiaohui, Wei Qingji, Weng Fen, Weng Yunpeng, Xing Danwen, Yang Qian, Zhan Wang
Curator:
Fan Di’an
Organized by:
National Art Museum of China & The Meridian International Centre
Supported by:
Beyond Art Space (Beijing 798)
