Table Of ContentChinese Contemporary Art Series
Paul Gladston
Deconstructing
Contemporary
Chinese Art
Selected Critical Writings and Conversations, 2007–2014
Chinese Contemporary Art Series
Editor-In-Chief
Dr. Chunchen WANG
China Academy of Fine Arts
No. 8 Huajiadi Nanjie Street, Wangjing, Chaoyang District
Beijing, P.R. China
[email protected]
Deputy Editors-In-Chief
Paul Gladston,Professor, Nottingham University ([email protected])
Wenny Teo, Lecturer, Courtauld Academy of Art ([email protected])
Advisor Board
Alexandra Munroe, Curator of Asian Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
Britta Erickson, Ph.D., independent curator, Palo Alto
Duan Jun, Lecturer in Contemporary Chinese Art, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing
Eugene Wang, Professor of Asian Art, Harvard University, Boston
He Guiyan, Associate Professor, Sichuan Institute of Fine Arts, Chongqing
John Rajchman, Professor, Art History, Columbia University, New York
James Elkins, Professor, Art History, Theory, and Criticism, School of the Art Institute of
Chicago
Katie Hill, Dr., Sotheby’s Institute of Art, London
Mian Bu, independent curator, Beijing
Melissa Chiu, Director of Hirshhorn Art Museum, Washington DC
Michael Rush, Director of Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, East Lansing
Paul Gladston, Professor, Director of the Centre for Contemporary East-Asian
Cultural Studies, The University of Nottingham
Sheng Wei, Dr., Deputy Editor of Art Magazine, Beijing
ThomasJ.Berghuis,Dr.,CuratorofChineseArt,SolomonR.GuggenheimMuseum,NewYork
Voon Pow Bartlett, Dr., Project Manager, Tate Research Centre: Asia-Pacific, London
WennyTeo,Dr.,LecturerinModernandContemporaryAsianArt,TheCourtauldInstituteof
Art, London
Yi Ying, Professor, Art Historian, Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing
Yin Shuangxi, Professor in Contemporary Art, Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing
YuYang,AssociateProfessorinModernChineseArt,CentralAcademyofFineArts,Beijing
Zheng Shengtian, Editor-in-Chief of Yi Shu magazine, Vancouver
ThisseriesfocusesonwhatishappeningtoChineseartinthecourseofrecentdecades.Since
Chinahaschangedgreatly,itisnowacuriosityandaresearchtask:Whatisthat?Whyisthat?
How can it be that? Culturally, why does Chinese art have its own special image narrative?
How to evaluate and criticize Chinese art made today? Is it a continuation of its history and
heritage?Isanythingnewthatcouldbereconsideredfurther?IsChineseartanartisticissueor
a political one? This series of books will concentrate on such questions and issues and will
invite international writers and scholars to contribute their thoughts on the explanation and
elaboration of Chinese art today.
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/13527
Paul Gladston
Deconstructing
Contemporary Chinese Art
Selected Critical Writings and Conversations,
–
2007 2014
123
PaulGladston
TheUniversity of Nottingham
Nottingham
UK
ISSN 2199-9058 ISSN 2199-9066 (electronic)
ChineseContemporary ArtSeries
ISBN978-3-662-46487-8 ISBN978-3-662-46488-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-662-46488-5
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2015945144
SpringerHeidelbergNewYorkDordrechtLondon
©Springer-VerlagBerlinHeidelberg2016
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For my mother and father
“ ”
Preface to Chinese Contemporary Art Series
The world’s present interest in and focus on China is related to the great changes that have
takenplaceinChinaoverthelast30years.Thealterationsinmanyphenomenaactuallyallow
ustoobservethechangesinChina.Historically,transformationofaclosedlocalizedareadoes
not immediately and directly evoke a chain reaction in neighboring areas. Today, however,
that is not the case, especially for a country like China that has the largest population in the
world, that at present has a huge manufacturing capacity and capability, that consumes vast
amountsofnaturalresources,andthatexhibitsanunprecedentedenvironmentalimpact.When
these kinds of changes occur in China, the world cannot but feel their existence and impact.
Thisisanecessaryresultoftoday’sglobalizationandaphenomenonthatcannotbeavoided
as the world enters into the true meaning of the term “global village.” It does not matter
whetheroneopposesglobalization,favorslocalizedculturaldiversity,orfavorsakindof‘you
arewithinmeandIamwithinyou’conceptoftenreferredtobytheneologism“glocalization.”
Because of its historical transformation, China is per force a focus for the whole world and,
moreover, is a top priority focus. Today, there are more and more research studies produced
aboutChina,whileinstitutionsestablishedtoundertakeresearchonChinaarebecomingmore
prevalentinthe world. Thisisboth thecontinuation oftraditional “Chinese studies” andalso
at the same time the start of a new world wide proposition: as a country that maintains its
historicalcontinuity,asacountrythathasenduredmorethanacenturyofchaosafterwhichit
weakenedanddeclined,canChinatrulybecomeamodernstateofsignificanceanddemocracy
to the world? This has become both an historical challenge and a practical issue.
ViewingthematterfromChinainternally,theChinesealsohaveahistoricalcuriosityover
the events that have occurred, and they are eager to know what after all is the significance
of these transformations. Although they are directly involved in their own desire for more
answers,theyknowthattheseanswerswillnotbeobtainedintheshortterm.Inthefieldofart,
thestoriesthatappearandemergehaveresearchvalueandrequirestudybecausetheyarethe
results and visual symptoms of this historical transformation. The hope in editing and pre-
senting this collection of writings is that, by means of publication, these literary works will
observe,record,andreflectChina’scontemporaryartstoriesandtheirsignificance.Publication
will allow these articles and essays to reveal the development of art during a time of special
temporal and spatial conditions. The searches for relevant scholarship reveal much historical
baggageandanentangledhistory.Mostofall,theyprovideahistoryofvisualmovementsthat
requires special recognition and that represents the struggle and rebirth of art during a time
when history was remade.
As the embodimentof spiritual expression and real existence, China’s contemporary art is
rife with contradictions and strivings. Overall, however, contemporary art in China is quite
different from that ofanyother historical period.It transmits theeffects ofthepropagation of
foreign concepts and values. China’s artists, as the inhabitants of the piece of earth called
China, have an unprecedented variety of experiences. Chinese discussions and arguments
about art, in both the modern and contemporary periods, have differed entirely from the
dialogues and debates in other countries but, nonetheless, still show the impact of the times.
Some of these arguments are about large topics such as a comparison of the west and China,
vii
viii Prefaceto“ChineseContemporaryArtSeries”
culturalidentity,andmodernity,whilesomeareaboutsmalltopicssuchasstylesoflanguage,
image generation, and even whether traditional brush and ink painting always reflects the
psychologyofanationalculture.Infact,manyoftheseissuesaretemporary,andmanymore
are pseudo issues. Some of these issues are of a profound nature, while some are issues
involving rediscovery and recreation that inspire new cultural and artistic entities. No matter
what, themainproblemofart inChinatoday isthat ofputtingartinto practice. Ifthere isno
large quantity of creative art that is put into practice, then academic research could become
specious. If art is not advanced uninterruptedly, it is difficult to continue with research that
shows promising results.
This series focuses on what happens to Chinese art at present and include monologues,
study on art history, case study, movements, critical discourses, and so on. This after all is
work for the long term. By means of the publication of this work, we hope to build a
worldwide research network on contemporary Chinese art, to pass on China’s research and
tradition of “Chinese studies”, and to fuse together China’s inquiries with those of interested
audiences throughout the world.
Acknowledgments
IwouldliketothankWangChunchenforhiskindinvitationtopublishthiscollectionandthe
people at Springer who made it possible. I would also like to thank everyone—and in par-
ticular the artists—who assisted my research into and writing on contemporary Chinese art.
Thanks are also due to the various editors and publishers who have given my writing on
contemporary Chinese art a public platform.
ix
Contents
Part I Essays
1 Somewhere (and Nowhere) Between Modernity and Tradition . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1 Towards a Critique of International and Indigenous
Perspectives on the Significance of Contemporary Chinese Art. . . . . . . . 3
1.2 Tradition, Modernity and the Development of Modern Art in China . . . . 4
1.3 Contemporary Art in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.4 Indigenous Debates on the International Reception
of Contemporary Chinese Art. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.5 The Political Recuperation of Contemporary Chinese Art. . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.6 Towards a Multi-voiced Critique. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.7 Indigenous Chinese Art Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.8 International Art Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.9 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2 International Curatorial Practice and the Problematic
De-Territorialization of the ‘Identity’ Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.2 The Politics of Identity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.3 The Politics of Identity and International Curatorial Practice. . . . . . . . . . 20
2.4 Deconstructing the Third Guangzhou Triennial,
Farewell to Post-Colonialism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.5 Beyond the Abstractions of Institutionalized Post-Colonialism . . . . . . . . 28
3 Qianwei (‘Avant-Garde’) Art in Reform-Era China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
3.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
3.2 Contemporary Chinese Art—Differing Discursive Perspectives. . . . . . . . 31
3.3 The Western(ized) Avant-Gardes and Post-avant-Gardes . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3.4 Qianwei (/‘Avant-Garde’) Art in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
3.5 Qianwei Art and the Persistence of (Subjective) Realism. . . . . . . . . . . . 39
4 Deconstructing Gao Minglu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
4.1 Critical Reflections on Contemporaneity and Associated
Exceptionalist Readings of Contemporary Chinese Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
4.2 Contemporaneity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
4.3 Gao Minglu—‘Total Modernity in Chinese Contemporary Art’. . . . . . . . 46
4.4 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
5 Cultural Translation and Post hoc Intellectual Conceit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
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