Global
art icons Ai Weiwei and Zeng Fanzhi, step aside. Song Yige, Wang
Yuyang, Song Ta and Zhang Ruyi are in the vanguard of young Chinese
artists breaking with tradition and using new technologies wherever
possible.
"We are used to associating Chinese artists with the Cultural
Revolution and now the younger generation have a refreshed approach from
their predecessors," says Alexander Platon, senior director at
Marlborough Fine Art in London.
"Their ideology and their individual experiences are totally
different to the previous generation, so their art is broad and not
purely political, which brings them closer to practising artists from
other parts of the world." This has resulted in a host of new materials
and interesting experimental styles coming to the market. In time, Song,
Wang and Zhang might become household names in the art cognoscenti
world.
Wany
Yuyang's Quarterly, 2015. Materials used in this installation include
silicon, bronze, red copper, brass, stainless steel and a tree.
"Song Yige, a painter who works and lives in Beijing, had her first
show outside Asia earlier this year at Marlborough Fine Art in London.
The exhibition attracted enormous attention from international media and
collectors throughout the West," Platon says. A show called "A
Beautiful Disorder", at the Cass Sculpture Foundation in Britain, is
another where the work of young Chinese artists is prominently displayed
and lauded.
A handful of promising artists have caught the eye of industry
experts such as Platon. These names include Wang (solo show at Long
Museum in Shanghai and recent book by Flash Art), Jennifer Wen Ma
(Paradise Interrupted at Lincoln Center Festival), Cao Fei (recent solo
show at MoMA PS1) and Lu Pingyuan (Liverpool Biennial and Centre for
Chinese Contemporary Art in Manchester).
Wang Yuyang’s Sigularity, 2015. Materials used include metal frame, motor and LED lights.
Niru Ratnam, the director of START Art Fair - which is held at the
Saatchi Gallery in London in September as a salute to emerging artists -
thinks it is important to see emerging Asian artists show "side by
side" with their peers from the west. "What I believe becomes apparent
through doing this is that while there are strong links between what
emerging artists in Asia and Europe are making, there are also
significant local nuances," Ratnam says. "This might be to do with the
mediums they are using but more often is to do with subject matter and
the way in which they are using different media."
The world is showing interest, slowly but surely. Artist Liang
Yuanwei says that early in her career her only connection to the global
market was through Western scholars studying Chinese art. Nowadays, she
is connected "through partnerships with galleries and participation in
international art projects, and also thanks to art exhibitions which
were supported by international collectors and international media".
Platon agrees with this new attention: "There is an increased
interest in contemporary Chinese art that is being reflected in museum
and gallery programmes and in art criticism. This new generation of
artists are creating impressive works that reflect a globalising art
world."
Zhao Yangs’s Eskimo, oil on canvas, 2014. Photo: K11 Art Foundation
One of the defining factors of this emergence of young Chinese
artists is the increased access to technology, and how they seem to all
have embraced it or intentionally shunned it in different ways. "I see
them breaking away from the very particular language and political
imagery used by their predecessors," Platon says. "Like many other
artists around the world, Chinese artists appreciate the advantages
provided by new technology employing new media, new materials and new
methods to realise their work, while questioning the social problems
that accompany these changes.
"Using 3D rendering and modelling software, Wang Yuyang has converted
one of the most iconic and influential texts in modern history - Karl
Marx's "Capital: Critique of Political Economy" (1867) - into a binary
code that entirely determined the material, colour and structure of the
sculptural outcome."
Liang
Yuanwei’s 2015 work, oil on linen. Liang says she is connected to the
global market through partnerships with galleries and international art
projects.
The work, Platon says, not only alludes to the "collapsing boundaries
between art and technology", but also raises pertinent questions
concerning the "power of ideology in today's hyper-networked, globalised
world".
This point of no return is the perfect hotbed where artists such as Wang Yuanwei start to contemplate technology.
"Technology has penetrated into my daily life, and made an impact on
how I understand and express art," Wang says. "Technology has also
become a key factor in my decision-making process and attitude towards
art."
For Zhao Yang, who specialises in oil on canvas, the comparison of
his medium and material is looking at the primitive against the most
contemporary. "I cannot deny that photos and images have impacted and
influenced painting in Chinese Contemporary art; technology is
meaningful, therefore images I obtain from the internet will, to some
extent, affect the way we create," he says.
Cao Fei’s Back to the Garden. It was exhibited at the Lombard-Freid Projects in Chelsea.
There is ample support from the western world and China. One of the
evangelists for young Chinese artists is the K11 Foundation (KAF) based
in Hong Kong. Founded by Adrian Cheng in 2010, KAF is a not-for-profit
organisation, which "supports the development of Chinese contemporary
art from Greater China". The organisation is devoted to promoting
contemporary Chinese artists through international programmes, and
finding ways that these artists can fit themselves into a global art
world as part of their career development.
Artists such as Zhao feel the love. "I feel very lucky to be living
in an era in which the society is welcoming and open and because of that
I can indulge in my own dreams without sacrificing much. My
achievements would not have happened without support from many art
institutions, such as the K11 Art Foundation," Zhao says. "I
participated in a couple of international art exhibitions organised by
KAF, including: "WE: A Community of Chinese Contemporary Artists" (2016)
and "Today: History, Art, Architecture and Design, the '80s" at the
Centre Pompidou, Paris.
La Town by Cao Fei (2014)
"All these events have been very well-received by the global media
and public," Zhao adds. "As time passes there has been an increase in
the number of international collectors of my works. I think art is a
common language and perfect channel to connect people."
This message of globalisation is echoed by many in his industry.
Artist Zhang Enli eloquently says: "I am determined to narrow the
borders between regions and avoid my work becoming a symbol, as art is
meant to be open to interpretation."
Marcel Duchamp had the urinal, Andy Warhol that soup can and Ai
Weiwei his bicycle. Perhaps the next big artist will again come out of
China - and technology could be the thing raising Chinese art to new and
exciting frontiers.
Space Painting by Zhang Enli
EMERGING TALENTS
Five contemporary Chinese artists to keep an eye on:
- Nabuqi, who is from Inner Mongolia, works with drawing and sculptures.
- Xinyi Cheng, working in Amsterdam, is known for her use of glowing colours.
- Shanghai native Chen Zhou was selected as a finalist in Beijing's Today Art Museum's "Focus on Talents Project" in 2012.
- Miao Ying uses the Chinese internet as her inspiration and contributed to the Venice Biennale last year.
- Liu Yefu, who works between New York and Beijing, splices together images to comment on mass media.
