China strikes back as modern artists push boundaries
By Robert Marquand | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
BEIJING – Chinese modern art has been pushing the borders of the acceptable. But just as limits seemed to fall, the local culture police struck back, albeit politely. Three galleries at the chic Dashanzi art area were told to remove more than 20 paintings in recent weeks, all with political themes.
The move seems an important setback to many in the art world here, though not a dramatic one. It comes at a time when Chinese modern art sales overseas are booming, even doubling in value. The highest price ever paid for a single painting by a living Chinese artist came at Sotheby’s in New York on March 31 – $975,000 for "Comrade No. 120," by Zhang Xiaogang. More
GULANGYU ISLAND, CHINA –
China’s first modern painter was born into a storybook world, and
briefly lived a storybook life. The vibrant abstract landscapes of Teng
Chiu were a sensation in London and New York in the late 1920s and
’30s. But the artist Teng fell through the cracks of history: He was
forgotten in the West for decades until a set of his canvases was
discovered in a New Orleans auction catalogue. For political reasons he
was never known in his native land. Only this year did the painter – a
man once called "probably the most promising painter in [London’s]
Royal Academy" – get an official nod in China. More
China displays new tolerance for abrasive, urban art
By Robert Marquand | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
BEIJING – In the West, "Chinese art" has meant Ming vases and bamboo-laden landscape paintings. In recent years, however, a growing avant-garde movement has come into its own in this country. These artists’ work crackles with sharp-edged social and personal commentary, and that is considered as original and mature as anything produced in the West. More
Yan Sham-Shackleton Online 