Contemporary Chinese Art:Today and Tomorrow

Text by LaoZhu

Photographs courtesy of LaoZhu

We can never exactly predict how contemporary art will develop,but we can always maintain an open attitude towards it.

The development of contemporary art (called“modern art” in China before 2000),also known as “avant-garde,” exploratory or experimental art,has been a priority of China’s recent cultural progress and art practices.

In Western developed countries,the concept of contemporary art refers to the ongoing art,which is closely related to and in perfect harmony with contemporary thought and literature.In China,however,it has emerged as a new exploratory art since the launch of reform and opening up in 1978,bearing no contemporary sense chronologically.It also kept a certain distance from the Chinese philosophical and literary circles in its nascent stage.By 2014,its presence had been solidified as an official major in all domestic art colleges in the name of“experimental art.”

In the 1980s,Chinese art circles began to recognize contemporary art’s built-in nature to emancipate the mind.When intellectual circles began embracing the opening-up trend,art circles had already reached the forefront of explorations of spiritual breakthroughs with a freed mind.With the emergence of contemporary art,Chinese artists have become creators exploring solutions to real problems and touching unprecedented spiritual realms via unique artistic methods and forms rather than absorbing existing ideas and achievements alone.

In August 2021,the Archives of Contemporary Chinese History at Peking University was established,with contemporary art as a distinctive and key part of it.With origins based in the“Chinese Modern Art Archive”from 1986,thebecame a daily record of modern art after the launch of China’s reform and opening up and a catalog of the vibrating mentality and thoughts influencing the country’s social,political,and economic development.

Contrasting traditional art such as calligraphy and painting,contemporary art maintains a direct connection with reality and contemporary aesthetic pursuits.The value of contemporary art can be seen in its ability to record flowing issues like mentality and prevailing philosophies which cannot be fully manifested in social events and data.

Four modern art revolutions in the West have gradually freed art from tradition.German artist Joseph Beuys,who died in 1986,is considered the last master dedicated to global promotion of art development.Everyone was assigned the task of performing original arts and in this sense “no one is an artist,and no one is not an artist.”

Contrasting its fierce and aggressive characteristics in the 1980s,more recent contemporary art has sought to interpret the world and human nature in a subtle,plain,and profound fashion to align with the reflective and critical spirit of greater Chinese culture.For example,Chinese contemporary photographer Hai Bo caught the eyes of many with prosaic yet moving images of his hometown.If such plain images of hometowns could be cherished as art,any other human experiences and encounters should qualify.Beyond its bright,beautiful,and fashionable traits,art reflects individual survival,which can reinvigorate the possibility of sublimating and creating the inner spirit from the ordinary.Sui Jianguo,a Chinese conceptual artist,made plastic shaping from the space in his palm,and through 3D printing,enlarged to a huge monument,to express the relationship between nonentity and substance.

Garden in Data Cloud/Planting Trace 3# by Sui Jianguo,a forerunner of Chinese conceptual sculpture and one of the most important contemporary Chinese artists.

As the COVID-19 pandemic persisted throughout 2021,people’s understanding of and response to many issues have undergone major changes,and the changes in contemporary Chinese art remain ongoing.In 2021,more than 2,400 contemporary art exhibitions were held in China including 653 in Beijing and 454 in Shanghai.The future world will be based on new technologies and human desires.Contemporary art must not only integrate science and technology with further human development,but also reflect on them to prevent possible alienation and damage to human dignity and rights.These ideas can be fully demonstrated and developed in art.

This also explains the question of what the future holds for contemporary art.We can never exactly predict how contemporary art will develop,but we can always maintain an open attitude towards it.