China’s ‘Art Squire’by Jiang JiehongChange is good, certainly in the world of art. Today, no other country in the world has seen theirart practice change so rapidly and radically as China. And all these changes are not merelyshaped by the introduction of western ideology, but indeed born through China’s great revolutionssince the beginning of the 20th century, especially the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution(1966-76). On the one hand, Chinese artists experienced a creative explosion after the deathof Mao, when all the restrictions on free expression were lifted. On the other hand and moreimportantly, it seems that the Cultural Revolution was a time of silent incubation, accumulatingthe energy for an extreme transformation in the subversive form of creativity that distinguishesthe new Chinese art, with Mao’s spirit of rebellion.In the past three decades, many Chinese artists have benefited from the relative freedomsince the open-door policy, and the legacies of Mao, to establish themselves in the internationalarena. The prosperity of contemporary Chinese art could possibly afford to lose any individualartist, but not one particular person, Li Xianting.In the late 1970s and early 80s, Li started his research on the changes in Chinese art throughhis observation, critique and curatorial practice. During his editorial work at the leading nationaljournal Fine Art (Meishu) between 1979 and 1983, he was the first to introduce those avant-gardeexhibitions that defined a turning point in the history of post-Mao art. Rejecting the highly polished,socialist realist style and the approach of depicting revolutionary and political events, theexhibitions of the Star group, first staged in the street outside the National Art Gallery in Beijingin September 1979, marked the launch of the dynamic development of contemporary Chinese art.Li’s work included the ‘Star’ exhibitions (Xingxing meizhan) and, for example, the ‘ShanghaiTwelve Men’ show (Shanghai shier ren huazhan) and the ‘Untitled’ exhibition (Wuming huazhan)in Beijing. Later, and until 1989, Li was an editor at China Art Weekly (Zhongguo meishubao),witnessing and involving the 85 New Art Movement (Bawu meishu xinchao). Li’s coinage ofphrases such as Scar Art (Shanghen meishu) and Rural Realism (Xiangtu xieshi) pinpointed thestyles of art practice emerging immediately after the Cultural Revolution, interpreting thehardship and tragedy that people experienced. Similarly, his invention of labels such as PoliticalPop (Zhengzhi bopu), Cynical Realism (Wanshi xianshi zhuyi) and later Gaudy Art (Yansu yishu)have been generally accepted as the keywords for narratives and critiques on contemporaryChinese art while artists, including Wang Guangyi, Zhang Xiaogang, Fang Lijun and Yue Minjun,were then winning acclaim nationally and internationally. Li’s numerous curatorial projects –most significantly the 1989 ‘China Modern Art’ exhibition (Xiandai yishu dazhan) in Beijing andthe ‘Post-89 New Chinese Art’ exhibition (Hou bajiu zhongguo xin yishuzhan) in Hong Kong 1993– became the landmarks of the rise of contemporary Chinese art.Art critique requires a good eye, in a traditional sense, similar to connoisseurship. However, inan era full of revolutionary changes, Li believes that contemporary critique far outweighs expertjudgement in matters of taste within the existing rules and contributes to the establishment of newcriteria for understanding art. Li says, “It is pointless to ask what is art, but one shall enquire whatis happening for art today.” He would never intend to promote any ‘better’ art, but only to explorethose artists whose works are derived from and reflect on the social, political and ideol ogicalchanges, and who are able to shape a contemporary identity for Chinese art in the global context.In Chinese tradition, artists and scholars would not necessarily aim to reflect on problemsin reality but would rather enjoy visual expression in their spiritual world. This mood of reclusion,58 2008 <strong>Prince</strong> <strong>Claus</strong> Awards
Li Xianting at an exhibitionPhoto: courtesy Li Xianting
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2008 PrinceClaus AwardsPrix PrinceC
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Forewordby HRHPrince FrisoandHRH Pr
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Els van der Plas, art historian and
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The 2008 Prince ClausAwards Committ
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Rahul Mehrotra studied at Ahmedabad
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Laureates of the Prince Claus Fund
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