Westerners first encountering the works of Chinese contemporary artists often strain to find references to ancient China—temples, calligraphy, porcelain and red lanterns—as if these artifacts will make the artworks more genuinely Chinese. In reality, many Chinese contemporary artists do not find their roots in an ancient past, but look to more recent popular culture for […]

More and more, artists are employing multimedia and interactive techniques in their art pieces, regardless of what materials they have used before or are experienced in using. These artworks have changed the way people consume art. Moreover, like the emergence of Minimal and Conceptual art, they have helped the art world overcome yet another crisis. […]

In looking at the works of Lin Hairong, one senses that the artist is seeking to capture life’s tranquil moments; those fleeting glimpses of halcyon clarity and peace that remain uncontaminated by the frenetic pace of daily existence. Moments such as these have become few and far between, however, in an age that the artist […]

Nowadays, an exhibition of contemporary art typically requires a curator—this has very much become the established system—and the operation of this system has increasingly led to the monopoly of art resources. In other words, the power has been placed in the hands and minds of only a few. This current curatorial norm comes from the […]

When we muse upon the intriguing possibilities of colour in art, there are two conclusions that can be drawn: that black is the true absence of colour and that white is the visual result of all the colours combined. The purity of this contrast, in its capacity to explore the nature of colour and also […]

A woman lies prone upon an eerie, back-lit dark and ominous glass examination table. The hands of six men wearing crisp white shirts and black ties touch her naked, dot-infested body. It is unclear if she is ill, expired or resting. This photograph, Diagnose Series I, by Cheng Young is part of a series of […]

To artist Wang Youshen, the concept of communication forms the foundation of both his career and his way of creating art. In the “China Avant-Garde” exhibition, held in 1989, his collaborative works with Yang Jun, entitled “√,” were based upon the basic information carrier of the media—the photographic images from news sources. In order to […]

Chinese government city planners have imposed a physical and psychological revolution on their cities. In most cities of any size, old neighborhoods have been completely erased and replaced by buildings that the planners consider to be more worthy of a modern, first world nation. The erasure of traditional neighborhoods has resulted in the displacement of […]

The "Diversity in Form and Thought" exhibition offers a glimpse of the stream of contemporary Korean art since the 80s. The tendency of Korean art in this era shows respect for creative individuality and multifarious visual perceptions, breaking away from any ideologies in a culturally diverse, multiple world. This kind of art, due to its […]

Xue Tao, a talented and exciting young artist who was born in Yunnan in 1975 and graduated from the art department of the University of Suzhou in 1998, is just a little over 30 years old. He is part of a generation of artists that shows internationally and that creates the art it wants without […]