’Avant-garde’ Art Groups in China, 1979-1989

222 Pages·2013·5.596 MB·English

by  Paul Gladston

G ‘AVANT-GARDE’
‘AVANT-GARDE’ Art Groups in China la
d
s
1979-1989
t
o
n
Paul Gladston
A V
“[Paul Gladston is] one of the few, among many, writers on contemporary
Chinese art whom I really find worth reading and thinking about.”
Jerome Silbergeld, P. Y. & Kinmay W. Tang Professor of Chinese Art History,
Princeton University
‘
A
“‘Avant-Garde’ Art Groups in China, 1979-1989 is one of the most thought-
V
provoking books on the subject of contemporary Chinese art. It addresses A
head-on the problematic identity and cultural politics of contemporary N
Chinese art in the late 1970s and 1980s. At the same time, it gives readers T A N T
-
unfamiliar with the field a theoretically sophisticated introduction. A must read G
even for those already familiar with pressing issues related to globalization A
and contemporary art in general.” R P
9
a
Jason C. Kuo, Professor of Art History, University of Maryland, College Park D u 8
E l 9

’ G 1

A l -
This book gives a critical account of four of the most significant r a 9
t d
7
‘avant-garde’ art groups active within the People’s Republic of China G s
between 1979 and 1989. At its core is a series of extended conver- r t G A R 9
o o 1
sations with members of the groups in question that provide close u n
p
personalized insights into the conditions of artistic production and re- s
ception within the PRC during the early years of post-Maoist opening i
n
and reform. The conversations are supported by an introductory essay
C
on the development of modern, socialist-realist and contemporary art h
in China since the early twentieth century as well as critical readings in
a
of the activities and intellectual positioning of each of the groups
discussed. The text of the book, which draws on close analysis of pri-
mary sources of evidence, is illustrated with full-colour photographs D E
of the artists and artworks under discussion.
Paul Gladston is Associate Professor of Culture, Film and Media
and Director of the Centre for Contemporary East-Asian Cultural
Studies at the University of Nottingham.
intellect | www.intellectbooks.com Art Groups in China
‘Avant-garde’ Art Groups in China, 1979–1989
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‘Avant-garde’ Art Groups in China, 1979–1989
The Stars—The Northern Art Group—
The Pond Association—Xiamen Dada
A Critical Polylogue
Paul Gladston
intellect Bristol, UK / Chicago, USA
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Publication supported by the
ShanghART Gallery
First published in the UK in 2013 by
Intellect, The Mill, Parnall Road, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3JG, UK
First published in the USA in 2013 by
Intellect, The University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th Street,
Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Copyright © 2013 Intellect Ltd
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by
any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise, without written permission.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the
British Library.
Cover designer: Ellen Thomas
Cover image: Members of the Northern Art Group
in 1987 – courtesy of Shu Qun
Copy-editor: MPS Technologies
Production manager: Bethan Ball
Typesetting: Planman Technologies
Print ISBN: 978-1-84150-715-6
ePDF ISBN: 978-1-78320-052-8
ePub ISBN: 978-1-78320-053-5
Printed and bound by Bell & Bain, UK
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Contents
Acknowledgements vii
About the Author ix
Introduction 1
China’s Post-Maoist ‘Avant-garde’ in Context: Modern and Contemporary
Art in China, 1911–2011 9
The Stars(cid:803)The Northern Art Group(cid:803)The Pond Association(cid:803)Xiamen Dada 37
The Stars (Xingxing (cid:7155)(cid:7155)) 39
Conversations with Members of the Stars 46
– Yan Li (cid:7458)(cid:4733)
– Qu Leilei (cid:7366)(cid:11934)(cid:11934)
The Northern Art Group (Beifang yishu qunti (cid:2283)(cid:7053)(cid:14414)(cid:7427)(cid:13688)(cid:1319)) 83
Conversations with Members of the Northern Art Group 88
– Wang Guangyi (cid:10591)(cid:5203)(cid:1053)
– Shu Qun (cid:14310)(cid:13688)
– Ka Sang (cid:2357)(cid:7717)
The Pond Association (Chi she (cid:8756)(cid:12050)) 121
Conversations with Members of the Pond Association 126
– Zhang Peili (cid:5364)(cid:3533)(cid:2159)
– Wang Qiang (cid:10591)(cid:5390)
– Song Ling (cid:4447)(cid:19529)
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‘Avant-garde’ Art Groups in China, 1979–1989
Xiamen Dada (Xiamen Dada (cid:2426)(cid:19388)(cid:17810)(cid:17810)) 159
A Conversation with Members of Xiamen Dada 164
– Huang Yongping (cid:21656)(cid:8716)(cid:11779), Yu Xiaogang (cid:1325)(cid:7207)(cid:2030), Lin Jiahua (cid:7531)(cid:3037)(cid:2338)
and Jiao Yaoming (cid:9978)(cid:13780)(cid:7138)
References 177
Index 185
vi
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Acknowledgements
Above all, I would like to thank the artists who participated in the making of this book for
their enormous generosity and patience. I would also like to thank Lorenz Helbling and
Laura Zhou of the ShanghART Gallery in Shanghai and Johnson Chang (Chang Tsong-
zung) of the Hanart TZ Gallery in Hong Kong who assisted in contacting some of the artists
whose thoughts, impressions and recollections are represented here, as well as the Asia Art
Archive for providing some of the images included in this book. Th anks are also due to my
former research assistant Xu Sujing for her work in transcribing and translating the
conversations contained in this book and to my PhD student Yao Yung-Wen for her
assistance in checking the factual accuracy of the artists’ statements. In addition, I would
like to express my gratitude to the University of Nottingham and the University of Nottingham
Ningbo, China, for providing research funding and a period of study leave in support of this
project. Finally, I would like to thank Keith Wallace at Yishu for giving me a platform for my
early writings on contemporary Chinese art.
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About the Author
Paul Gladston is Associate Professor of Culture, Film and Media and Director of the Centre
for Contemporary East-Asian Cultural Studies (CEACS) at the University of Nottingham
(United Kingdom). Between 2005 and 2010, he was inaugural Head of the Department of
International Communications and Director of the Institute for Comparative Cultural
Studies at the University of Nottingham Ningbo, China. He has written extensively on
contemporary Chinese art with particular reference to the concerns of critical theory. His
book-length publications include Art History aft er Deconstruction (2005), China and Other
Spaces (2009), Contemporary Art in Shanghai: Conversations with Seven Chinese Artists
(2011) and Contemporary Chinese Art and Criticality (2012), a special edition of the Journal
of Visual Art Practice, co-edited with Katie Hill.
Dr. Paul Gladston
Th e University of Nottingham, Trent Building, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK
E-mail: [email protected]
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