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CHARTA
Pure Views
Remote from Streams and Mountains: New Painting from China
Text by Lü Peng, Bai Hua.
Curated by Lü Peng, Pure Views gathers more than 80 pieces by both established and emerging artists from China. The title references an artwork by Song Dynasty painter Xia Gui, as a hint that contemporary Chinese art might usefully pay more attention to its historical precedents. While western modernism and postmodernism seemed to be dominant models in the 1980s and 1990s, since the new millennium a new contemporary Chinese art has evolved from what Lü Peng has called “the combination of resources extracted from traditional art and the artists' perceptions of contemporary society.” The artists include: Cao Jingping, Fang Lijun, Gao Wei, Guo Jin, He Sen, Hong Lei, Li Qing, Li Rui, Luo Quanmu, Pan Jian, Shang Yang, Shen Na, Shen Xiaotong, Tang Ke, Tu Hongtao, Wang Guangyi, Yang Mian, Yang Xun, Ye Yongqing, Yue Minjun, Zhang Xiaogang, Zhang Jian, and Zhao Qin.
FROM THE BOOK
"Context creates change and even if there was no change in the political system in this country, the thirty years of economic reform has already resulted in the emergence of abnormal reality; if the art refuses to be compromised through conformity to an aberrational reality, then it must thoroughly break with that reality, and pursue only the ideals of individual souls. In this way, the spiritual habits of the ancient artists imperceptibly began to rise again to the surface, in the quest for horizons far removed from sordid realities, for the resonance that had long been lost, for the mountains and forest that could soothe the soul, and for those empty spaces where the spirit is purified. However, by looking back in this way, the contemporary artist of course could not and did not want to recreate the ink and brush context of the ancient artist, and even less did the contemporary artist want to let the psychological questions raised by reality intrude into his or her own works."
Lu Pang, excerpt from Pure Views--A New Trend in Chinese Contemporary Painting in Pure Views.
FORMAT: Pbk, 8.5 x 7.75 in. / 208 pgs / 71 color / 35 b&w. LIST PRICE: U.S. $55.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $65 ISBN: 9788881588213 PUBLISHER: Charta AVAILABLE: 6/30/2011 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: No longer our product AVAILABILITY: Not available
Pure Views Remote from Streams and Mountains: New Painting from China
Published by Charta. Text by Lü Peng, Bai Hua.
Curated by Lü Peng, Pure Views gathers more than 80 pieces by both established and emerging artists from China. The title references an artwork by Song Dynasty painter Xia Gui, as a hint that contemporary Chinese art might usefully pay more attention to its historical precedents. While western modernism and postmodernism seemed to be dominant models in the 1980s and 1990s, since the new millennium a new contemporary Chinese art has evolved from what Lü Peng has called “the combination of resources extracted from traditional art and the artists' perceptions of contemporary society.” The artists include: Cao Jingping, Fang Lijun, Gao Wei, Guo Jin, He Sen, Hong Lei, Li Qing, Li Rui, Luo Quanmu, Pan Jian, Shang Yang, Shen Na, Shen Xiaotong, Tang Ke, Tu Hongtao, Wang Guangyi, Yang Mian, Yang Xun, Ye Yongqing, Yue Minjun, Zhang Xiaogang, Zhang Jian, and Zhao Qin.
