LI QING, "Neighbour's Window London Style", 2013, mixed media installation
Criss-Cross: Artworks of Young Chinese Contemporary Artists from Long Collection
Gallery 1, Long Museum, Shanghai, China
December 19th, 2013 through April 15th, 2014
A truth that we can realize from art history is that young artists not only represent the reality of artistic creation, but also embody the future trends of art development. In particular, artistic creation has moved into a new historical period since the 21st century. Globalization and information acceleration emphasizes global culture exchanges and advance together in artistic creation; in the meantime, it reinforces individual differences and multiple attitudes as well. Although opinions vary on value evaluation, consensus on art tendency, cultural attitude and methodology, which are unprecedented complicated and confused, artworks of young artists are increasingly showing its vitality, so that their creative capacity is gaining extensive attention. It may be believed that only to follow these constantly advancing forces, that people can face future challenges and meet opportunities to change the world beyond cultural barriers and stereotypes.
The feature of Chinese contemporary art in the 21st century is variety in general, while multi-individuality in the concrete. Speaking of variety as its overall feature, it is specific to the tremendous changes of Chinese society. Whereas multi-individuality as the concrete feature, is based on the development of “breaking from unification, moving towards multiplicity” of Chinese art in the 1980s; as well as appears as individualization and unconventionality of the young generation. Post-70s and post-80s generations who have grown in the typical Chinese contexts of reforming and opening-up and increasingly comprehensive
background of globalization, are the new generations of significance of time discontinuity. Emerging in the beginning of new century, post-70s and post-80s Chinese artists have to confront with the reality of changing surroundings and uncertain future every day, on account of which, art has become a routine manner for them to calm down and is no longer a tool to pursue illusory sublime. Therefore, returning to individual-based creations, they use art to record personal inner conflicts, life attitudes as well as daily experience. And it is because of this artworks created by post-70s and post-80s artists tend to
represent the “mirror of outside” through individuals, by which, namely these visual evidences, their thoughts can be learned and the transformation of the age be confirmed.
This exhibition is another active carding and research of LONG collection in terms of Chinese contemporary young artists’ creations. It showcases representative artworks of over forty young artists from LONG collection, covering various art types of paintings, sculptures and installations, etc. and is aimed to present the creative features of young artists since “post-70s”, showing their diversified artistic tendencies and revealing individual and pluralistic characteristics of the times. It is also conducive to the building of a communication bridge between young artists and public audience as well as to trigger off our infinite imagination towards the future of art.
