Sunday
April 7, 2024
Expected reading
2 minutes
Good night chestnuts
The reappearance of Chinese contemporary art at the National Art Museum of China is an interesting scene. Different from other art museums with contemporary art as the main body, the interaction between the crowded audience and these works at the National Art Museum of China has become a new spectacle. These interactions are not part of the exhibition, but perhaps a new perspective on contemporary art in this era.
· A new form of Chinese contemporary art
· Respond to nature with ArtWalk
· The 78-year-old gallery is closed
· Sotheby's late shoots fell smoothly
· Oil painter Ma Changli died
· 1 ·
A new form of Chinese contemporary art
From April 6th to April 16th, the exhibition "Coherence and Diversity: New Forms of Contemporary Painting Art" produced by Luo Xudong was exhibited at the National Art Museum of China. The exhibition focuses on the works of Chinese contemporary artists born after 1969, with 35 artists and 35 easel paintings, presenting the most active contemporary artists today.
The "new form" in the title of the exhibition refers to how an artist who has grown up in an environment full of images translates this information into the form of painting. From the post-60s to the post-90s, from the local Chinese to the international context, this is a process from globalization to flattening. It's like a relay baton for these artists who are gradually coming to the fore after the millennium to respond to the new issues of the times with their creations.
Yi Ying, the academic director of the exhibition, and Wang Jing and Yuan Jiawei, curators of the exhibition, comb through these painting cases from the perspective of historiography and respect for the microcosm, and combine the design of the exhibition space with architect Liang Chen, appealing to the intrinsic characteristics of Chinese contemporary art between commonality and individuality. In conjunction with this exhibition, a research publication will be presented that integrates research, criticism, and works.
· 2 ·
Respond to nature with ArtWalk
Hao Jingfang & Wang Lingjie "I want to do something, but I don't want to do anything"
The scene of the symposium
From April 1st to July 7th, the "Third Nature" public art season, curated by curator Zhang Honglei, was held at Chengdu A4X Art Center and Luhu CPI. The 20 works of 14 artists (groups) break the indoor/outdoor separation and integrate the art/nature division, and the length of the visit line is nearly 2 kilometers, covering the entire Luhu Eco-City. At the same time, the Art Season Derivative Symposium "The Third Nature: Nature, Symbiosis, and Future" was held in the CPI public space of Luhu Lake.
Tang Yimiao "Wrong Gap"
Great Compassion Universe "Virtual Butterfly - Liyuan Series"
This is a large-scale public art exhibition about nature, city, humanity, symbiosis and integration, exploring the relationship between the natural environment, the contemporary city and human society through installation, video, sound and light and other forms and expressions. The whole exhibition is more like a Chengdu ArtWalk, strolling in the company of art, and feeling the beauty of harmony between man and nature.
Yang Song "Folding Halo 2024"
Narture艺术团体《对视》
In addition to considering the theme of man and nature, the work also pays special attention to the interaction between the work and people. In the context of "Third Nature", the "public" has also become a part of the exhibition, the business and environment have also become "artworks", and the artworks have become an unobtrusive part of the commercial space and living environment of Luhu Lake. "Third Nature" has tried to make greater strides in the implementation of exhibitions and public art, and has begun to take the prototype of the compatibility and parallel development of cultural tourism, commercial real estate and art and culture in the future.
· 3 ·
The 78-year-old gallery is closed
On April 4, it was reported that Marlborough Gallery, which has spaces in New York, London, Madrid and Barcelona, announced its closure, and the gallery has been in operation for 78 years. Considered one of the first large-scale galleries, Marlborough Gallery was founded in London in 1946 and initially dealt with works by French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painters, and later focused on the work of German Expressionists, post-war British contemporary artists, and Abstract Expressionists.
The gallery did not give a reason for its closure. It is understood that the gallery will stop representing artists and legacies in June, end all exhibitions and sell inventory, and part of the proceeds will be donated to non-profit organizations that support contemporary artists. At the same time, the gallery will also sell its holdings in the United States, the United Kingdom and Spain. After 2020, there was a wave of gallery closures, mostly due to family reasons and financial pressures.
· 4 ·
Sotheby's late shoots fell smoothly
Sotheby's Hong Kong's 2024 Spring Auction Modern and Contemporary Art Evening Auction closed on 5 April, with a realisation rate of 97.6% and a total turnover of HK$634 million. Leading the auction was Yoshitomo Nara's "I Would Like to See the Bright Lights Tonight", which sold for HK$95.959 million. The works of Picasso and Monet have also achieved outstanding results. The cold reality can also be seen behind the numbers, with a total of 41 lots auctioned after the withdrawal of 6 works, and 1 still unsold. In the face of a more than 70% sell-through rate and a price range, some collectors describe it as a "roller coaster" and "cut in half". The big waves are sweeping the sand, and the test of a new wave of the market has begun.
· 5 ·
Oil painter Ma Changli died
On April 7, 2024, Ma Changli, a professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, a famous art educator, oil painter, and a member of the Communist Party of China, passed away peacefully at Beijing Huilan Hospital at the age of 93. Ma Changli, born in Shanhaiguan, Hebei Province in 1931, graduated from the Painting Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1953, and served as the director of the teaching and research department, deputy director and acting director of the oil painting department of CAFA. He is a professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, a director of the China Oil Painting Society, a director of the China Association for the Promotion of Ethnic Minority Arts, and a member of the China Artists Association.
He once mentioned in his own statement: "Some experts describe a good landscape painting as 'a wordless poem, a silent song', which reflects the inner feelings of the painter. In my artistic practice, I strive to integrate the essence of Western Impressionism with the aesthetic pursuit of Eastern art, in order to express my different feelings about nature and my yearning for a world in harmony with nature. ”
Text|Art chestnut