Art lovers in Shanghai will be able to celebrate part of their new year surrounded by inspiring, expressive works created by scores of talented artists.
One of the exhibitions will display works created by Cai Guoqiang, a Chinese contemporary artist from New York.
Cai Guoqiang achieved success last October when he designed a magnificent fireworks show for the APEC summit in Shanghai.
The exhibition, which opens tomorrow, will run until March 1 at the Shanghai Art Museum.
Cai, 45, was born in Quanzhou of East China's Fujian Province and graduated from the stage design department of the Shanghai Institute of Drama.
He is well-known in Western art circles for being a most prominent Chinese contemporary artist, for his installation and performance art works that encompass Chinese symbols such as explosives, dragons, arrows, boats and herbal medicine.
Cai made his name in China when his award-winning work "Venice's Rent Collection Courtyard" in the 1999 Venice Biennial, was accused by the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts of infringing upon the copyright of a similar Chinese sculptural work that was popular in the 1960s. The accusation, raised heated debates on how to interpret contemporary art work.
"In the last 10 years or so, Cai's works have been exhibited extensively in major art shows all over the world and have impressed Western viewers with the oriental wisdom and language of his works," said Zhang Qing, curator at the museum. "In the process of globalization, Cai's artistic conceptions and methods are highly inspiring for contemporary artists in his homeland, too," Zhang noted.
Cai's solo show will include two recent installation projects, 13 oil paintings, a documentary about using explosives, and documents about how the APEC fireworks performance last year was produced.
Noticeably, the exhibition will include a subordinate show Cai himself "curates," which consists of 90 oil paintings by former Soviet Union painter Konstantin Maksimov, and documents about the artist. Maksimov, who came to China to train Chinese young artists in the 1950s, introduced the socialist realist school to China and has influenced the style of Chinese art for decades.
The subordinate show probably is another wise conceptual art work by Cai, who often utilizes other people's works to reflect his own concept and cultural background, experts say.
If Cai's solo is too "cutting-edge" for some viewers, they still have the choice of other less "avant-garde" works, for example the "2002 Shanghai Abstract Art Exhibition."
Running from February 9-18 at the Liu Haisu Art Gallery, the exhibition featuring abstract paintings by 33 local artists, among them Ding Yi, Wang Guo'an, Shen Fan, Sun Liang, Chen Xinmao, and Huang Yuanqing.
The exhibition is the largest group show of abstract art in Shanghai in 20 years and demonstrates the dynamics of the city's art scene as it opens its doors wider to the outside world, according to Li Lei, an official from the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture, Broadcasting, Film and TV, who organizes the exhibition.
Around the time of the group exhibition, at least four smaller shows of abstract works will be held in private commercial galleries such as Donglang, Haishangshan, Shanghart and Yi'an.
In contrast to the avant-garde or modern stances of these younger artists, veteran Shanghai woman painter Chen Peiqiu, 79, are persistent in seeking inspiration from the splendid traditions of Chinese ink painting and calligraphy.
The widow of late master painter, calligrapher and connoisseur Xie Zhiliu (1910-97), will exhibit more than 150 works in her solo retrospective, which will be held at the Shanghai Art Museum from February 8-18. In conjunction with the exhibition, a large album entitled "The Art of Chen Peiqiu" will be published by the Shanghai Fine Arts Publishing House, according to Hangzhou-based China Art Weekly.
Apparently influenced by traditional Chinese literati painting, Chen's paintings have also absorbed the techniques of Western oil painting in using colours and light.
Like her late husband, Chen is also an excellent calligrapher and connoisseur of Chinese art.
(China Daily January 31, 2002)
