Artist:
unkown artist
Title:
abstract sculpture
Year:
2001
Adress:
ICBC Bank, Zhapu District
www.leapleapleap.com:
Shanghai has been a model region for the practice of abstract art in contemporary China. Over the past 10 years, amidst the overall pattern of Chinese contemporary art, abstract art has come to be one of Shanghai’s emblematic features, one of its stronger cultural calling cards.
Tracing back in history
Since the Ming and Qing Dynasty, the inclinations of the literati have dominated the culture of southern China, which has always venerated inherent qualities of refinement, conciseness, and tranquility in character and temperament. Taking Kunquopera, the gardens of Suzhou, and Ming-style furniture as well as Yixing red clay teapots as representative of a certain aesthetic temperament, this style has continued to influence literary and artistic production, helping establish the historical superiority of southern Chinese culture. These sorts of human origins inculcated southern Chinese culture with the quality of meticulous attention to detail, and passed on the skill of paying particular attention to form. As homegrown artists here say, these precepts are part of their flesh and bones, built into their fundamental nature.
One of the earliest port cities in China’s modern history, Shanghai’s identity as a former colony has necessarily influenced its local cultural and artistic development. After the May Fourth Movement, northern Chinese culture began to see both debate over and practice of various Eastern and Western doctrines. By comparison, such debates were relatively few in Shanghai. The cultural backdrop of colonialism caused Shanghai’s inherent character to become more pragmatic, and the preponderance of areas where Western influence had crept eastward also caused the pace of the spread of outside information to rapidly increase. Artistic practice in Shanghai also adjusted along the lines of international trends. China’s first art institute, first instance of life sketching, first modern art society, and first national art exhibition all took place in this Western-influenced, rising metropolis.
A new century: Shanghai is the capital of abstract art
In each 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2005, the Shanghai Art museum hosted large-scale, metaphysical-themed abstract art exhibitions. Initially only local artists participated in the exhibitions, and later they expanded to include artists from around the country and then even the overseas Chinese art community, with the works exhibited ranging from paintings, sculpture, and installations to even video and performance art. The academic aim of the exhibitions was to expand the power of abstract art’s discourse to include all explorations of abstract aesthetics among Chinese people, coordinating the exhibitions with seminars and a series of publications aimed at the public. These served a galvanizing function, setting a positive example for the development of abstract art nationwide."
Shanghai has been a model region for the practice of abstract art in contemporary China. Over the past 10 years, amidst the overall pattern of Chinese contemporary art, abstract art has come to be one of Shanghai’s emblematic features, one of its stronger cultural calling cards.
Tracing back in history
Since the Ming and Qing Dynasty, the inclinations of the literati have dominated the culture of southern China, which has always venerated inherent qualities of refinement, conciseness, and tranquility in character and temperament. Taking Kunquopera, the gardens of Suzhou, and Ming-style furniture as well as Yixing red clay teapots as representative of a certain aesthetic temperament, this style has continued to influence literary and artistic production, helping establish the historical superiority of southern Chinese culture. These sorts of human origins inculcated southern Chinese culture with the quality of meticulous attention to detail, and passed on the skill of paying particular attention to form. As homegrown artists here say, these precepts are part of their flesh and bones, built into their fundamental nature.
One of the earliest port cities in China’s modern history, Shanghai’s identity as a former colony has necessarily influenced its local cultural and artistic development. After the May Fourth Movement, northern Chinese culture began to see both debate over and practice of various Eastern and Western doctrines. By comparison, such debates were relatively few in Shanghai. The cultural backdrop of colonialism caused Shanghai’s inherent character to become more pragmatic, and the preponderance of areas where Western influence had crept eastward also caused the pace of the spread of outside information to rapidly increase. Artistic practice in Shanghai also adjusted along the lines of international trends. China’s first art institute, first instance of life sketching, first modern art society, and first national art exhibition all took place in this Western-influenced, rising metropolis.
A new century: Shanghai is the capital of abstract art
In each 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2005, the Shanghai Art museum hosted large-scale, metaphysical-themed abstract art exhibitions. Initially only local artists participated in the exhibitions, and later they expanded to include artists from around the country and then even the overseas Chinese art community, with the works exhibited ranging from paintings, sculpture, and installations to even video and performance art. The academic aim of the exhibitions was to expand the power of abstract art’s discourse to include all explorations of abstract aesthetics among Chinese people, coordinating the exhibitions with seminars and a series of publications aimed at the public. These served a galvanizing function, setting a positive example for the development of abstract art nationwide."