China Avant Garde
Avant-garde is a French word and means "advance guard". It refers to people or works that are experimental or innovative.
The Stars
The Stars ( (Xingxing) were a group of experimental artists founded in 1979 and China's first avant-garde arts group. The Stars organized themselves into the "Stars Painters Society" in 1980. The most important members of the society were: Ai Weiwei, Bo Yun, Huang Rui, Li Shuang, Ma Desheng, Mao Lizi, Qu Leilei, Shao Fei, Wang Keping, Yan Li, Yang Yiping, and Zhong Ahcheng. There was much official criticism against their arts and the members were not allowed to show their artworks. The artists hanged therefore their paintings and sculptures on the railings outside the China Art Gallery. Most of them left China between 1983-1988 to the USA, France and Japan. Some became famous artists and returned afterwards to China.
China Avant-Garde Exhibition
In 1989, allmost 200 avant-garde artists from all around China exhibited 300 pieces of artwork in the National Gallery in Beijing. All classic Chinese avantgarde artworks - such as Wang Guangyi’s Mao Zedong No. 1 - were displayed in the exhibition. Many performance artworks were provocative and shocking and the exhibition was closed therefore several times.
East Village
Dashan Village was a factory compound in the Eastern suburbs of Beijing. In the 90ties a group of experimental artists used this place as their artistic community. The name Dashan Village was changed afterwards in East Village. Nowadays East Village is known as the 798 Factory Art District. It is considered as the prime art zone in Beijing with galleries, art centers, artists studios, design companies, restaurants, and bars. Website: www.798space.com
Chinese avant-garde artists
- Yang Yiping (1947) painter
- Bo Yun (1948-) painter
- Wang Keping (1949-) wooden sculptures; lives in France
- Ma Desheng (1952-) painter
- Huang Rui (1952-) painter and performance art
- Shao Fei (1954-) painter
- Ai Weiwei (1957-) architectural designer and artist
- Li Shuang (1957-) painter; living in Paris
- Miao Xiaochun (1964-) photographer
- Zhang Huan (1965-) performance artist
- Rong Rong (1968-) photographer
- Bai Yiluo (1968-) photographer
Fractals: Digital Art mathematics as digital art; by Dutch artist Hans van der Hoeven
Chinese painters - 20th Century Painters of China - Beijing museums - Shanghai museums - Art academies in China
ChinesePainters.com 2009