Spirit of the Era

CROSS-CULTURAL interaction is one of contemporary art's many current trends. China's current art scene is characterized by a variety of phenomena; artists have presented a juxtaposition of humanistic attention and spiritual themes. Although contemporary art celebrates the pluralistic interplay between culture, as well as a commodity economy, concept transformation,     

Chinese Contemporary Artists(4) He Sen: “Engagement” with Painting

正"Contemporary Chinese art has become too much about contemporary Chinese life.Why should we deal only with what we see on the surface?In traditional Chinese art,meaning is not always on the surface;it involves the imagination and ideas."LIKE most followers of contemporary Chinese artists who have come to prominence over the past 10 to 15 years,I have identified certain ones by subject or style     

Zhou Tiehai：It Is not Difficult to Make Art

正ZHOU Tiehai is an extraordinary facilitator and clever conceptual artist.Both of these traits have made him a successful contradiction in the contemporary Chinese art world of the past12 years.He has encouraged a younger generation of artists to think about new and unique approaches to identifying themselves.A graduate of the Shanghai College of Fine Arts in painting and design,     

New Frontiers in Rural Art Scene

<正>Life in the village enables artists to translate cultural legacies into creative works In recent years,a growing number of urban artists have been fixated on the countryside,drawing inspiration from the vast fields and rustic life for their artistic creations.Their interest is not only enriching cultural institutions in rural areas,but is also bringing new vitality to contemporary art and expanding its frontiers.     

Aesthetically Pleasing

A Western academic sets out to prove the practical side of beauty and helps Chinese artists in the process Aesthetics can be a pretty daunting concept to many people. Most people have heard the word, but it is vague as to its implications or even what part it plays in everyday life. And what kind of person studies this branch of philosophy that deals with the nature and expression of beauty?     

Yan Ping: Deal with the Eternal

正"A lot of Chinese painters today work in a realist style because they believe it is more objective in dealing with current events and that seems to be popular.I work in an expressionist style and thematically,I deal with that which is eternal."THERE are far fewer contemporary Chinese female artists than male artists,especially painters.That is a simple fact substantiated for the most part in the marketplace but also,statistically,by the number of female artists whose work is exhibited in museums.Yan Ping is an exception.She     

Watching How We Behave

BEHAVIORAL art （performance art） was born in 1961 in the West and introduced to China in the mid-1980s. At that time many young artists sought spiritual and ideological liberation through anti-conventional and even anti-artistic means. However, these trailblazers were not recognized and accepted by the public,     

The Art Gallery of China

Now in its 15th year, the Red Gate was one of the first professional art galleries to have opened in Beijing. So far it has contracted more than 20 Chinese artists, many of them prominent figures in the nation's contemporary art world. The struggles of its founder, Brian Wallace, epitomize the fits-and-starts progress of China's artistic sector over the past two decades. Today, China's art is on the upbeat, as evidenced by growing government aid and public support and increased media coverage. Art exhibitions these days receive more visitors and generate greater revenue than ever before. Along with China's booming auction business, they contribute generously to its thriving art galleries. Yet art is still very much a nascent sector in China. Professional commercial galleries have emerged in big cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, but in small numbers. Chinese galleries have a long way to go as regards accessibility to all.     

Dallying in Dali：Romantic Getway

FOR the Chinese, Dali always calls to mind a love story. Located in the tar west ol the southwest province of Yunnan, the city has provided the perfect backdrop for romantic trysts in hundreds of movies. If we can say that art imitates life, what it says of Dali is true.     

营业性演出管理条例

Chapter I General Provisions Articlel The Regulation is formulated for the purposes of enhancing the administration of commercial performances, promoting the develop-ment of cultural industry, boosting the socialist art cause, catering to the cultural needs of the people and advancing the socialist spiritual civiliza-tion.     

Filth International Paper-Cut Art Festival(Jintan,China) Held

Paper-cut,a popular form of folk art,has a long history in China and is now on the national intangible cultural heritage list.As its name implies, various patterns are cut out of pieces of paper by artists with scissors or carving knives.The colorful works cover a wide range of subjects and have rich implications.Auspicious patterns are used to express     

La Bella at Marella

There are different types of collectors: those who buy for investments, those who buy for aesthetic pleasure and those who have a real interest. AN opening night at the Marella is usually a big spread. So it was recently when the Beijing gallery opened a show of young Chinese artists which mixed irreverent social commentary with ceramic breasts and other human forms. Marella usually makes the biggest splash among the dozen or so openings every Saturday at Beijing's redbrick 798 art colony in the city's northerly Dashanzi district. Onlookers gawked as artists, media and collectors spilled onto the foopath with paper cups of Italian wine and plates of hors d'oeuvres at the recent opening party for Fancy Dream, a collection of works by young Chinese artists shown by the Marella, an Italian-owned art firm with galleries in Milan and Beijing.     

Jin Yi''''an, a Master in Poetry, Calligraphy, Painting and Seal-Cutting

T is a common view of traditional Chinese art that poem, calligraphy, painting and seal cutting are intrinsically connected. Yet today only a few Chinese artists are considered to be experts in all four fields. Mr. Jin Yi'an's creations of poems, calligraphy, paintings and seals place him as one of the few remaining experts. Although capable in all four fields, this Jilin resident in Northeast China, is especially strong in calligraphy. Born in 1915 in Beijing, Mr. Jin (originally named …     

The Voice of a River

A recent documentary film about five folk artists from the region along the Yellow River moved the audience with its recording of the challenges of these people to survive in modern days and their love for the art sprung from their hometow ns. The movie, titled The River in Me, is from an idea of Su Yang, a con temporary musician from Yinchuan, capital city of northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. He later became one of the five characters in the film.     

Dialogue and Education： Two Ways to Protect Human Rights and Build a Harmonious World

It is indeed a great privilege to come to this ancient and fascinating city of Beijing to share views and to participate in what promises to be a high-quality debate at the initiative of one of China's most prestigious and respected human rights organisations. I have no doubt that in such a setting, and through the enrichment     

LETTERS

Ihappened to read an edition of your journal published in2008 at the home of a friend of mine in Mexico.I found the report on the Beijing Olympic Games so interesting that I kept on reading your magazines from then on.I have since amassed a large collection.I enjoy their high quality content,and appreciate the design.I am looking forward to reading more interesting stories about what is happening in China.I wonder whether it would be     

LETTERS

As one of those who wants to work as a country teacher in an impoverished school, I＇m very interested in the article “IKG： The joy of Giving,” which has strengthened my resolve. It is a pity that children in remote regions desperately need assistance to meet their basic needs. But what is most important is that they thirst for knowledge. As to the first problem, I believe that anyone, whether rich or poor, can do something affordable for the less well-off.     

HowW ill China Inl uence the World?

正I can easily feel the increasing attention the world now pays to China at recent international meetings I have attended.My foreign peers all show an interest in China’s blueprint for the comprehensively deepened reforms laid out at the Third Plenary Session of the18th CPC Central Committee,eager to know what will happen in China and what will it bring to the rest of the world.A question frequently asked is:"How will China influence the world?"This question arises in the context of China’s rapid growth.China is now the     

My Dream Sustains Colorful Lives——China Disabled Persons' Performing Art Troupe

"We performed in the Carnegie Hall in New York City. Builders of the hall could not have dreamed that this premier venue for performing arts in the world would play host to us, a group of special performing artists from China. The audiences were enthralled, seeing the charms of the artists from the orient for the first time," says Zhang Jigang, art director of the China Disabled Persons' Performing Art Troupe (CDPPAT), head of the Song and Dance Ensemble of the General Political Department of the Chinese People's Liberation Army and the only dancer in China to have won the Century Star title.     

Gao Ping＇s Urban Perspective

GAO Ping‘s candid artistic expression effectively communicates to art lovers a feeling of tranquility and peace. Her inspiration springs largely from scenery,the urban scenarios of her Cities series imbued with the spiritual. Metaphors implicit in the realist and conceptual images of her paintings—in tacit dialogues between human forms and mystic symbols against an urban backdrop—expand to the full the cityscape concept of her paintings.