The export of Chinese avant-garde art

The development of Chinese 'avant-garde' art was a result of the economic reform introduced by Deng Xiaoping in 1979. The opening up of China, after years of self-imposed isolation, suddenly brought to its art community an astonishing world of new artistic vocabularies and possibilities. The tide of new aesthetic and artistic languages came at a time when artists and intellectuals had just emerged from the Cultural Revolution and were making critical reflections on this devastating campaign that put the nation in an unprecedented turmoil. Senior artists like Liao Bingxiong created cartoons that harshly criticized the collective madness that was caused, not just by the political manipulation, but also by traditions deeply embedded in Chinese culture, and his feeling was shared by many.

More from this Issue

Cheo Chai-Hiang Thoughts and Processes (Rethinking The Singapore River)

Cecily Briggs, Singapore art Museum & Nanyang Academy of Fine Art, 2000, 132pp RRP $40

Angela Valamanesh

Expanding Horizons: Art from Taiwan

This article looks at the recent history of cultural exchange between Australia and Taiwan and briefly examines the background of the shifts occuring within the Taiwanese art scene from an Australian context. Furthermore it examines some of the continuities and changes in the late 1990s with a particular emphasis on the works by artists Wu Tien-Chang and Wu Mali included in the Second and Third Asia-Pacific Triennial.

Deborah Hart

Anxious Nation: Australia and the Rise of Asia 1859-1939

David Walker, University of Queensland Press, 1999, 312pp, paperback RRP $29.95

Russell Trood

Geography, Indigeneity and Dissonance

Some of the many complex questions raised by the Asia-Pacific Triennials relate to where artists originate from, how they relate to indigenous issues of their country, and the possibility of dissonant voices being heard through the exhibition which would not be tolerated in their country of origin. This is increasingly important in an Australian political climate which has downplayed our relations with the Asian region.

Suhanya Raffel

Sonabai at the APT: difference, indifference, formality

Kajri Jain

Korean Contemporary Art in the 1990s

Korean art in the nineties experienced an era of unprecedented freedom and a remarkable upsurge in visual expression. Ahn looks at the progression of Korean art and politics during the later years of the 20th century and at a few of the central art figures: Kim Myung-hye, Choi Jeong-hwa, Kim Jun, Kim Soo-ja, Han Myung-Ok, Choi Jae-eun, Kim Young-jin and Lee Bul.

Soyeon Ahn

Back to the Walls: Murals from Australia and India

Djamu Gallery, Sydney 10 March - 27 August 2000

Joanna Mendelssohn

Another Landscape: History/Life/Language

Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane 16 March - 29 April 2000

Edwina Bartleme

Focus on Asian Women Artists

Anne Kirker

To talk with a degree of serendipity?

Sharmini Pereira

The Arts of Diplomacy

Manton looks at the relationship between the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the art world in Australia, one that seems to have been difficult, particularly since the 1970s when the Commonwealth Art Advisory Board gave way to a National Gallery and an Australian Council for the Arts. Furthermore this text examines the growing relations between Australian and Asian art communities during the second half of the 20th century.

Neil Manton

Myths and Histories: A Vietnamese Story

The inside story of the first selection of a Vietnamese artist for the Asia-Pacific Triennial. Vietnamese artists in the early 1990s were free to make art of their choice, as the grip of state-run culture began to relax. The significance of the resulting elegiac romantic paintings was lost on some critics of the Triennial who did not appreciate this history. The curatorial structuring of the Triennial helped to go beyond the official line of ministries of culture.

Alison Carroll

View all articles in this issue