A CONTEMPORARY REVIVAL
Hubei’s history as a hub of the ’85 New Wave art movement is nurturing a rejuvenation of its status as a source of modern works.
Most people think about ancient artifacts that stock the country’s top museums when they think about Hubei — but the province in Central China was also a hub of the avant-garde ’85 New Wave art movement that continues to shape the country’s contemporary scene.
The ongoing exhibition Boundless Realities, Multiple Nows in the provincial capital, Wuhan, traces Hubei’s role in the movement and how its ramifications continue to influence emerging artists.
The show at Wuhan University’s Wanlin Art Museum features 21 artists born between the 1940s and ’80s, who are native to, or have spent much of their lives in, Hubei.
It displays works by such leading artists as Zeng Fanzhi and Shang Yang, who heralded the ’85 New Wave movement. Other younger artists, such as He An and Li Liao, have been exhibited internationally.
The exhibition juxtaposes two works each artist created during different periods to portray their individual progress.
It seeks to display works that show the big picture of how Chinese art has evolved over the past three decades, curator Liu Qianxi says.
“There were several reasons why Hubei pioneered China’s contemporary art — local artist associations’ support, promotion by the Hubei Institute of Fine Arts (one of the country’s top art academies) and a group of insightful scholars at local universities, who developed supporting theories,” she says.
But many of Hubei’s artists moved to such cultural hubs as Beijing and Shanghai in the 1990s, says Wuhan-based artist Yuan Xiaofang, whose works are displayed in the exhibition. This caused the province’s art scene to “stay quiet” for a period, he explains.
But the local art community has been undergoing a revival in recent years, largely due to the province’s economic development.
“Art galleries and institutions are opening, and notfor-profit exhibitions are being staged to give local artists more exposure,” Yuan says.
“And there are shows of works by artists from outside Hubei, which enhances the public’s understanding of contemporary art.”
Wuhan is known for oil paintings and traditional ink-wash works, but other genres have expanded their foothold in recent years.
“(That’s) thanks to the emergence of artists born in the 1970s and ’80s, who work with mixed media and adopt much more experimental approaches,” Yuan says.
The exhibition’s venue itself, the Wanlin Art Museum, exemplifies China’s art scene’s progress and its influence on a prosperous art market.
It was built in 2015 by Chen Dongsheng, founder of Taikang Insurance Group, which also owns China Guardian Auctions, one of the country’s top auctioneers.
Chen, who graduated from Wuhan University, one of modern China’s first national universities with a history of 124 years, has also donated dozens of contemporary Chinese works to the museum.
And Taikang Space, a Beijing-based institution affiliated with his group, helps organize at least one exhibition at the museum a year.
Works at the current exhibition are on loan from featured artists and the Taikang Group’s collection.
Ying Weiwei, a member of Taikang Group’s corporate management committee, says many first-class universities worldwide have at least one good art museum in campus. So, there’s no reason that a top Chinese school like Wuhan University — which is expected to grow into a world-class institution in the future — shouldn’t have one.
He says Wanlin museum has received hundreds of thousands of visitors since it opened.
“College students are among those who benefit the most from it. It serves as a means of artistic nourishment that completes their educations.”
Yuan says an even stronger market is needed to further develop Hubei’s art ecology.
Most local collectors still prefer traditional ink pieces, but an emerging set of young collectors are showing discerning and diversified tastes, he adds.
“I know a collector who was born in the 1970s, who has bought about 20 video works,” he says.
“He goes to art fairs and expositions in Beijing and Shanghai. He’s on good terms with many artists. He has insight and ambition.”