The full title of this post is "Some things not worth mentioning worth mentioning: CIGE art fair/more auctions and why you can't say contemporary art without saying market; Putuoshan- Buddhist Buds big time and/or Idolatry killed the cat; and Cui Jian plays The Shanghai Gallery of Art" The buggers just don't give me enough space for my meandering titles. Once again I'm trying to catch up on what seems like years of cluttered blog notes stuffed gently into the corners of my brain, harddrive, camera cards and realizing while you can't mention everything there is merit in things not worth mentioning.
Contemporary Art (Market)
Hong Kong Christies- need I say more?
Ok so I'll say a little more: I went to Beijing again for CIGE (China International Gallery Exposition 2007 (4th Edition) and a host of other art chores. I admit that I would accomplish more if I could manage my time better. I spent three days chasing my tail between endless cab rides, meetings, rice wine and spicy meals. Oddly enough the first thing I did when I got off the plane was dine with a bunch of Shanghai art compatriots The two Liu's; Liu Jianhua, a conceptual ceramicist and beyond, with his 12 year old son, seeing the capital for the first time and Liu Yingmei, smooth operator of 140sqm Gallery, in town for the fair were stewing in alcohol and lamb's legs with my old buddy Zhuang Hui and his extended family of artists and friends from Lanzhou. CIGE was all the buzz for that brief weekend in Beijing. It is yet another art fair epitomized by the first booth that you encounter as you pass through the well secured entrance. Looking more like an Ikea display complete with beds, tables, and fancy scrims, this booth carried an array of famous Chinese artist home products. Wine bottles, carpets, clocks, plates and lampshades all emblazond with those funny pink faces of Fang Lijun or the mask men of Zheng Fangzhi or the cross eyed girls of Feng Zhengjie, or Yue Minjun's big teethed smiles or... well you get the picture. The truth is the rest of the fair was just the redundancy of these products, echoed in other forms across many other booths ... '13,000 square meters showing 120 outstanding galleries from all over the world' selling more or less the same dozen "famous" Chinese brands. It was re-sale central with everyone toting their auction house darlings. The same names were scattered throughout the house. All the galleries seemed to be playing the same hand of cards, each betting on the same win. In between there was some other stuff... but the over cramped conditions just made it look like Stuff. Contemporary Art stuff. The truth is with fairs- the artistic experience is annihilated by the super market. On the upper echelons of this super-art-market there were some famous brand curators who did "projects" with international name brand artists that were not-worth-mentioning. Li Zhenhua, an ambitious youngish curator, put together an extensive, international new-media forum whose strong academic bend got lost between the Ikea art aisles and the VIP coffee lounge which made it not worth mentioning.
-brief break to Phil Tanari and Lulu Huang's new office, paid in part by Art Forum, in part by blood sweat and tears.
Back in Shanghai, East Link Gallery, once host of the famous "FUCK OFF" exhibition curated by Ai Weiwei and Feng Boyi as a way offset the pretentious Shanghai Biennial of 2000,now has decided to get its auction license and hold an "affordable" auction. The first painting that you see when you step off the elevator, with a base price of 10G USD (not exactly affordable for us starving blogger types) is basically the greatest hits of Chinese contemporary painting rolled onto one canvas: There's Zhang Xiaogang's Bloodlines, Liu Wei's drunken Generals, Fang Lijun's floating heads, Guo Wei's pen stripped blue bodies, Yue Minjun's smile of course (don't you just want to punch one of those guys teeth out?) and other greats all coll aged together in cheery oils. This (not so famous) painter takes all these famous painters' licks and presents it to the ill informed consumer. Why have just one of these silly Chinese contemporary souvenirs when you get all these guys (and they are all guys) paintings on one canvas.. and for the bargain basement price of 10G.. I mean do you know what just one of these paintings go for? My God . It's sort of the leatherman or hotpot of Chinese contemporary. It is something that, ironically enough, confounds the auction house with it's logic of negating name brand worship by wearing them all at once. Not one of these signature styles emerges from the mass. It would also be worth mentioning here that all around China's large cities one can find renditions of Zhang Xiaogang, Zhen Fangzhi, Wang Guangyi, etc. in little road side stalls, second hand markets, shopping malls, etc. These guys are already a pastiche of themselves - by default of being in an environment where copyright infringement runs wild.
Cui Jian
Which brings me to Cui Jian (proclaimed father of Chinese Rock n Roll), whom I met for the first time doing a news story for ZDF (German TV2) back in '95 or 6 on copy right infringement. Cui Jian who at the time was China's staple entertainer (banned of course from ever playing again in the motherland for his politically provocative lyrics and punk attitude) suffered considerably in the financial dept. because his records were continually pirated. While he celebrated the democratic aspect of pirating he still had to complain... a little Metallica syndrome. Anyway last night he performed "unplugged" (though I saw some plugs in those acoustic guitars and keyboards) at the Shanghai Gallery of Art. SGA located in the prestigious Three on the Bund building hosts a very fine view of Pudong, especially at night when you can have 40 story video screens and a host of other neon dance advertisements merrily merrily across your brain. The gallery, which has put on some very ambitious installation projects (most recently Gu Dexin's 2007.4.17 - where the artist altered the architecture of the space with literally tons of concrete slabs and manholes- see video) was turned into an installation again- this time a Rock Club complete with light show, video projections and a PHAT Cui Jian performance. I've heard CJ and band many many times in both NY and China but he has never sounded better. He's been compared to Bob Dylan for his lyrics and Bruce Springsteen for his soul but for his musical creativity he stands alone with his unique blend of traditional Chinese, free-jazz, rap-rock, ska, folk, and some other indescribable elements .
Consuming Buddhism
So after two very tiring exhibition openings within weeks of one another. (see next post- PastForward (excuse the shitty website) and Three Unities) we decided to go away from this sweaty, polluted, concrete jungle and get back to our Buddhist roots in Putuoshan. Putuoshan is a little island a few hours (though it took 17 because of fog) away from Shanghai that has been a destination for Buddhist pilgrims since before the Qing dynasty. It's a beautifully preserved slice of heaven (after the megalopolis of Shanghai) dotted with what seems like a zillion temples, some old some new, all beautifully maintained and complimented with beautifully manicured gardens. The architecture and images of these edifices are trippy. Marble slabs from which frog men on waves carrying spears and snakes emerge, hermaphrodites and devils abound under bell top rooves and bright red counter cleavered frames. There's a 100ft tall Guanyin (a female Buddhist saint of mercy) who looks out over the ocean from a small mountain perch with a smiling face made from a ton of 14K gold. There's cedar walkways that tie the island's temples together through lots of wild life, flowers, frogs, and a bunch of "farmer" restaurants that charge NYC prices. Every few feet there's another stall selling incense, Buddha paraphernalia and beads to rub away your sins. Once in a while someone slinks along the ground prostrating themselves on the way to another temple. There's a bunch yellow baseball capped, middle class Chinese kowtowing, throwing money and taking cell phone pictures. It's basically a tourist trap for the Buddha inclined. But somehow it remains untouched- I mean this is a country well known for religious intolerance and here off the coast of Shanghai - nothing but religion... and well endowed religion. Tons of RMB has gone into the preservation and maintenance of such an elaborate system of temples. It seems that now that China has $ - people need to feel good about themselves and so- give it to the temple. Here in Putuoshan one can receive a special ceremony intended to bring them good luck, longevity, and whatever floats your boat for a 1000RMB fee. Monks with MP3 players hanging from their necks compare cell phones while on breaks from tourist minding... Buddhism reemerges again ala Chinese contemporary style.
