In the aftermath of Sichuan’s devastating earthquake the art world everywhere responded with warm generous altruism.
Guardian Auction in Beijing scurried together a handful of works, mostly coming directly from the artists studios, with all proceeds going to Earth Quake relief. With few exceptions (like the six print set of Liu Zheng’s mythological "Three Realms"-only an edition of 3 which sold for 500,000+RMB = more than 72,000USD (wow) to Taikang Insurance Collection - or a Huang Yongping water color painting of the Pentagon- also going for more than a water color of a living artist should to the same insurance company) most of the works weren’t the best and brightest that the artists had to offer - but still a lure for collectors and cure for Sichuan’s devastation woes.
The piece that I would’ve bought had I the money was one of Wang Xingwei’s big balloon bicycle oil paintings (appropriatley titled "Untitled") that seem to stem from some sort of pre-postmodern futuristic imaginary zone that only this goofy artist has access to. The big sale that night – though I didn’t stay because I hadn’t eaten and a friend with a hot pot full of thin slices of beef called me away – was a Cai Guo Qiang gun powder piece… that sold for truck loads of RMB.
Contemporary Chinese avant-garde aside was one symphonic piece, which lined the walls of Kerry Center’s Conference Halls (where the auction was held) was actually a combination of a dozen academic painter’s efforts. One canvas after the next formed an allegory to earthquake relief ala CCTV’s violin soaked montages that have been broadcast and rebroadcast since the tremors hit. One section shows a line of doctors taking blood from a line of donors, another canvas showed a bandaged man standing atop a crushed building, another a girl at a vigil with a candle illuminating her sad face. Here immortalized in paint are the news images that Susan Sontag (in her swan song Regarding the Pain of Others) sees as not heightening but instead diminishing our capacity to sympathize.
Guardian Auction in Beijing scurried together a handful of works, mostly coming directly from the artists studios, with all proceeds going to Earth Quake relief. With few exceptions (like the six print set of Liu Zheng’s mythological "Three Realms"-only an edition of 3 which sold for 500,000+RMB = more than 72,000USD (wow) to Taikang Insurance Collection - or a Huang Yongping water color painting of the Pentagon- also going for more than a water color of a living artist should to the same insurance company) most of the works weren’t the best and brightest that the artists had to offer - but still a lure for collectors and cure for Sichuan’s devastation woes.
The piece that I would’ve bought had I the money was one of Wang Xingwei’s big balloon bicycle oil paintings (appropriatley titled "Untitled") that seem to stem from some sort of pre-postmodern futuristic imaginary zone that only this goofy artist has access to. The big sale that night – though I didn’t stay because I hadn’t eaten and a friend with a hot pot full of thin slices of beef called me away – was a Cai Guo Qiang gun powder piece… that sold for truck loads of RMB.
Contemporary Chinese avant-garde aside was one symphonic piece, which lined the walls of Kerry Center’s Conference Halls (where the auction was held) was actually a combination of a dozen academic painter’s efforts. One canvas after the next formed an allegory to earthquake relief ala CCTV’s violin soaked montages that have been broadcast and rebroadcast since the tremors hit. One section shows a line of doctors taking blood from a line of donors, another canvas showed a bandaged man standing atop a crushed building, another a girl at a vigil with a candle illuminating her sad face. Here immortalized in paint are the news images that Susan Sontag (in her swan song Regarding the Pain of Others) sees as not heightening but instead diminishing our capacity to sympathize.
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