Xu Bing. Book From the Sky1987-91
Mixed media installation / Hand-printed books and scrolls printed from blocks inscribed with ”false” characters.
Huang Yong Ping The History of Chinese Painting and a Concise History of Modern Painting Washed in a Washing Machine for Two Minutes
1987-1993
Chinese teabox, paper pulp, glass
In the art world there are few genres as hot as Contemporary Chinese Art and in Chinese Contemporary Art there are few objects as important as the book.
The quote above from Liu Yi begins Wu Hung’s introduction to the catalog of the seminal exhibition Shu: Reinventing Books in Contemporary Chinese Art which he curated for the China Institute and which is currently on view, albeit in a condensed form at the Seattle Asian Art Museum.
through December 2.
Hung, who also curates the exhibit, is the Harriet H. Vanderstappen Distinguished Service Professor of Art History, East Asian Languages & Civilizations at the University of Chicago, and his introduction is a must read for those who want to understand the importance of the book in Chinese cultural.
The exhibit is a who’s who of Contemporary Chinese Art featuring over 20 artists, and their “book-related experiments,” including work by Xu Bing, Cai Guo-Qiang, Huang Yong Ping, Song Dong, Hong Hao and Wenda Gu.
Many pieces are inspired by the traditional book materials like calligraphy, paper and ink, all essential materials of Chinese culture, and many are reactions to the power and potential danger inherent in the book object.
There is simply too much great stuff here to cover in one post. The two images included here are considered masterworks of the genre. Both began in the late 1980’s as Cultural Revolution was fading. Neither artist still lives in China.
The curator Wu Hung will be a giving a talk at the Seattle Asian Art Museum this Thursday.
If you live anywhere near Seattle the exhibit is worth a visit.
Video of Wu Hung’s talk about the exhibit at the China Institute
Review of exhibition by Bridget L Goodbody in the New York Times; Defending the Printed Page as the New China Stirred
Book Patrol will feature other artists whose book works appear in the exhibition in the coming weeks