Chinese New Year is almost over and galleries are open again. Although White Box Museum of Art is a new comer to the 798 art scene, their exhibitions are a definite hit or a miss. Their current exhibition is somewhere in between. It features Weng Fen also known as Weng Peijun, whose photographs have been collected by the infamous Uli Sigg.

Weng Fen’s gigantic installation critiques China’s rapid development. He uses thousands of chicken, duck and quail eggs to create this 10 by 4 meter model of a city. From a bird’s eye view the audience can see that the model city is actually growing out of a giant 100 dollar bill, one side is USD and the other side is RMB.

The phrase sitting on egg shells mirrors China’s fragile economic state. Although China’s economy is growing by over 8% a year, how long will this last? Will China’s rapid economic growth overwhelm the US?

Although I am a personal fan of the artist and his works, I think that the blue under water theme was a bit tacky. The true beauty behind the installation is the different colors of egg shells that are used. His photographs looked washed out in the blue hue.

White Box Museum of Art
Uli Sigg Majong Collection at Berkley
Weng Fen Photographs
Global Times: China’s GDP growth in 2009

In Beijing we are welcoming in the year of the TIGER. This year, Chinese New Year is the same day as Valentine’s day, the 14th of February. I am preparing my eyes and ears for the festivities. For these two weeks of national holiday, Beijing will be roaring with the sound of fireworks.

Painting by You Jin.

Most Chinese leave the cities for their home provinces to spend time with their extended families. The mass exodus has left Beijing with 1/4 of its usual population. CCTV states that there are 150 million migrant workers that leave the cities for their ancestral homes for the New Year. Thus making Chinese New Year the largest movement of people in the world.

CCTV New Years Mass Migration

The Iberia Center for Contemporary Art has put together another interesting exhibition. Asian Landmark: Toyota Art Project is an effort to bridge the gap between the corporate and cultural sectors. China’s strong economy has created a large market for luxury goods and fine art, therefore Toyota kills two birds with one stone by funding this exhibition that features several well known artists in addition to one of my personal favorites, Li Hui. This could not have happened at a better time since Toyota just issued their worldwide recall. Maybe this exhibition will garner some Chinese fans.

This futuristic, acrylic car is filled with a skeleton of a horse. The juxtaposition is a play on horsepower.

Toyota is one of many car brands that are working with Chinese contemporary artists. Last year Ferrari partnered with Lu Hao to create a limited edition 599 GTB Fiorano. A one-off of the GTB was auctioned in Beijing last fall for a whopping 1.2 million euro.

Iberia: Asian Landmark
Times: Toyota Recall
Ferrari and Lu Hao
Forbes:China’s Luxury Car Lovers

January has been an extremely slow month in the Chinese contemporary art scene in Beijing. Chinese New Year is on the 14th of February and so begins the mass migration. Most Chinese will travel back to their hometowns to be with their families for one to two weeks.

In the downtime I would like to introduce Shiho Fukada a well known photojournalist. During her time in China she visited Xinjiang, an autonomous region. Her photographs allow you to see their lives without obstruction as if she is merely a fly on the wall.

Although Xinjiang is a part of China, its people, the Uyghur Muslim minority, and their culture are strikingly different from the Han Chinese. Tensions have risen since the 2008 Olympics.

The Chinese government has already begun to tear down the historical city of Kashgar to rebuild it as a tourist attraction. Shiho documents this beautiful city and its inhabitants. Sooner than later, these photographs will be all that is left.

In addition to Kashgar, she has documented the Sichuan Earthquake. The moving and very powerful series can be seen on her website.

Shiho Fukada Personal Site
TIME: Tearing Down Old Kashgar
Terror Cells Found in Kashgar

The Gao Brothers massive sculpture Miss Mao Trying to Poise Herself on the Top of Lenin’s Head is causing much debate after being unveiled to the public at the Vancouver Biennale. The 17 meter tall sculpture is the talk of the town.

Russia was known as Big Brother during the Cultural Revolution. Here is the Gao Brothers iconic Miss Mao perched upon Lenin’s Head.

Vancouver Biennale
Gao Brothers Continue to Rile the Art World with Lenin-Mao Sculpture
BCLocal News Coverage

Paris-Beijing Photo Gallery has been around since 2006, therefore they have experienced the sudden rise and fall of the Chinese contemporary art market. Withstanding the test of time, the gallery is still one of the strongest forces in 798. Their current exhibition Birthday Present featuring the artist Wen Feng does not disappoint.

Wen Feng is an established female artist in an art scene that is heavily dominated by males. Birthday Present is her third exhibition with the gallery. This exhibition showcases her new installations, each pinpointing critical issues that plague modern China.

Pollution is one of China’s most dire issues. In poor provinces, families live among the trash and sewage, without clean water. Chinese would refer to this situation as knives falling from the sky aka the worst possible situation. Here, the artist has printed photographs of desolate and polluted living conditions on knives.

For this installation, Wen Feng took screenshots of television and internet news coverage of events that occurred in China in 2008, such as the Beijing Olympics, the Sichuan earthquake and the tainted milk scandal.

Each image was printed onto a brick and the bricks were assembled to create a replica of the CCTV tower, one of the most expensive buildings ever built. If a fraction of that money was spent on building sturdy schools in Sichuan the earthquake would not have claimed over 5,000 children.

To Keep on Living targets a very serious issue. Orphans are forgotten souls in Chinese society. Orphanages are run down and constantly suffer from lack of funding. A orphan is useless to a society that enforces a strict one child policy. Google Dying Rooms, a TV documentary about Chinese State Orphanages for more information.

Paris-Beijing Photo Gallery
Oprah and Lisa Ling coverage of Dying Rooms

Alas, it is December and a slow month for the Chinese contemporary art scene in Beijing. Fortunately Pekin Fine Arts current exhibition features Bai Yiluo who is a fascinating artist because he has had no formal training; he is completely self-taught. He began his career in photography and has developed a unique style that has gained world-wide recognition. He has shown at the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Pompidou Center.

Recently the artist has moved away from his iconic photography to installations. Therefore Beijing is lucky to be graced with his new works. This giant boat over flowing with skulls takes up the first room of the exhibition.

This work is particularly spiritual. The title of the exhibition Spring to Fall is also the title of this particular work; as fall inevitably comes after summer, all life eventually comes to an end.

All of Bai Yiluo’s works draw inspiration from his personal life. He came from a small village where he was a lowly factory worker before he became an artist. This installation is a row of beautiful, refined antique chairs with common rusted farmer tools stuck inside. This juxtaposition mirrors his life.

More info on Bai Yiluo
Pekin Fine Arts

Art Basel Miami Beach is the most important art fair in the United States and she is the notorious little sister of Art Basel Switzerland. Miami Beach floods with artists, dealers, curators, celebrities and party-goers during the first week of December each year. Although the crowds were thinner than last year, there were more sales across the board at the main fair and her satellite fairs. Art Asia which is attached to SCOPE was about 1/3 of the size of last year but many galleries reported much stronger sales. In a nutshell, confidence has returned to the Chinese contemporary art market proved by fall auction totals and the results from the fair.

During the fair I worked with fine art publishers Exhibit A from New York. We offered high quality limited edition silkscreen prints of famous Chinese artists whose originals sell for over USD 100,000 like Feng Zhengjie, whose silkscreen print is featured below. Due to the affordable price of the prints we had many sales to collectors and art collecting newbies.

Below is a picture of the founders of Exhibit A with me behind their newest project with China’s infamous Sui Jianguo. This monster Made in China sculpture is going to be featured on CNN.com as the feature image for articles on Chinese commerce. These three short words basically sum up what has happened in the world in the last 2 decades.

Although there is more confidence in the market, can Chinese artists, like Zeng Fanzhi, whose Mask Series, 1996 sold in 2008 for $9.7 million USD, reach the same record breaking prices?

Art Asia Fair
SCOPE Art Fair
Art Daily report on Fall Auction results 2009

Zhang Peng is an amazing talent who is changing the face of Chinese contemporary art. Although he is a master oil painter, his photographs will haunt your memories. Photography is his therapy. The indescribable expressions of hurt and vulnerability leave the viewer unsettled, disconcerted and heavy-hearted. Yet you cannot take your eyes away from the beautiful disaster.

The world that Zhang Peng has created is truly unforgettable. I recently interviewed him for Ukranian magazine EGO. Here are some quotes from the interview:

My childhood was extremely frightening. My parents fought violently all time because we did not have enough money. When they fought I would find places to hid in the house and disappear into my mind.

The girls are everyone and me. In modern China, children are growing up faster and their lives are more complicated than my times because now China has money. Children, at a younger and younger age, are learning to love money and understand its importance.

Although he is only 28 years old he has already exhibited internationally and the work below Gui Fei has been collected by the infamous Saatchi.

The fame and the success has not changed him. Day and night he is dedicated to his craft. Although he is already well know in the art circles I want to introduce him as a dear friend.

Zhang Peng Offical Site

Breaking Forecast: 8 Key Figures of China’s New Generation of Artists opened this Tuesday the 17th at UCCA. The exhibition is funded by LVMH group the conglomerate that owns Louis Vuitton, MOET and Hennessy. This is the second time UCCA has teamed up with a fashion giant; last year Christian Dior worked with the highest grossing Chinese artists to create their blockbuster show.

UCCA chose a group of young and mid-career Chinese artists who they believe have made a significant impact on Chinese contemporary art. Although the exhibition is beautiful and grand, some of the chosen artists, in my personal opinion, are not quite fore-runners in their medium.

The main hall was quite breath-taking, literally. As you walk into UCCA the overwhelming aroma of fresh ink invades your senses. The gigantic waterfall made by artist Qiu Zhijie spouts out Chinese black ink. This ink is synonymous with Chinese painting.

This cow hide amalgamation of architectural fragments made by Liu Wei caught my attention. The work includes old relics from Buddhism, Judaism, Islam and Christianity in addition to contemporary alters of faith/power such as the US Treasury, the American-Mexican Border, Guantanamo Bay, the CCTV Tower and the GM headquarters.

This rather unsettling installation is by the infamous Sun Yuan & Peng Yu. Although the duo are highly controversial (they have used human fat, fetuses and animals in their works) they are two of the strongest conceptual artists coming out of China. This is a small representation of their world-famous work Old Persons Home which was showcased at Saatchi Gallery in London.

I would like to end with Constellation by Chun Yun. The constant and familiar hum of electrical appliances soothes your soul when you enter the pitch-black room. The blinking lights from the mundane devices (see the installation with lights on) mimic the starry night. The mundane becomes magical.

Dior + Chinese artists at UCCA
Breaking Forecast at UCCA
Sun Yuan & Peng Yu official site