August 29 – August 31, 2019

Government Sponsor
The 7th Beijing People Beneficial Consumption Season Organizing Committee Office, National Cultural Industrial Investment Co., Ltd.

Organizer
Beijing Contemporary Art Expo

Curator
Bao Dong

Location
Beijing National Agricultural Exhibition Center

35 years of age seems to be the conventional benchmark for distinguishing young artists from the mature ones. In 2019, any 35-year-old artist whose birth in 1984 eclipsed the height of an artistic reform in China, known as the ’85 New Wave Art Movement. The ’85 Art Movement, also known as the ’85 New Wave, is defined as the first nationwide avant-garde art movement in Chinese modern art history, in spite of the varying details among the existing narratives and literatures. A fact that is often overlooked or forgotten is that the main driving force of the ’85 Art Movement consisted of young people.Artists who were under the age of 35 made up 92.6% of the overall participants. Parallel to this movement, the period from 2008 to the present has also been a phase of young and emerging artists, and a time when young artist collectives, groups, solo exhibitions, group exhibitions, competitions, and awards erupted. Although this time period may not be considered an art movement but would certainly constitute a phenomenon. The artists who participated in the ’85 New Wave were at the time college students from the classes of ’77 and ’78 after the college entrance exam was restored. An artist who was born in 1984, would have been 24 years old in 2008, who might have just graduated from college. With regards to age, the artists who were active in the ’85 period are exactly one generation older than those who were born in the 1980s. In fact, many of those who were born after 1985 are the children or students of the former generation. With regards to historical context, both generations underwent tremendous political, economic and cultural transformations.

The former experienced a seismic period of internal reforms, intellectual emancipations consequential to the nation’s reopening and stepping onto the international stage, while the latter lives in the epoch of China’s rising to power globally, marked by Beijing’s hosting of the 2008 Olympic Games, as some scholars refer to this period as the “post-Olympic era”. Both of these periods bore witness to China’s critical leaps forward since 1949, while differentiated by the contexts of their emergence. Most of all, China in the 1980s had not built a strong subjective conscience politically or culturally as the nation carried out its trial-and-error reforms, whereas in the post-2008 period, China has gradually amassed an abundance of self-confidence in terms of politics and culture, who planned to further its pursuits. The difference in subjective conscience determines the most apparent variable between these two generations, and is manifested through their relationship and attitude towards the international, the local and the artistic system. Since the economic reforms, the young artists active in the ’85 period were the first generation who came into contact with the West, who were immediately confronted with the discursive conflict between the modern and the avant-garde.Either drawing resources visually or intellectually, learning from the West was many people’s first priority. Over a short few years, Chinese artists have quickly devoured nearly one hundred years of Western art history starting from postimpressionism to conceptual art.For this reason, artistic practices in the ’85 New Wave showed compelling traces of imitation and learning from the Western masters. Meanwhile, most artists vehemently rejected the academic and traditional art forms, whose distinctive focus went hand in hand with apparent dependence.

On this forked path of learning from the West and rejecting artistic traditions, the artists were inclined to express their thoughts and individualities, yet their ways of adopting the artistic language and methodology were unsophisticated,resulting in grandiose ideas larger than its art form, or unmatched artist’s manifesto to the actual works of art. On the other hand, these new artistic concepts and experiments did not necessarily gain the support from the former system, neither had they shaped into a new artistic social system. For these reasons, the artists and theoretician often adopted heroic dispositions. In sum, the art of the ’85 period developed and concluded on the ground of romanticism and grassroots social organization. The ’85 Art Movement has had a tremendous impact on the development of artistic practices. First, it rapidly renewed artistic concepts on an unprecedented scale, allowing Chinese artist to stand in the same historical vision and discourse as their western contemporaries. After the 1980s, the notion of “contemporary art” was established in China. Second, having participated in this movement, many artists began to reflect on their approach to artistic language and methodology, who later became the driving force in contemporary art in China. They have built a tradition of their own for contemporary art, which has been integrated into the academic educations, that becomes the new beginning for the next generations of artists. Comparing to the 1980s artists, those born from the mid-80s to the mid-90s confront rather different historical conditions. One, the formation of the artistic system. In the new millennium, especially in 2005, the art market erupted in China. Contemporary artists are no longer a minority or on the periphery. Being an artist has become a profession that merely sought out the pursuit of one’s spirituality. Thereafter, the emergence of art museums, art galleries, auction houses, art media, and art fairs gradually contributes to the effectiveness of this art ecology. Hence, it is proven that it is not difficult for recent graduates to become an artist or art professional in this system. And as the system matures, “romantic disposition” and “grassroots spirit” would lost their footing, to make way for the more professional and collaborative work models.

These approaches have also been internalized in the young artists’ practices, for instance, research, and serial oriented practice have become mainstream, at the same time, young artists have fallen into the differential sequence between knowledge and taste. Two, China’s rising in a global context has become a reality. The post-85 generation matured in parallel to the process of globalization. For them, to be connected internationally (with the West) is a given, rather than an aspiration. Many artists have the experience of studying abroad, some have even immigrated to live in the West and be fully participating in the global art system. Meanwhile, the Internet flattens any possible information barriers and provides the opportunity for everyone to gain the same vision of knowledge. Hence, there is little difference in how the young generation of Chinese artists conceives notions of contemporary art and adopts artistic mediums to their contemporaries in advanced western countries. In this sense, Western contemporary art is no longer the subject that young Chinese artists learn from, even the necessity to distinguish China from the West seems meaningless. Everyone has to first confront one’s personal experiences and issues in the art world. With a deeper understanding of the West, many young artists began to return to the studies of one’s histories, culture, and interests in the global context.

Other than these changes in the work approach and cultural attitude under these two contexts, a series of transformations has been prevalent with regards to artistic medium, subjects and subject matter, partially as a result of social transformations. For instance, there has been an increase in the number of artworks of moving-images, internet culture, technology, and sci-fi. However, for the discussion of this generation of artists, one should not conceive them as a whole, in fact, the intra-generational differences in terms of class, gender, urban/countryside, and regions are often greater than the inter-generational ones. These internal diversities are likely to account for their different approaches to interactions and modes of the organization from the more centralized models such as collectives and manifestos in the ’85 New Wave period. Furthermore, this generation is not inclined to selfhistoricize. Hence, the overall discussion and definition of this new generation of artists should be carried out with caution. Any generation would define themselves by their approach, although the artists born after 1985 may be less concerned with the grand notion of the epoch, yet they are undeniably living on the scene of a grand historical moment. At which, no matter what attitude and approach the individual chooses, the novelty of contemporary Chinese art is a manifestation of these countless individuals.35 years of age seems to be the conventional benchmark for distinguishing young artists from the mature ones. In 2019, any 35-year-old artist whose birth in 1984 eclipsed the height of an artistic reform in China, known as the ’85 New Wave Art Movement. The ’85 Art Movement, also known as the ’85 New Wave, is defined as the first nationwide avant-garde art movement in Chinese modern art history, in spite of the varying details among the existing narratives and literatures. A fact that is often overlooked or forgotten is that the main driving force of the ’85 Art Movement consisted of young people.Artists who were under the age of 35 made up 92.6% of the overall participants. Parallel to this movement, the period from 2008 to the present has also been a phase of young and emerging artists, and a time when young artist collectives, groups, solo exhibitions, group exhibitions, competitions, and awards erupted. Although this time period may not be considered an art movement but would certainly constitute a phenomenon. The artists who participated in the ’85 New Wave were at the time college students from the classes of ’77 and ’78 after the college entrance exam was restored. An artist who was born in 1984, would have been 24 years old in 2008, who might have just graduated from college. With regards to age, the artists who were active in the ’85 period are exactly one generation older than those who were born in the 1980s. In fact, many of those who were born after 1985 are the children or students of the former generation. With regards to historical context, both generations underwent tremendous political, economic and cultural transformations.

The former experienced a seismic period of internal reforms, intellectual emancipations consequential to the nation’s reopening and stepping onto the international stage, while the latter lives in the epoch of China’s rising to power globally, marked by Beijing’s hosting of the 2008 Olympic Games, as some scholars refer to this period as the “post-Olympic era”. Both of these periods bore witness to China’s critical leaps forward since 1949, while differentiated by the contexts of their emergence. Most of all, China in the 1980s had not built a strong subjective conscience politically or culturally as the nation carried out its trial-and-error reforms, whereas in the post-2008 period, China has gradually amassed an abundance of self-confidence in terms of politics and culture, who planned to further its pursuits. The difference in subjective conscience determines the most apparent variable between these two generations, and is manifested through their relationship and attitude towards the international, the local and the artistic system. Since the economic reforms, the young artists active in the ’85 period were the first generation who came into contact with the West, who were immediately confronted with the discursive conflict between the modern and the avant-garde.Either drawing resources visually or intellectually, learning from the West was many people’s first priority. Over a short few years, Chinese artists have quickly devoured nearly one hundred years of Western art history starting from postimpressionism to conceptual art.For this reason, artistic practices in the ’85 New Wave showed compelling traces of imitation and learning from the Western masters. Meanwhile, most artists vehemently rejected the academic and traditional art forms, whose distinctive focus went hand in hand with apparent dependence.

On this forked path of learning from the West and rejecting artistic traditions, the artists were inclined to express their thoughts and individualities, yet their ways of adopting the artistic language and methodology were unsophisticated,resulting in grandiose ideas larger than its art form, or unmatched artist’s manifesto to the actual works of art. On the other hand, these new artistic concepts and experiments did not necessarily gain the support from the former system, neither had they shaped into a new artistic social system. For these reasons, the artists and theoretician often adopted heroic dispositions. In sum, the art of the ’85 period developed and concluded on the ground of romanticism and grassroots social organization. The ’85 Art Movement has had a tremendous impact on the development of artistic practices. First, it rapidly renewed artistic concepts on an unprecedented scale, allowing Chinese artist to stand in the same historical vision and discourse as their western contemporaries. After the 1980s, the notion of “contemporary art” was established in China. Second, having participated in this movement, many artists began to reflect on their approach to artistic language and methodology, who later became the driving force in contemporary art in China. They have built a tradition of their own for contemporary art, which has been integrated into the academic educations, that becomes the new beginning for the next generations of artists. Comparing to the 1980s artists, those born from the mid-80s to the mid-90s confront rather different historical conditions. One, the formation of the artistic system. In the new millennium, especially in 2005, the art market erupted in China. Contemporary artists are no longer a minority or on the periphery. Being an artist has become a profession that merely sought out the pursuit of one’s spirituality. Thereafter, the emergence of art museums, art galleries, auction houses, art media, and art fairs gradually contributes to the effectiveness of this art ecology. Hence, it is proven that it is not difficult for recent graduates to become an artist or art professional in this system. And as the system matures, “romantic disposition” and “grassroots spirit” would lost their footing, to make way for the more professional and collaborative work models.

These approaches have also been internalized in the young artists’ practices, for instance, research, and serial oriented practice have become mainstream, at the same time, young artists have fallen into the differential sequence between knowledge and taste. Two, China’s rising in a global context has become a reality. The post-85 generation matured in parallel to the process of globalization. For them, to be connected internationally (with the West) is a given, rather than an aspiration. Many artists have the experience of studying abroad, some have even immigrated to live in the West and be fully participating in the global art system. Meanwhile, the Internet flattens any possible information barriers and provides the opportunity for everyone to gain the same vision of knowledge. Hence, there is little difference in how the young generation of Chinese artists conceives notions of contemporary art and adopts artistic mediums to their contemporaries in advanced western countries. In this sense, Western contemporary art is no longer the subject that young Chinese artists learn from, even the necessity to distinguish China from the West seems meaningless. Everyone has to first confront one’s personal experiences and issues in the art world. With a deeper understanding of the West, many young artists began to return to the studies of one’s histories, culture, and interests in the global context.

Other than these changes in the work approach and cultural attitude under these two contexts, a series of transformations has been prevalent with regards to artistic medium, subjects and subject matter, partially as a result of social transformations. For instance, there has been an increase in the number of artworks of moving-images, internet culture, technology, and sci-fi. However, for the discussion of this generation of artists, one should not conceive them as a whole, in fact, the intra-generational differences in terms of class, gender, urban/countryside, and regions are often greater than the inter-generational ones. These internal diversities are likely to account for their different approaches to interactions and modes of the organization from the more centralized models such as collectives and manifestos in the ’85 New Wave period. Furthermore, this generation is not inclined to selfhistoricize. Hence, the overall discussion and definition of this new generation of artists should be carried out with caution. Any generation would define themselves by their approach, although the artists born after 1985 may be less concerned with the grand notion of the epoch, yet they are undeniably living on the scene of a grand historical moment. At which, no matter what attitude and approach the individual chooses, the novelty of contemporary Chinese art is a manifestation of these countless individuals.