Inside Out: New Chinese Art

Rating:
Summary: new = mid-eighties onward
Review: This catalog presents a wide range of 'new' Chinese art (1985 onward). Some of it may be familiar to readers only casually acquainted with Chinese art, but most of it will not. In fact, even gallery goats are likely to find much new material. They have included the hanging scrolls (Zoon) of Huang Chih-Yang, the rouged, flower biting comrade by Li Shan, Fang Lijun's rage against conformity (the Chinese version of Munch's Howl), and Zhang Yu's elegant meditation. They have also selected pieces that look like rock album covers from the sixties, several more that express current turbulant feelings about Mao and his legacy, and many others that show this developing nation is growing up quickly...perhaps too quickly for its own psychic good. There are several essays to provide background and cultural context, but frankly, they're a bit lengthy and repetitive. This collection is certainly worth a look, but for every piece likely to raise an eyebrow and draw you in, there will be two that are quite forgettable.