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Chinese Art and the
Global Wave By Himanshu Bhatt
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(Native art in China is being confronted to remain relevant in a modern society rushing to open up to the outside world. Visiting Beijing-based artist Chen Luo Jia discusses this acute problem with Himanshu Bhatt.) -------------------------------- In 1980, Beijing's Central Academy of Fine Arts was forced to close down a new educational stream offering traditional arts courses for students, due to lack of interest. The event may well have marked the beginning of a massive wave to hit China's metropolitan communities as the country first opened itself to the outside world. Fed on doses on Hollywood movies, western entertainment and modern media culture, urban youngsters in China have over the last few decades become generally bent towards venerating the West than their own roots. This phenomenon shared by other Asian societies in an increasingly globalised world, has inevitably affected the art scene in China. Personally I feel art in China is now too commercialised, said Beijing-based art historian Chen Luo Jia during a working visit to Malaysia. A lot of people prefer to go along with new fashions and trends. This is a serious problem now in China.? Art should represent the individual's inner spirit. As a woman myself I try to relate with my inner self.? Now the situation is that most people are following the tastes of the West, she said. This is very much caused by the fact that many buyers are from western countries.? Chen, who is 57, is the secretary-general of the Chinese branch of the International Women Artist Council, which has been engaged to organise the women art exhibition for the 2008 Beijing Olympiad. A veteran artist herself, Chen is determined that her own creative output be brought about by her natural inclinations rather than by undue pressure to tag along with latest vogues. Chen, whose visit to Penang was organised by Xiao En Cultural Foundation and the Europe Asia Institute, gave her views while preparing her exhibition of watercolour paintings at the Galeri Art Point here. A native of Chongqing city, Chen teaches art history, aesthetics and design in Northern Jiaotong University in Beijing. She has written books on Western art history, 20th century Italian culture and introduction to art for students. Interestingly, Chen teaches art to students of engineering and architecture at the university. When the students come to my class, they seem to know more about Western architecture than Chinese.? This modern preoccupation with the West over local native craft and knowledge is visible when one sees new buildings that have come up in China's cities. There is very little consideration for aesthetics in modern buildings,?she lamented. In architecture today, the taste of our culture and knowledge of our heritage are lacking.? So I see my role to make them become aware of both worlds.? Many youngsters even get absorbed into painting places and subjects that the Western market perceives to be Exotic?and appealing. For example, local artists have recently taken to making paintings of the Hu-thong??the picturesque network of old lanes surrounding Beijing's Imperial Palace ?because the area has become popular among foreign tourists and is today lined with pubs and hostels. But not all the fads are necessarily Western; some have emerged from within China, mostly out of commercial influences. Ironically enough, it is this very western influence that has helped open up and generate interest for women artists to emerge in China. Traditionally, China is not known to produce women artists,? Chen said. the woman's voice in China is quite weak, but this situation is improving.? The media is now quite interested in women抯 issues. Maybe this is because it is world trend.? There are, Chen admitted, Chinese artists who are original in expression. But their numbers pale in comparison to the plethora of trend followers inundating the art scene. An interesting outcome of it all has been a strong conservationist movement to re-ignite Chinese aesthetic appreciation. But it remains to be seen whether the future of art in China lies in the emergence of such counteracting native influences or otherwise. |
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