M50 used to be a factory, and was renamed in 2002. Today, it becomes one of the symbolic areas in Shanghai. Located on the south bank of the Suzhou Creek, it attracts the artists from all over the world. For the past, I know little but its present look helps me trace back to the last century. It is true that we can easily find many active galleries there , with good reputation in China, such as “Bizart” , “Shanghart”. “Eastlink” etc. Maybe it can be called a palace for creative artists.
Unlike the other galleries, most of the workshops there were buildings used as a factory. Each time I entered into is enveloped in a shroud of mystery. No matter the theme is painting ,sculpture , or other creations, the tall building and large hall can be served as a special background.
Quite a lot of works that I saw that day were a bit abstract ,which profound meaning is hardly to understand. Just with some characters, a simple carriage wants to recall what? Easy life? Past time? Or something else? I was lost! Contemporary art always embodies the spirit of the time, after a period of confusion , I thought that maybe the process we looked for the clues was more important than what the artists want to express.
The video presented that day was really impressing! 10 years ago ,just 10 years ago , the art industry in Shanghai was almost undeveloped . All the people were curious about the art products and confused about their usages. And the exhibitions were far away from what we see today. That’s why many artists are trying their best to document all changes in our daily life, using every possible means to remind us with the past and inspire us to the future as well. !10 years later, the surroundings that we are familiar with will totally be replaced by something new. Every day is a new day, if I were an artist , it will be an everlasting theme for my creations. Fantastic, isn’t it ?
Next, I want to talk about the Shanghart since I liked the creations there, especially the old scriptures created by Wei Guangqing. He is good at using the red wall as a visual motif that encourages the viewer to reconsider familiar narratives and styles of images. For example, Sun Tzu The Art of War, he transferred these treatises and rules of war into a cultural symbols as decorative backgrounds, intending to emphasize the new and complicated relations within globalization between China and the rest of the International Community, as the instruction says. For me, I really appreciate his usage of the color red and the light color used is The Zhu Family Instructions. The Zhu Family Instructions have greatly influenced many generations, including many golden words that even useful now. In the modern, whether we are still stick to those rules? A big question mark, I think.
M50 is worth visiting not only for those galleries of different styles but also for the area itself. The whole area with the artists contribute to its charming. Although it is a bit earlier to compare it with those along the Seine in Paris, never forget every day is a new day! The future of M50 ,like the creative industry itself, is beyond imagination and description ……
1 comment:
The video is sure something! It's amazing that that was 10 years ago. The "industry" if you want to call it that, simply didn't exist in the public eye then and now it has it's own area of town. I guess that just goes hand in hand with how China is developing as a whole (CRAZY FAST).
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