Sh Contemporary Art Fair

Cori Huang
Sh Contemporary Art Fair
The Sh Contemporary Art Fair, an annual event that brings together
contemporary artwork and people from all over the world, was an
effective introduction to studying Art in Shanghai. On the ground
floor of the building were selected works in the show "DISCOVERIES:
Re-Value" which I enjoyed. I thought there was a diverse collection of
work though they all tied to this theme about exploring what value
means in contemporary art. What was interesting also was the mix of
styles and subjects in the show, ranging from recreating pop-culture
icons like Pikachu to inventing new Chinese characters from pieces of
traditional ones. I was glad to see the East Asian influences in many
of the artworks, since I often do not get to see contemporary Asian
art in the United States. However, there was also a lot of Western and
international subject matter and style in the exhibit. Yang Mao-Lin's
pieces for example were based on the story of Alice in Wonderland and
Rammy Ramsey's artwork clearly took elements from Aboriginal folk art.
On Saturday we attended a lecture "Documenting Contemporary Chinese
Art from 1980-1990" which touched on the identity of Chinese
contemporary art and how art from earlier periods obviously show an
interaction with Western art, but current Chinese artists are
continuing to produce artwork that maintains a Chinese identity. I'm
interested to see both the way globalization is affecting Chinese
contemporary art as well as what sort of art might be considered very
"Chinese."