dig dug dig: Cynical realism

“Cynical realism—it’s the intelligent man’s best excuse for doing nothing in an intolerable situation.” - Aldous Huxley

One thing fascinating about contemporary art from China is like that of a parent watching the struggles of a child as it grows to maturity. By looking at China contemporary art scene, it is also very obvious that China had and maintained academies which emphasized classical skills in oil painting. That these were use to produce socialist realist art, or propaganda posters did not prevent the skills from being transferred down the generations at high level of capability.

Today, few places in Asia remain more mysterious than China. Even in this modern age of globalization where cultural boundaries are being reduced by the march of mass media, China retains its own distinct and complex characteristics as almost no other nation. And this factor influenced the development of art in China. Many of the new collectors are willing to spend tons of money on the high landscapes of Tibet; the colourful clothing of minorities; and the elegant ladies of Shanghai.

But now, through the artist’s skillful hands, we are able to see another side of China. The first generation’s early works showed us the China we knew, and the new generation now offers us a faithful reflection of the changes which have hit China over the last twenty years.

Contemporary artists in Modern China - the individuals – who have to live with the changes of in China, in their paintings project a reflection of “grassroots” pain, uncertainty and cynicism. We can see that these painters are not “court artists” responding to direct patronage of the state or the rich and powerful. Instead, individual artist responds in different ways to the world. In this range of responses, they collectively reflect the confusion of people who have seen the old certainties destroyed, and for whom no new certainties are yet established.

Cynical realism

Cynical realism is a contemporary movement in Chinese art, especially in the form of painting, which began in the 1990s. It is an artistic trend that evolved as an aftermath of the 1989 student demonstrations in Tiananmen and the closing of the “China Avant-Garde” exhibition at the China national Gallery in Beijing. Started in Beijing, it has become the most popular Chinese modernist art movement in mainland China.

It arose through the pursuit of individual expression by Chinese artists that broke away from the collective mindset that existed since the Cultural Revolution. The major themes tend to focus on socio-political issues and events since Revolutionary China (1911) to the present. These include having a, usually humorous, cynical and post-ironic, take on a realist perspective and interpretation of transition that Chinese society has been through, from the advent of Communism to today's industrialization and modernization.

These events which symbolize the climax of the artistic aspirations that built up during the 1980’s collapsed at once and created a void that Fang Lijun, Yue Minjun and others filled with a new message full of irony and indifference to the big forces that the individual is subject to.

Fang Lijun, Yue Minjun were one of the first artists to translate this new social temperament onto the canvas. The idealism of the 1980’s gave room to a more somber and realistic understanding of the role of avant-garde art under a one party regime. Fang Lijun, Yue Minjun and the fellow artists redefined the new artistic tendencies of contemporary Chinese art in the 1990’s. The tragic events which gave birth to Cynical Realism represent a drawback in the Arts community self confidence drive to tackle serious issues in a critical eye.

Fang Lijun’s famous baldhead figure, together with Yue Minjun’s representative smiling character, has already become well known icons in the world of Chinese contemporary art. Fang Lijun's bald man with his ambiguous expression and dreamlike background of unlimited space and freedom became a symbol of the subtle mockery that one can detect in the works of the Cynical Realism artists. Yue Minjuns' art with its humor, cynicism, emphasis of strong vivid colors and the centrality of the individual also displays all the common characteristics of the movement of Cynical Realism.

Leading Artists:

1. Fang Lijun

2. Yue Minjun

3. Zhang Xiaogang

4. Zheng Fanzhi

5. Yang Shaobin

6. Guo Wei

7. Zhao Bo

Links:

http://china-avantgarde.com/index.html

http://wason.library.cornell.edu/Wen/index.php

http://www.artrealization.com/contemporary_chinese_art/movements/cynical_realism.htm