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China: One Country, Three Pavilions
Every two years, the art world gets a vivid reminder of China's complex sovereignty issues and ongoing identity concerns—in the form of three separate pavilions at the Venice Biennale.
Breaking Out in Shanghai
Chen Tianzhuo is a 28-year-old known for bright cartoonish drawings and absurdist assemblages involving components like shark jaws and a French horn, a monkey skull and instant noodles. Peng Xiaojia, age 58, is sculptor whose works range from naturalistic female nudes to slightly menacing semi-abstractions. What do they have in common? Both are "emerging" Chinese artists with recent museum exposure in Shanghai. Yet they exemplify not only esthetic and generational differences but two starkly contrasting approaches to gaining fame in China's jostling, overcrowded art scene. Read More
Zhang Xiaogang's Surprise Sculptures
Zhang Xiaogang, for over two decades China's most critically celebrated and highest earning contemporary oil painter, is about to reveal a surprise move into sculpture. Opening Mar. 28 at two Pace Gallery locations in Chelsea (508 and 510 West 25th Street; through Apr. 27), his solo will include four new canvases depicting—in his usual large-scale, deadpan style—the type of domestic scenes and objects for which he is famous.
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June Yap's Asia
The Guggenheim Museum, ever globally ambitious, is currently presenting "No Country: Contemporary Art for Southeast Asia" (through May 22), featuring 22 artists and collectives selected by the Singapore-born curator June Yap. Representing 10 nations often neglected by Western institutions (Bangladesh, Myanmar, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, India, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam), the show is the first phase of a multi-year project launched in collaboration with the financial powerhouse Union Bank of Switzerland. The Guggenheim UBS Map Global Art Initiative charts contemporary art in three developing regions—South and Southeast Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East and North Africa. In addition to exhibitions, curatorial residencies and educational programs, the project includes purchase of the exhibited works for the Guggenheim's permanent collection.
TEFAF Targets China
The European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF), the highly selective--and lucrative--organization that holds a 10-day marketing fest annually in Maastricht, the Netherlands, is the latest Western art enterprise to dream of cashing in big in China. Yesterday it announced plans to undertake a joint venture with the international auction house Sotheby's and its Chinese partner, the state-affiliated GeHua Cultural Development Group. If all goes well, the first TEFAF Beijing would take place in 2014. Read More
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2012, aluminum, wood, sublimation print on polyester and concrete, 71 3/4 by 122 1/2 by 135 inches overall. Courtesy Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New Yor
