Zhang Jian Zhong - A Life in Art 張建中 - 藝術人生

"Tough Choices Are Not Over for Chinese Art"
Zhang Jianzhong
Fine Arts in China (1), 1989
translated by Dennis Mair

The tempestuous upsurge of recent years has brought change and excitement to the art world, what with the "new wave" and issues of crisis, development, and discontinuity. Now it seems we have moved from much "re-thinking" to a low ebb. Some say that art has entered the "difficult stage that follows the making of choices." The difficulty is a fact, but the choices are not over yet.

Looking at trends of thought in art we find that three sorts of coexistence are in fragile condition:

(A) Classical, traditional, and regional art have proven their social suitability and are steadily gaining ground. They are at the stage of broad popularization among the masses of people, and are accepted as the most basic way to raise the cultural level of ordinary people. It is not true that they are "fading away after repeated attacks."

(B) Modern art with its various schools has been popularized in developed countries, while here it appears in the guise of the "new wave." although it has "charged bravely ahead" for several years, in terms of effects it is still suited to only a small segment of society. It manages to expand itself, but is in a state of considerable instability. In the present "low cultural ebb," it seems to have entered a dormant period. In the ancient land of china, modern art stands at the first stage of first beginnings.

(C) Post-modernist art currents are identified to some extent (because they are not so intensely anti-traditional), but their social suitability is miniscule. In the current multi-level confusion, they are largely left to sink or swim for themselves.

This shows that the mere co-existence of intellectual trends is a far cry from pluralistic co-existence found in developed countries. What some people hailed as an "expressway interchange" of co-existent forms has not really taken shape. Given the lack of material means and tolerant thinking in this situation, there is increasing antagonism between new ideas on the one hand and a strong traditionalist mind-set on the other. The variable function and status of artworks in society can be characterized in the following five ways:

(1) "Works of art" (traditional, academic, refined) begin from a given position and steadily work for higher achievement. Some think they carry the cause of art forward, while others see them as "lapses in the advance of art."

(2) "New wave paintings" (various new trends in painting contrary to "(1)" which challenge the old aesthetic standards) are developing with extreme unsteadiness and disequilibrium. These new people and new works, springing up like bamboo shoots, strike few responsive chords with collectors and are not accepted by the masses. At home their works find no buyers, and abroad it sells for low prices. They get positive comments for their "brave self-sacrifice" and their effect on the history of art, but since fame runs contrary to material benefit, their representative figures and groups either change direction or quickly disappear. Nevertheless, is it not a law of development that things go from their lowest ebb to ascendancy?

(3) "Commercial paintings" (popular art aimed at ordinary tastes) have risen out of nothing. Numbers of people who are engaged in it, and who it appeals to, are large. Ordinary people whose finances are improving need works of art to beautify their setting. The early stage of a market has formed around this sort of art, with "painting and calligraphy streets" appearing everywhere throughout the country.

(4) "publicity materials," including the scientific, technological, and commercial, have developed rapidly with changes in the economy, while propaganda fell to its lowest slump since the founding of the people's republic, with a slight rise again recently.

(5) "Folk paintings" are developing steadily, with much attention given to them by artists at home and abroad. Academic respectability and relevance enter in as artists of high caliber devote themselves to it. "Folk art" has gained a new, exuberant vitality.

Reform and openness to the world has brought unprecedented prosperity to the arts, but the rate at which new artists and styles appear has outpaced the development of artistic quality. Painters of the older generation are decreasing each year, and middle-aged painters have difficulty realizing their aims as they cope with national and family matters. Younger painters are perplexed intellectually and in difficult straits economically. There is a remarkable contrast between the "aristocratic" pursuit of art and poverty in material life. As they brandish their painting brushes and hum the popular song "nothing to my name," (2) they naturally use art to vent their spiritual crisis over the meaninglessness of being and human life.

Overseas, people hail the advance of fine arts in china because one or two painters have sold works for several hundred thousand Yuan. After analyzing the circumstances of Chinese arts in the United States and concluding that its commercial value is higher than its academic worth, an American art historian said, "Chinese art cannot enter into world art unless painters appear whose works are new and gripping, whose aesthetic ideal is higher than their economic goals. Only then can international art circles pay attention to contemporary Chinese art." (Fine arts, January 1989)

This confirms the unforgiving fact that the old structures and patterns of art in our country are faced with a new challenge.

Looking at the artist himself, it is the individual who creates, and who surpasses himself as well. Each individual artist in himself is an artistic path - a never ending path. only an artist who looks at macrocosmic perspectives of history and does his best to contribute to the advances in man's spiritual civilization can prove the meaning of his being with the fruit of his own labor - with artworks made out of countless choices.

The way is endless; the making of choices can never end.

Notes:

1 Fine Arts in China was China's first independent and free arts periodical. It was shut down in the months following the crackdown in Tiananmen Square, 1989.
2 "Nothing to My Name" (一无所有) was the seminal hit song by the Chinese rock music legend, Cui Jian, which made Cui a pop culture icon nearly overnight.