Coming Exhibition

Coming Exhibition: Future Returns

“Future Returns: Contemporary Art from China”

08 Jin Yangping, “The Mirror of City No.1”, oil on canvas, 200 x 265 cm, 2011

Who:

Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum

Michigan State University

When: Oct. 28, 2014 – March 8, 2015 (Hours Vary)

Where:

Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum
547 East Circle Drive
East Lansing, Michigan 48824

More Information: Here and Here.

Over the past three decades China has experienced profound socioeconomic changes that have prompted calls to revisit, reconsider, and redefine the nation’s identity. Although there remains a strong local understanding of Chinese history and heritage, the homogenization of the country’s urban geography and the rapid dissipation of rural life have dramatically altered the cultural landscape. Future Returns: Contemporary Art from China explores the impact of these transformations by bringing together works by contemporary Chinese artists that address China’s metamorphosis from a traditional society into an ultra-modern nation-state.

The pertinent question in today’s China is whether the country’s distinct traditions and values can continue to play a role in its development. The future of China cannot be predicted, yet the psychology of “change, change, change” that pervades the everyday lives of the Chinese allows for a multitude of possibilities. Only in the pursuit of these new potentialities will China be able to build on its distinctive culture. The focused selection of paintings, photographs, installations, and digital art in this exhibition showcases the vision of both emergent and established practitioners who have contributed to China’s celebrated artistic community. Through their works, Future Returns highlights the emergence of a new China, one that is not constrained by closed readings of the past.

Artists and filmmakers featured in the exhibition include: Chen Weiqun, Dong Jun, Geng Yi, He Yunchang, Jiang Ji An, Jin Yangping, Jizi, Li Junhu, Lin Xin, Liu Lining, Meng Baishen, Miao Xiaochun, Pei Li, Qu Yan, Sui Jianguo, Su Xinping, Tian Bo, Wang Chuan, Wang Huangsheng, Wang Yang, Xia Xiaowan, Xu Bing, Zhang Yanfeng, Zhou Gang, and Zhou Qinshan.

Coming Exhibition: Collecting Asian Objects in Colonial Korea, 1910-1945

“Collecting Asian Objects in Colonial Korea, 1910-1945”

Lady riding a horse, Astana Tombs, Turpan, 7th-8th century, color on clay, 38.5cm high.

Who:

National Museum of Korea

When: Oct. 28, 2014 – January 11, 2015 (Hours Vary)

Where:

National Museum of Korea
137, Seoubinggo-ro (168-6, Yongsan-dong 6-ga)
Yongsan-gu, Seoul 140-797

More Information: Here and Here.

In the late nineteenth century, as Western powers expanded deeper into Asia, the cultures of the East were eagerly commodified to satisfy westerners’ penchant for the exotic. Tomb thefts were just as prevalent as legitimate archeological investigations. With the concurrent boom in the antique market, the acquired artifacts were smoothly incorporated into the category of ‘fine arts’.
At the center of this movement were museums established through the emergence of modern states. Korea, however, was unable to play a leading role in the current of this era. At the time, Japan regarded itself as the only civilized country in Asia, and thus the only country capable of leading the primitive East into modern civilization. Based on this belief, Japan re-interpreted the histories of other Asian countries from its own perspective and attempted to promote these historical revisions through museums.
Notably, the so-called cultural assets collected in museums at that time originated from all across Asia, ranging from Central Asia to China and Japan. Why did Japan collect cultural assets from other Asian countries under its colonial rule? This exhibition represents the first step of a long journey that will yield both a question and a corresponding answer about our museum’s collection of Asian cultural assets and its origins.

Coming Exhibition: Art Basel ~ Shanghai Art Fair

“Shanghai Art Fair”

Who: Shanghai Art Fair (Various Exhibitors)

When: Nov. 13, 2014 – Nov. 15, 2014 (View Hours Here)

Where:

ShanhaiMart
99, Xingyi Rd.
Shanghai, China

How Much: 50 Yuan

More Information: Here

Shanghai Art Fair 2014 (18th), as Aisa’s celebrated art exchange with long history and high internationalization degree, will be grandly held from Nov.13-16 at ShanghaiMART, continuing the scale as before, presenting domestic and overseas collectors a gorgeous art event in Shanghai as well.
Shanghai Art Fair, established in 1997, has been successfully held under the support of Saulterretimized art event, which not only bridged the gap between worldwide and Shanghai, public and art, but also shaped a paradigm for the domestic art fairs.
More than 20 countries and areas’ art galleries, organizations, agencies participated in this lively art exchange during the past dozen years. Many original artworks from the world-class masters, such as Picasso, Rembrandt, Chagall, Dali, Renoir, Monet, Zhu Dequn, Qi Baishi, Xu Beihong, Zhang Daqian, made the debut in China or Asia through the great stage established by Shanghai Art Fair. Number of spectators was around 60000 persons, turnover of 2013 exceeded one hundred and forty million yuan. Meanwhile, Shanghai art Fair creates a proud history of the transaction:
SAF 2000: The most spectacular one is Rodin”s sculpture called, The Thinker, brought by Sayegh Gallery (France), which was purchased at the price of $1,000,000 by Pudong Lianyang Land Development Company and set in Shanghai forever. This has been the biggest overseas transaction in Shanghai Art Fair.
SAF 2002: Another sculpture, called Cesar”s Thumb, was collected at the price of 2,600,000 RMB by Shanghai Zendai Group.
SAF 2003: One of Zhang Daqian”s paintings was sold at 5,500,000 RMB, which became the highlight of the fair.
SAF 2007: Saulterre’s “Series of Angel” was collected by Jing’an Sculpture Park at a high price…
Peter Denger, the famous curator of Basel Art Fair which is called Olympic in art, once gave Shanghai Art Fair a high rating “It”s a great international art fair with bright future”.

Han relics on show in Paris

by Lin Qi via “China Daily“

Valuable Chinese relics are to be exhibited in France, giving European visitors a glimpse ofthe rich traditions of the Han Dynasty. Lin Qi reports. It is probably the largest exhibition of Chinese relics outside thecountry. Curators describe it as “an unrivaled show” as itexplains why the majority of Chinese are called the Han peopleand why they speak the language of Han people and write Hancharacters. The exhibition, Han Dynasty, will open at the MuseeGuimet in Paris in October, and will display about 457 artifactsthat bear testimony to the dynamism of the Middle Kingdom.

The exhibition, which celebrates the 50th anniversary of theSino-French diplomatic relations, will present a retrospective ofthe Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220), the empire that hadprofound and long-lasting influences on Chinese history.Antiquities, including dozens of national grade one collections,are on loan from 27 Chinese museums and cultural institutions.They provide various perspectives on the dynasty’sadministration system, its agriculture, its alliances with borderingcountries and the start of Silk Road through which itcommunicated with the West.

“The exhibition will demonstrate the most complete and beautifulgems of the Han Dynasty, helping people to understand the foundation of Chinesecivilization,” says Sophie Makariou, director of the Musee Guimet.

“One of the highlights of the exhibition is the juxtaposition of archaeological discoveries made over the past five decades,which continue to renovate Chinese archaeology.”

These breakthroughs have been largely achieved during burial excavations, with the objectsfound revealing the relationship between emperors and feudal princes. Terracotta warriorsare some of the best examples of the imperial power, which come from the mausoleum of LiuQi (188-141 BC), the empire’s fourth emperor, which has been turned into a museum in Xi’an.Visitors will also see lamps and incense burners from the tomb of Liu Sheng (165-113 BC),son of Liu Qi and titled Prince Jing of Zhongshan. . . . .

Coming Exhibition: Loving Devotion: Enter the Mandala

“Enter the Mandala”

“Taima Mandala” (1300s – 1400s)

Who: Asian Art Museum

When: Mar. 14, 2014 – Oct. 26, 2014 (Tues-Sun. 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.; Thurs. 10 a.m. – 9 pm.)

Where:

Asian Art Museum
200 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA

How Much:

Adults ~ $15
Seniors, Students, Youth ~ $10

More Information: Here.

“Mandalas are maps of Buddhist visionary worlds.

Minutely detailed and saturated with philosophical meaning, these works (most often paintings or sculptures) are a feast for the eyes and the mind—nested squares and circles are arrayed to represent the center of the cosmos and the four cardinal directions. For Buddhist practitioners, however, mandalas are not just images to view, but worlds to enter—after recreating the image in their mind’s eye, meditators imaginatively enter its realm.But is it possible to have this experience without years of meditative discipline?

Enter the Mandala says yes. In this exhibition, 14th-century paintings align a gallery with the cardinal directions, transforming open space into an architectural mandala—a chance to experience the images in three dimensions, to dwell in the midst of the cosmic symbols and be transported to another world. Visitors can literally “enter the mandala,” exploring places in the cosmos—and perhaps themselves—that might otherwise remain invisible. “