All posts tagged: Contemporary Art

Gunpowder & Tiger by Cai Guo-Qiang

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Cai Guo-Qiang was born in 1957 in Quanzhou, Fujian Province, China. His father, Cai Ruiqin, was a calligrapher and traditional painter who worked in a bookstore. As a result, Cai Guo-Qiang was exposed early on to Western literature as well as traditional Chinese art forms. As an adolescent and teenager, Cai witnessed the social effects of the Cultural Revolution first-hand, personally participating in demonstrations and parades himself. He grew up in a setting where explosions were common, whether they were the result of cannon blasts or celebratory fireworks. He also “saw gunpowder used in both good ways and bad, in destruction and reconstruction”. It seems that Cai has channeled his experiences and memories through his numerous gunpowder drawings and explosion events. More about Cai Guo-Qiang http://bit.ly/1jl0kT6

Hong Kong-born Artist Paul Chan Wins Prestigious Prize In NY

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The artist Paul Chan was awarded the prestigious Hugo Boss prize in New York last week. Initiated in 1996, the prize is awarded every two years to an artist who has made “a significant contribution to the evolution of the contemporary visual arts“. Paul Chan is prototypical of his generation, exploiting the potential of the World Wide Web and its information overkill to excess, redesigning it and establishing links with goal-oriented, unbridled enthusiasm. He has already created a wide-ranging oeuvre that reveals him to be one of the most inventive and multifaceted practitioners in contemporary art. His studies of current political and social issues, as well as the great and timeless concerns of history, literature, and philosophy, are incorporated into his art with lighthearted verve. More about Paul Chan http://bit.ly/1xHql3C

The East is Red by Ling Jian

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Ling Jian was born in the Shandong Province of China in 1963. He graduated from the Qinghua University Art College and has exhibited his work in Germany, Bangkok, Amsterdam, and Italy. Ling Jian’s art is neither westernized Chinese art nor orientalized western art but a carefully negotiated hybridization calibrated to the artist’s expressive concerns. More about Ling Jian http://bit.ly/1uELDQI