New Century artworks
2000–2009
Since 2000, against the backdrop of globalisation, Chinese art has embraced international trends. Chinese artists' knowledge of world culture has rapidly increased. They have used this new global outlook to combine traditional Chinese artistic practices with Western art styles to create new, energetic and experimental forms of art that reveal the vitality, colour and multiculturalism of China today.
All works are from the National Art Museum of China.
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081031, 2008
Oil on Canvas, 116cm x 114cm.
Wang Guangle, born in 1976 in Songxi, Fujian province, graduated from the Oil Painting Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. He lives in Beijing.
Incense, 2007
Oil on Canvas, 150cm x 100cm.
Li Lei, born in 1965 in Shanghai, is executive director of the Shanghai Art Museum, vice-chairman of the Shanghai Youth Federation of Literature and Arts, member of the board of directors of the Chinese Artists Association, and executive director of the Shanghai Artists Association.
One Day, 2004
Oil on Canvas, 20.5cm x 180.9cm x 2.
Chen Wenji, born in 1954 in Shanghai, graduated from the Printmaking Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1978. He is a professor and a supervisor of graduate students in the Mural Painting Department of the academy.
Chen's work is never a simple reproduction of the real world, but of reality filtered through his spiritual world. In a calm and simple style, he expresses his rational and rigorous ideas, revealing the inner essence of things and the significance of human existence. His works embrace metaphysics and mysticism.
Ulcer, 2008
Oil on Canvas, 160cm x 200cm.
Tan Ping, born in Chengde, Hebei province, in 1960, graduated from the Printmaking Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts and has taught there ever since. In 1989 he won the German Scholarship of Literature and Art Exchange, and began to study for a master's degree in the Department of Free Drawing at the Universität der Kunste, Berlin, returning to China in 1994. In 2002 he took up the position of dean of the School of Design in the Central Academy of Fine Arts. Since 2003, he has been a professor, deputy dean and supervisor of the graduate students at the academy.
The challenge for contemporary Chinese artists is how to adapt historical abstract painting styles to a painting language suitable for today's world. Tan creates abstract figures from people's impressions of the real world.
Penetrating the Heart, 2006
Ink and Wash, 300cm x 90cm.
Liu Qinghe, born in Tianjin in 1961, graduated from Tianjin Arts and Crafts College in 1981 and from the Folk Art Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1987.
In 1989, he received his master's degree from the Chinese Painting Department of the academy, where he is now a professor and a supervisor of graduate students in the School of Chinese Painting.
Liu is a pioneer in the application of traditional techniques of ink-and-wash painting to depictions of present-day life.
His style has come to represent contemporary Chinese ink-and-wash painting. His philosophy, 'explore to progress', has helped him develop this technique.
Through his understanding of modern people's life and the environment they live in, he has created a distinctive style. Just as in classic Chinese art, the painter remains a spectator, observing from a distance people's complex feelings, their hopes, desires, loss and helplessness.
Sang Sen, 2007
Ink and Wash, 96cm x 112cm.
Wu Changjiang, born in 1954, is from Tianjin. He graduated in 1976 from the affiliated high school of the Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts. In 1978, he enrolled in the Printmaking Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. After graduating, he became a teacher there and, later, a professor and the director of the Printmaking Department. He is now the secretary of the local branch of the Communist Party of China and executive vice-chairman of the Chinese Artists Association.
