Contemporary Chinese art has taken the global art world by storm in the last decade through widely heralded museum exhibitions, well-read publications, and heavily attended art auctions. Even with all the attention, few exhibitions have asked the question of how— against the background of thirty-five years of Socialist Realism—this internationally-oriented artwork suddenly appeared and why it captured the attention of the international art market. This exhibition introduced the work of three unofficial Chinese art groups: the No Names, the Stars, and the Grass Society—all of which arose at the end of the Cultural Revolution and helped launch the avant-garde movement in China. The artists pursued creatively diverse paths to personal artistic freedom under the political circumstances of the time, producing works in the critical decade after the end of the Cultural Revolution leading up the Communist party’s 1985 decision to allow modern artistic practices.
This exhibition, related programming, and catalogue have been made possible, in part, by the generous support of Carolyn Hsu-Balcer and René Balcer; Edward A. Studzinski; and China Institute Friends of the Gallery.
