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Young artists display works in Shanghai

By Chen Qide (China Daily Shanghai Bureau)
Updated: 2010-09-13 15:52

An exhibition of contemporary art works by young Chinese artists focusing on "better art, better life" was put on stage Sunday at the Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA).

MoCA Shanghai opened its Envisage III - Reflection of Minds -  in the wake of the launch of the first two "Entry Gate" in 2006 and "Butterfly Dream" in 2008,

The exhibit reflects practical application of art in life, "hoping to bring the audience an interesting and dynamic art experience," said Samuel Kung, chairman and director of MoCA Shanghai.

Ding Yi, a pioneer of Chinese Abstractionism, and Wang Weiwei, a young curator, curated the show which will close on October 8.

All the exhibits are works by young Chinese artists to discuss the latest development of contemporary art, presenting how the artists of the young generation face the ever-realistic world and the increasingly convoluted life as they grow up, Kung said.

"They might criticize, mock, meditate on or enjoyed it. To some extent, all of these attitude represent the spiritual status of today's young people," he said.

"Profound meditations, lighthearted mocking, strong social responsibilities and the insistence on enjoying life are twisted together without denoting right or wrong," the director said.

Exactly, Ding said, these young artists have skillfully mastered multiple definitions, terms, practices and styles even if it was but a creating form which is limited in a personal field or merely care for a microscopic level.

In this show, young artists obtained historical materials, interpreted individual identities, quoted the existed image and reflected them.

Their objective and sensitive treatment of the subjects has revealed their calm maturity and the overcoming of the easy-developed affected melancholy in their young age, Ding said.

These artists, born in Shanghai, Beijing, Sichuan, Shandong, Guangdong, Jiangxi, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang, have accepted art education mainly in Hangzhou, capital city of Zhejiang province, Beijing, Shanghai and Europe, majoring in painting, sculpture, design and new media.

Most of them started to exhibit works in 2005 and some took part in their first group exhibition in 2008. Their works deal with such topics as daily environment, nature, traditional reflection, biology, personal history and self perspective.

"Some are still in their early stage of creating while some have gradually received recognition from the domestic and international art field," said Wang Weiwei, an art curator from the museum.