Zhang Hongtu

Luchia Meihua Lee and Jerome Silbergeld (Editors)

Description

In this book, leading art experts, art historians, and critics review the life, career, and artistic development of New York based Chinese artist Zhang Hongtu. A pioneer in contemporary Chinese art, Zhang created the first example of "China Pop" art, and his oeuvre is as diverse, intellectually complex, and engaging as it is entertaining. From painting and sculpture to computer generated works and multimedia projects, Zhang's art is equally rich in terms of China's history and its current events, containing profound reflections on China's oldest cultural habits and contemporary preoccupations. He provides a model of cross-cultural interaction designed to make Asian and Western audiences look more closely at each other and at themselves to recognize the beliefs they hold and the unexamined values they adhere to.From his early work in China during the Cultural Revolution to his decades as an artist in New York, Zhang reflects the complex attitudes of a scholar-artist toward modernity, as well as toward Asian and Western societies and himself.  Placing Zhang in the context of his cultural milieu both in China and in the Chinese immigrant artist community in America, this volume's contributors examine his adaptations of classic art to reflect a contemporary sensibility, his relation to Cubism and Social Realism, his collaboration with the celebrated fashion designer Vivienne Tam, and his visual critique of China's current environmental crisis. Zhang's work will be on display at the Queens Museum in New York City from October 17, 2015 to March 6, 2016.Contributors: Julia F. Andrews, Alexandra Chang, Tom Finkelpearl, Michael Fitzgerald, Wu Hung, Luchia Meihua Lee, Morgan Perkins, Kui Yi Shen, Jerome Silbergeld, Eugenie Tsai, Thuy Linh Nguyen Tu, Lilly WeiCo-published by the Queens Museum and Duke University Press.

Sujets

• History of Asia
• Asia

Informations

• Publié par: Duke University Press
• Date de parution: 05 février 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780822374756
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 22 Mo

Extrait

ZHANG HONGTU: Expanding Visions of a Shrinking World

Editors: Luchia Meihua Lee Jerome Silbergeld

With Contributions by Julia F. Andrews and Kuiyi Shen Alexandra Chang Tom Finkelpearl Michael FitzGerald Wu Hung Luchia Meihua Lee Morgan Perkins Jerome Silbergeld Eugenie Tsai Thuy Linh Nguyen Tu Lilly Wei

Queens Museum, New York, 2015 Duke University Press, Durham and London, 2015

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Foreword

Chapters

1.

The Displaced Artist Sees Things for Us: Zhang Hongtu and the Art of Convergence Jerome Silbergeld

2. Gate, Hole: Three Recurrent Motifs in Zhang Hongtu’s Art Wall,  Wu Hung

3. Contemporary Cubism Zhang’s  Michael FitzGerald

4. Man in the Moon: A Conversation with Zhang Hongtu The  Eugenie Tsai

 “A Hundred Ways to Learn” about Zhang Hongtu 5.  Morgan Perkins

6.  Restoring the Aura  Julia F. Andrews and Kuiyi Shen

7

10

13

37

56

72

83

101

7. Hongtu: Playing with Power Zhang  Alexandra Chang

 Zhang Hongtu’s Fashionable Turn 8.  Thuy Linh Nguyen Tu

9.  Pop, Politics, and Painting  Lilly Wei

10.  Zhang Hongtu’s Queens  Tom Finkelpearl

11. Next for Us? Zhang Hongtu’s Environmental Shan Shui What’s  Luchia Meihua Lee

Plates

Appendix

Autobiography Selected Bibliography Guide to Traditional and Simpliîed Chinese Characters Credits

114

130

138

155

160

175

313 323 335 337

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Luchia Meihua Lee and Jerome Silbergeld

To overcome many impediments and actually bring to fruition this book and exhibition about the art of Zhang Hongtu has involved a great effort on the part of many people and organizations. This project could not have been conceived of without the artist himself, Zhang Hongtu, and his wife, Miaoling Huang, an essential supporter of her husband, and also an artist herself. In his unceasing creation of a multifaceted art in an intercontinental career, Hongtu has always sought to expand the way in which viewers of his art perceive the world, and to draw connections between different cul- tures — hence the title of this book. Additional thanks are due to him for his two years of thoughtful and enthusiastic answers to our endless questions. Our special thanks are also due to an inspiring leader, the former executive director of the Queens Muse- um and now the New York City Commissioner of Cultural Affairs, Tom Finkelpearl, who has made this unique retrospective exhibition at the Queens Museum possible. It was Tom’s vision to design this exhibition on a grand scale and give viewers an appreci- ation of the full scope of Zhang Hongtu’s expansive career. This contrasts with many past exhibitions and publications, where we have glimpsed only parts of his work. Both this book and the associated exhibition offer wider and deeper coverage of this exceptional career than ever before.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS7

Abundant gratitude is due to Tina Keng and Shelly Wu of TKG Foundation for Arts & Culture; without their support, neither the book nor the exhibition would have been possible. TKG Foundation for Arts & Culture has very keenly supported artists in Tai- pei and all over the world. The careful attention from Shelly and her team is reected on every page of the book. In particular, Catherine Y. Hsieh has worked both on the book design and on the accompanying exhibition.

Manjari Sihare, former curatorial manager of the Queens Museum, has provided in- valuable assistance and support throughout the various stages of development, and has stood beside Hongtu and us from the îrst day of the whole procedure. Also, our deep thanks go to the current Queens Museum director, Laura Raicovich, with her global and open-minded view; to Jodi Hanel, director of development, for supervising this book and exhibition project during her time at the Queens Museum; to Hitomi Iwasaki, director of exhibitions, for overseeing the whole; and to Louise Weinberg, registrar, who effectively facilitated the loans of art from various museums and collec- tors. The staff at the Queens Museum — including John Wanzel, exhibition production manager; and Sophia Marisa Lucas, curatorial assistant — has provided immeasur- able administrative assistance.

We both have had many occasions — at exhibitions, lectures, and in classes — to meet and work with Hongtu. For example, the exhibition entitled “Infinity/Unknown: Culture and Identity in the Digital Age” at the Taipei Gallery of the Taipei Cultural Center of TECO (Taipei Economic and Cultural Ofîce) in New York. Mounted in the Rockefeller Center McGraw-Hill Building, this exhibition contained several pieces that impressed Luchia and intrigued her with Hongtu’s creative and advanced ideas in 2001. Numerous other exhibitions to display Hongtu’s different artistic series, such as “Shufing the Deck” at the Princeton University Museum, and “Reason’s Clue” at the Queens Museum of Art in 2008, conîrmed and strengthened this feeling for both co-editors of this book. For us, Zhang Hongtu is one of the artists we most respect and with whom we feel most comfortable among all the many Chinese artists in New York. With his free mind, his true genius, and his generous wit, Hongtu is simultane- ously a traditional artist and a very modern character.

This book starts with an essay of introduction providing a full view of Hongtu’s life and oeuvre. It closes by treating the environmental concerns that have marked the artist’s recent development. In between, many distinguished authors provided admirable breadth. Wu Hung, from the University of Chicago, has a background similar to Hongtu’s, and has contributed a superb in-depth essay on Hongtu’s new work,Great Wall with Gates, and Hongtu’s “Door” series. It is interesting to read in Thuy Linh Nguyen Tu’s essay how the world of fashion design has been impacted by Hongtu’s

8ZHANG HONGTU: Expanding Visions of a Shrinking World

interpretation of Mao’s image. Eugenie Tsai conducted an interview with Hongtu of more than 30,000 words covering the dialogue between Western and Eastern aes- thetics, which she reduced to a size that could be accommodated in this book and gave the beautiful and mythical title of “The Man in the Moon.” Michael FitzGerald, an expert in Cubism, presents an elegant analysis from Hongtu’s Picasso pieces to the Cubist inuence in his oeuvre. Also, our thanks to Alexandra Chang, who considers Hongtu’s art in the context of the Chinese diaspora, and to Kuiyi Shen and Julia F. Andrews who joined forces for an essay about Hongtu’s “Van Gogh” and “Buddha” series that presents them from a fresh perspective. Lilly Wei contributes an overview of the nexus between New York artists—and in particular, Hongtu—and popular cul- ture. Morgan Perkins contributes an astute essay about the relationship between the artist and his oeuvre and its place in the world. Tom Finkelpearl reminds us of Hongtu’s status as a member of the Queens art community.

Nell McClister was strongly recommended by Tom Finkelpearl as our copy editor, and she has provided us with attentive reading and perceptive editing. Tom also brought us to Duke University Press, where editorial director Ken Wissoker graciously accept- ed this project. Michael McCullough, sales manager, and Christopher Robinson, copy writer, brought their professionalism to publicizing and marketing this book. We would like to extend a heartfelt thanks to the Taiwanese American Arts Council founders, who allowed Luchia to take time that she would otherwise have contributed to the Taiwanese American community; they are Thomas Chen, Lung Fong Chun, and Patrick Huang. Also Crystal Window and Door Systems helped with the manufacture of exhibit vitrines. Many individuals, such as Kenneth Howell and Edward C. Hsu, helped to make this project run smoothly.

A panoply of collectors and organizations have facilitated this exhibition with gener- ous loans of private and institutionally owned artworks. The Art Students League of New York curator Jillian Russo and Princeton University Art Museum Asian art curator Cary Y. Liu were especially helpful in arranging loans from their institutions. Tina Keng Gallery, Lin & Lin Gallery, and Ethan Cohen Fine Arts generously lent works for the exhibit. Sumiko Roberts from Christie’s Japan provided help, as did Sotheby’s. Other collectors, including Leo Shih, Andrew Cohen, Jeff Wimmer, Miani Johnson, and many private collectors also provided invaluable assistance in this regard.

Working with designer Lin Xiao-Yi of Atom No Color Design, and Shelly Wu and Catherine Y. Hsieh of TKG Foundation for Arts & Culture to see this book design take shape has been a great experience. You now hold in your hands the fruits of the ex- traordinary creativity and talent of their design.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS9