China Avant-Garde (ATOM Study Guide)

This fascinating and visually arresting documentary on the Chinese contemporary art scene tracks the vast social upheaval that has marked China's emergence as a global power. Art historian and dealer Evan Hughes takes us on a journey to meet some of the country's most exciting avant-garde artists. Hughes makes a lively and engaging tour guide, examining the radical changes that have taken place in Chinese art over the last thirty years, and the meeting of East and West in the international art market.

Not so long ago, Chinese artists were constrained by the dictates of the Cultural Revolution. Creative work was subsumed by politics and propaganda, and artists were limited to the production of positive and heroic images celebrating the achievements of Chairman Mao. But since the Open Door Policy of the 1970s, an astonishingly diverse and dynamic contemporary art scene has flourished. The many works on display in China Avant-Garde touch on themes such as consumerism; tensions between the individual and society; the urban/rural divide; and sexuality. History and politics are addressed in works that range in tone from the flippant and playful to the strident and angry. China Avant-Garde situates the creation of art in its social, economic, historical and political context. In doing so, it offers important insights into China's new place on the world stage and the role of the arts in securing that position.