China's contemporary art draws spotlight

Video presentation

Sajura Shimizu, gallery manager of Ota Fine Arts, said a strong Chinese cultural element could add to their attraction of artworks. Shimizu last month brought the work of 38-year-old Chinese artist Cheng Ran to the 2019 Armory Show, an annual leading contemporary art fair in New York.

The artist has created mixed-media installations based on the work Li Sao by ancient Chinese poet Qu Yuan, while part of Cheng's work featured in a video presentation of the poem in Chinese.

Shimizu said, "Westerners are more interested to see works that contain elements from another culture, because it is so different to what they have been seeing so far."

At Chambers Fine Art gallery, which was established in New York in 2000 and opened a branch in Beijing in 2007, another Chinese is attracting attention with a culturally inspired collection.

Taca Sui, a fine arts photographer from Qingdao, Shandong province, who features many Chinese antiques and cultural elements in his work, has exhibited with Chambers for about 20 years.

Ariel Chen, associate at the gallery, said, "His uniqueness lies in his presentation of traditional Chinese culture, which is not that commonly seen in this generation of Chinese artists." Chen added that the uniqueness is part of the reason the work has been a success in New York in recent years.

"US audiences like his work-especially those who are attracted to traditional Chinese art," Chen said. "At the core of his work is traditional Chinese culture, but he is presenting that through photography."

Chen said Sui's work is particularly popular among older people and scholars studying Chinese art and culture.

On the other hand, Liu Shuishi's work contains barely any reference to the artist's cultural identity.

"These are works that people can relate to," said Findlay Galleries' Clark, speaking about Liu's output. "But more important, his pieces don't choose a side-so they aren't necessarily Chinese, Western or anything else."

After his art training in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi province, and many years spent studying Western philosophy, Liu switched from traditional Chinese landscape painting to his own type of existential expressionism and moved to New York in 2016, Clark said.

"His source of inspiration seems to be the human element, and I think that's very important in the overall appeal," he said. Clark added that collectors interested in international artists have a global vision and want to learn something from the artworks such as ideas, thoughts and the culture behind them.

Hugendubel, at the Greene Naftali Gallery, said: "I feel that people who have collections that are international really have a global perspective. And I think that those who collect Chinese art generally have a very global outlook and are familiar with the culture."