Description
[G/C; Contemporary; Asian Studies minor] This course will examine the art of China from the latter part of the 20th century to today. We will study various groups and individual artists who redefined the content and aesthetics of art, diverging from the state sanctioned Social Realist style. We will discuss how complex and changing political, historical, and social contexts in China have influenced art since the end of the Cultural Revolution, with the development of avant-garde movements from The Stars Group and Xiamen Dada to the formulation of Political Pop and Cynical Realism. The works of Ai Weiwei, Cai Guo-Qiang, Xu Bing, Zhou Hongbin, Qiu Zhijie, Cao Fei, Zhang Huan, and many others will be discussed, illuminating the range of influences, approaches, and concerns to be found in contemporary Chinese art. We will examine a wide range of media and discover artists who confront the inheritance of the past as well as those who engage in a continuing dialogue with it.