Tag: Art

A Queer Chinese Artist Finds Liberation Through Folk Art

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In the years he hid his sexuality from his children and village neighbors, Xiyadie would take short-bladed scissors to rice paper and give shape to unfulfilled dreams. At first glance, his creations conform to traditional cutout designs of animals and auspicious symbols adorning doorways and windows in China. But a closer look at the shapes — birds, butterflies and blossoms perched on twisty vines — reveals bodies conjoined in the throes of intimacy or separated by brick walls. The artist, 60, who goes by the pseudonym Xiyadie, was born in…

Hong Kong artists flee as city grapples with status as arts hub amid rising repression

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From a rocky perch a larger-than-life rendition of a female protester, clad in a hard hat and a gas mask, gazes over a city in turmoil. Known as Lady Liberty Hong Kong, the statue was hauled to the top of Lion Rock during the 2019 pro-democracy protests. It was meant to be her final resting place. But now all that remains of that intention is photographs. The statue was destroyed by unknown assailants the day after it was hauled up the peak, a landmark said to represent the resilient spirit…

These Downtown Los Angeles Towers Became a Graffiti Skyline

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It was a billion-dollar aspiration meant to transform a neighborhood. A trio of shimmering skyscrapers would feature luxury condos, a five-star hotel and an open-air galleria with retailers and restaurants. Among the amenities: private screening rooms, a two-acre park, pet grooming services and a rooftop pool. A celebrity fitness trainer would help curate a wellness lifestyle for residents. The vision was called Oceanwide Plaza, and the chief executive said it would “redefine the Los Angeles skyline.” An executive for the design firm said it would create “a vibrant streetscape.” The…

Ai Weiwei’s ‘Zodiac’ Is a Mystical Memory Tour

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As the Year of the Dragon dawns, the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has released “Zodiac,” a “graphic memoir” of scenes from his career — both real (hanging with Allen Ginsberg, the O.G. of Beat poets, in 1980s Greenwich Village) and imagined (debating Xi Jinping, China’s paramount leader). Each chapter frames the artist’s take on traditional beliefs about the characteristics humans share with the 12 animals of the Chinese lunar calendar. Gianluca Costantini’s intricate line drawings pair with Elettra Stamboulis’s comic-bubble text to help expand Ai’s lifelong campaign for free expression…

Museum Shows Explore the Global South

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This article is part of the Fine Arts & Exhibits special section on the art world’s expanded view of what art is and who can make it. “I think we’re hard-wired to be afraid of people who are different from us,” said Linda Komaroff, a curator of Islamic art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. “A show focused on dining makes it easier. We all eat, we all like food.” Ms. Komaroff was talking about “Dining with the Sultan: The Fine Art of Feasting,” the exhibition she has…

Frieze London: For Two Artists, Reality Is Ripe for Manipulation

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The two painters who will be represented at Frieze London by Gallery Vacancy in Shanghai share a need to depict the extraordinary in the ordinary, one through everyday industrial items and the other through the simplest images from nature. That juxtaposition is what captivated Lucien Tso, the founder and director of the gallery, located in the upscale Huangpu district of Shanghai. The artists, Ni Hao, who is Taiwanese, and Shi Jiayun, who is from Chongqing, China, but lives in Shanghai, are integral parts of the contemporary Asian art scene with…

Art Auction in Hong Kong Draws Lower Bids Than Expected

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The largest auction ever held by Sotheby’s in Asia of a single owner’s art collection raised less money than expected on Thursday, a sign that rising global interest rates may be starting to weigh on the market for fine art. A portrait by Amedeo Modigliani sold for considerably less than predicted, and 10 other artworks failed to sell when bidding fell short of reserve prices. The auction, which was held in Hong Kong and streamed online for bidders around the world, produced total sales of $69.5 million including commissions, Sotheby’s…

Liu Yiqian, China’s Top Art Collector, Is Selling a Modigliani

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Few Chinese art collectors have made a bigger splash at global auctions in the past decade than Liu Yiqian, a former Shanghai taxi driver who amassed a fortune through big bets on Chinese real estate and pharmaceutical stocks. He was a profligate purchaser of Chinese antiquities and other artworks. In 2014, Mr. Liu paid a record $36.3 million for an ancient Chinese porcelain cup, and $45 million for a 600-year-old silk wall hanging. He paid $170.4 million for Amedeo Modigliani’s risqué “Nu Couché” painting a year later. One Shanghai museum…

‘China is not just one entity’: major exhibition aims to showcase unseen diversity

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Although little-known in the west, China’s Jiangnan region has played a pivotal role in thousands of years of the country’s history. “It’s as if Ohio produced 20% of the GDP of the United States,” said Clarissa von Spee, curator with the Cleveland Museum of Art. “It’s pretty powerful, this region, and it has remained so for centuries.” Producing many of the products most strongly associated with China, including jade and silk, it is a cultural powerhouse that is about to finally get its due in the United States. For the…

The London art student whose Chinese political slogan mural caused a storm

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When Wang Hanzheng, a Chinese student at the Royal College of Art, attended a graduate show in a warehouse on Brick Lane in east London in July, he found the space crowded, unimaginative and unfit for presenting art. It was with this in mind that at 11pm one night earlier this month Wang and a team of 22 others painted a Chinese political slogan in bold red characters along a nearby wall stretching nearly 100 metres. The artwork – which spelled out the Chinese government’s “socialist core values”, including the…