Western Elements In The Chinese Contemporary Art And Local Ingenuity

On mainland China, the 1980s witnessed the reform and opening up process with the wide spread of western art. Meanwhile, art was finally emancipated from shackles of the Cultural Revolution, no longer regarded as mere tools for political ends.It was against this background that Chinese contemporary art came into being and has developed at an amazing speed. Since then, Chinese artists, especially the young ones, have created art by imitating and learning from western modern art substantially. On the other hand, the Chinese contemporary art has also developed by absorbing elements of Chinese culture, bearing original Chinese features.According to ideas of phylogeny, Chinese contemporary art is a dynamic story. It's hard, however, to find out laws of an on-going story. Therefore, instead the author mainly analyses prominent issues and events of Chinese contemporary art between 1989 and 2009. In this connection, studies of individual artists not only shed light on the impacts of western modern art and the Chinese culture, but also render a theoretical retrospect to the previous 20-year development of Chinese contemporary art.