Connections Between Contemporary Art And Subculture,Regional Culture In Guangdong

Chinese contemporary art has the multicultural characteristics.In the development of the contemporary art in China,the subculture and regional culture are indispensable parts of the contemporary art.Guangdong artists have created many contemporary works of art with epoch-making significance and artistic value based on their own regional culture and the subculture phenomena that constantly occur in the Pearl River Delta(hereinafter referred to as PRD).The purpose of this thesis is to sort out some characteristics of Guangdong contemporary art,study the context and background of artists' works,and explore how the artists in this dynamic city of PRD with great changes in the era have carried out the practice of the subculture and regional culture,and find the value and significance of the practice.The time background of this topic on Guangdong contemporary art research is: Guangdong took the lead of carrying out the reform and opening up policy.Therefore,the contradiction between the mainstream culture and the subculture form which is caused by accepting the foreign culture and the aesthetic impact emerged earlier in Guangdong than the inland provinces.Guangdong objectively turned into the experimental field of subculture transmission,communication and integration.It is the special historical context and an ever-changing social background that make Guangdong contemporary art the best case for associating art with regional culture and subculture.Before the year of 1992,Guangdong,which was best represented by the Pearl River Delta region,began the earliest experiment of reform and opening up,and implementation of the market economy in the country.It achieved rapid economic development and became the province with the largest economic aggregate.At the same time,the social and cultural construction was also thriving.In 1992,Deng Xiaoping's Talks Given during the Inspection Tour to the South and the 14 th National Congress of the Communist Party of China spoke positively of the experiment and experience of Guangdong and established the goal of building a socialist-oriented market economy throughout the Party and the nation.Guangdong contemporary art developed from sprouting to formation before and after this important time node.A group of artists took this opportunity to improve the theme connotation of their individual works with their different artistic practices after the exploration of art groups from “105 Studio”,“Southern Artist Salon” to “Big-Tail Elephant” in the 1980 s.This led to a contemporary artistic language transformation--the official appearance of Guangdong contemporary art,which has made a great difference throughout the country.This thesis first discusses the characteristics of Guangdong contemporary art from two perspectives.First,the southern context of Guangdong contemporary art.The marginality of Guangdong contemporary art is summarized from the perspective of the regional culture and the historical affiliation.From this marginality,the cultural phenomenon that the Pearl River Delta has transformed from an economic field into a southern context is discussed.This phenomenon provides the most fertile soil for Guangdong contemporary art.Second,the trail-blazing features of Guangdong and Guangdong Contemporary Art are exemplified by the marketization and commercialization of Guangdong contemporary art,and the initial sprouting and construction of venues and dialogue platforms,as well as the “Guangzhou Biennale” and “The 1st China Art Expo”.In this thesis,by selecting the most representative art works and artists,such as Cao Fei's sub-cultural work “Cosplayer”,the subculture and contemporary art are re-associated and analyzed.In this particular perspective of Guangdong contemporary art,the clues of the regional culture,the subculture and the contemporary art are presented more variously and clearly.