Books:
The artworld can be a difficult territory to
navigate. Composed of capital cities (London,
Paris, Berlin), less-well-known spots (Basel,
Leipzig, Bilbao) and a number of far-reaching
confluences described variously as ‘centres’ or
‘scenes’, it presents a strange topography. Into
which we can also add entire countries, at least in
the early stages of emerging artistic activity. On
the basis of the mass of words already committed
Indeed a lot can, making it difficult to know
to the subject, and now Thames & Hudson’s new
what to do with its surfeit of information, much
book Artists in China: Inside the Contemporary
of which is left dangling. There is, apparently,
Studio, China would seem to fall into this last
a ‘cliquishness that pervades the Chinese art
category. In preference to more localised
scene’ – an intriguing statement left unexplained
descriptions, its artistic endeavours tend to fall
and unexplored; it is also possible in China ‘to
into a national categorisation.
make work that has nothing to do with China’,
Artists in China is filled with pictures of
though the artists profiled, grouped as they are
Chinese artists in their studios, accompanied by
beneath a national banner and much of whose
a series of blurbs about them. It is, according to
work deals directly with recent history, largely do
its jacket, a document to ‘the compelling art and
not support this claim.
interiors that have emerged as a result of the
Tinari’s text reveals a confusion in terms
recent dynamism in the Chinese contemporary
of who the book is for; the somewhat reductive
art world’, while its text, supplied by journalist
exercise of throwing together a lot of Chinese
Philip Tinari, ‘places each practitioner within
artists implies the book is a guide for non-Chinese
the context of the rapidly expanding Chinese
readers, and yet the assumptions it makes about
contemporary art world’. As such, the contents
their knowledge suggests a more sophisticated
of the book oscillate between two very different
intended readership. Tinari discusses movements
sorts of context – between the immediate
– such as cynical realism, political pop, cultural
architectural environments in which art is being
pop, post-sense sensibility – without really
produced, and the wider sociopolitical climate of
explaining what they are, and makes little attempt
China; between the more localised site of artistic
to distinguish between cities and their respective
creation and the wider category of Chinese art. In
scenes. While it’s true that much can fall under
between, says Tinari in his introduction, the book
the term ‘Chinese contemporary’, in the end it
shows ‘just how much can fall under the label of
might be better compartmentalised, and better
Chinese contemporary’.
explained, if Western audiences are to form a
deeper understanding of Chinese art’s growing
importance, and of the artists at its forefront.
Laura Allsop
ArtIStS In ChInA
By Philip Tinari
Thames & Hudson, £48/$95 (hardcover)
Artreview 170
March_books_prt1.indd.indd 170 5/2/08 13:32:16
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