While Chinese contemporary art is scorching hot in terms of prices and media coverage, people tend to forget that China is not a democracy. From Bloomberg:
"Chinese censors are forcing some art galleries to delay shows, including two with works by Andy Warhol and depicting the Dalai Lama, as the government tries to control the capital's appearance during the Olympic Games.
Galleri Faurschou said it postponed this weekend's show of Warhol's art because censors deemed it inappropriate to exhibit foreign works during China's biggest public event. Xin Beijing Art Gallery said it scrapped a weekend display of Ma Baozhong's work because censors found fault with his oil paintings of the Dalai Lama and former president Jiang Zemin.
``There was a view at the cultural ministry that with more than 40 heads of states visiting Beijing during the Olympics, it'd be better to show works by Chinese artists,'' Faurschou's director Kai Heinze said by phone today."
This is the main reason our headquarters are located in the United States (Seattle) with a branch office in China (Beijing.) We are able to circumvent the government's influence on our artists and their artwork.
Visit our store to see some amazing artwork by Chinese graffiti and urban artists...
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4 comments:
Do artists/galleries nowadays often get in serious trouble because of the political content of their work?
Absolutely. The Chinese government keeps a close tabs on everything that goes through a gallery or exhibition. As civilized as China has become, old world Communist policies are still enforced.
That's really interesting/annoying. I've just accepted an offer to write a guidebook about calligraphy and contemporary art, but since it's getting printed in China everything I write has to be approved. Even with calligraphy separating the politics from the art is difficult. With contemporary art it's going to be a nightmare - and probably make for a pretty lame book.
guerilla,
I'm not surprised. When we launched in China, we had to have a government official "approve" our site before we could launch. We were told that we could "expedite" the process by paying an unofficial fee. Interesting place to do business China...
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