Chinese Graffiti Artist Steel Dan Hits Beijing

Steel Dan, and his crew ZNZN, recently hit the streets of Beijing with his stencils.

Learn more about Steel Dan here.

China censors exhibits...

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...

Soos Print Examples

Wow. We just received our first batch of Chinese Earthquake Charity prints from Soos and are amazed by the amount of hand finishing. Here are a few examples.

We have a few left and remember 100% of the proceeds will benefit Mercy Corps. You can purchase the print here.

Ha Shiyou at V!P's Art Galleries

If anyone is near the Amsterdam or Rotterdam area in August, you can check out Ha Shiyou at both V!P's Art Gallery locations. The show runs from August 8, 2008 to September 14, 2008 at the Rotterdam location and August 8, 2008 to August 31, 2008 at the Amsterdam location. View details of the show here.

Red Star Press Officially Launches Today!

We're pleased to announce that Red Star Press is officially open to the public. Thanks very much to everyone who participated in our Beta and VIP preview events. We got some great feedback and tweaked the site here and there.

To commemorate this occasion, we're going to release some new artwork by existing and new Chinese urban artists over the next few days. Here's a preview of an upcoming limited edition print by Red Star Artist Zhang Qitian...
Details to follow, but like the Ha Shiyou and Soos Charity prints, each print will be hand finished, signed and numbered by the artist. Please check back regularly on our site Red Star Press to see more upcoming artwork.

Also, thanks to the following blogs who covered our launch:

OMG Posters
Artasty

As always we appreciate all of the support, and look forward to helping you get that special piece of art by one of our artists.

Regards,
Xiao Yang and Art Min
Co-Founders
Red Star Press