Art has prospered in era of reform

: 0 Comment(s)Print E-mail China Daily UK, June 26, 2018

Chinese artists saw the reform and opening-up of the Chinese economy in 1978 as an opportunity to open up Chinese artistic expression and import new ideas and techniques from abroad.

Zhu Jianhui was one of those artists working in China at the time of the new reforms.

Zhu, from Jiangsu province, said Deng Xiaoping’s new policies brought, “unprecedented opportunities for China’s artistic development and exchanges with other countries”.

He noted that, with more than 5,000 years of Chinese history, this “long-standing culture and art should belong to the commonwealth of all mankind”.

“The reform and opening-up provided opportunities for collaboration between Eastern and Western arts, which has enriched Chinese arts,” Zhu said. “It gave Chinese artists a greater chance of accepting art and artists from all over the world. The artists have increased their cultural self-confidence and found the direction of exploration, mutual benefit, and common development.”

Some experts believe the Chinese contemporary art movement began emerging before Deng’s reforms.

As the “cultural revolution” (1966-76) ended, some artists on the Chinese mainland began to experiment with, and embrace, the modern art movement.

For Zhu, Deng’s policy allowed him to expand his horizons and encouraged him to “appreciate foreign art”.

Paul Gladston, a leading expert on Chinese contemporary art and culture, said: “Reform and opening-up was a significant shift for art in China, but we need to avoid thinking of it as the only factor that changed things, even before reform and opening-up, there were significant changes in China.”

Gladston pointed out that even before the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, there were multiple new art movements in China. Movements continued throughout the 1960s, 70s and 80s.

Groups such as one known as the Stars held an unofficial open-air exhibition that took place less than a year after the 1978 opening-up policy.

And more artists gained control over their creativity, which led to an avant-garde movement.

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