Artists in China

Photographs by Mario Ciampi

Essays by Philip Tinari

Reviewed by Ruchi Shukla.

Over the past decade, the contemporary art scene in China has become ever more vibrant.

Not only do more artists display their works, but more people have become aware of the concept of contemporary art — and the increase in personal wealth in the big cities has also done its part to stimulate the art market.

Increasing appreciation

Art districts with museums, galleries and art spaces have formed well beyond Beijing and Shanghai, providing artists with ever more platforms to display their works.

Chinese contemporary art has also been displayed in museums around the world. Since the early 1990s, a key impulse has been the resistance of the student movement of 1989. As a result, the artwork first found an audience — and a market — in European cities.

Mario Ciampi’s “Artists in China” showcases the variety of Chinese contemporary art available today.

Artist portraits

Instead of just providing a catalogue of Chinese contemporary art, he presents the portraits of over 50 artists, photographed in their homes and workspaces to give readers an idea about the context in which the art was created.

Photographed over the course of three trips to China in 2005 and 2006, Mario Ciampi’s photographs display a wide variety of artists — from the famous painters who collect huge sums for their work to the emerging artists who are still not very famous.

Wide varieties

The book aims to show a broad canvas of the Chinese art world. Beyond the artists, there are also profiles of big collectors, galleries, art spaces and exhibitions that complete the picture of a thriving art scene.

The featured artists live in different cities, work with different media, are from different generations — and graduated from different academies.

The only thing they have in common is their Chinese heritage — and the book displays through the profiles and essays how this has had a significant effect on their work.

Historical timeline

The art also differs in the time frame that it was made in and thus provides a good visual history of China.

From the well-known “political pop” paintings of Wang Guangyi and family portraits of Zhang Xiaogang, to the more conceptual works of Gu Dexin and Huang Yong Ping, the book brings the reader up to the present time of pre-Olympic activity that is inspiring artists in China.

A good attempt

The essays help put all the works in present context and vary according to the art being discussed.

Although it is almost impossible for one book to encompass the entire Chinese art scene, “Artists in China” does an excellent job of providing a view into the wide variety of Chinese contemporary art.

Just like the country, even the art scene is booming — and will be something to watch out for in the near future.

About Mario Ciampi

Mario Ciampi has been an architectural photographer for more than 25 years and his work has appeared in numerous magazines worldwide, most notably Casa Vogue and Architectural Digest.

About Philip Tinari