RELEASE : CHRISTIE'S LAUNCHES +86 OPEN
CHRISTIE’S LAUNCHES
A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON ART IN CHINA TODAY
Shanghai, September 8, 2015 – Christie’s announces “+86 First Open”, a new initiative and sale providing a global platform and a fresh perspective on Chinese contemporary art. +86 will be launched in New York and Shanghai this autumn. Referring to China’s country code, +86 will introduce an international programme of exhibitions, lectures, art forums, private sales and auctions, reaffirming Christie’s vision and dedication to this category.
Jinqing Cai, President of Christie’s China, declared: “Spurred by the socio-economic and cultural changes, Chinese contemporary art has regained a new vitality, while its enthralling creative energy continues to capture the world with renewed interest. By presenting a panoramic vision of emerging Chinese artists in Christie's Shanghai this fall, we look forward to becoming an integral part of the current contemporary art dynamic, and a catalyst of future growth of the art market in China.”
Offered at Christie’s Shanghai on 24 October, the inaugural +86 auction will be launched in New York during First Open on the occasion of its 10th anniversary, with an exhibition of selected works on view from 26 to 29 September at the Rockefeller Center. The sale's highlights will also tour to Chengdu and Beijing in October, before the sale in Shanghai.
The inaugural +86 auction will feature a finely curated selection of 33 works of art, including paintings, photographs, installations and videos, demonstrating Christie’s unparalleled strength in this category and the unique curatorial approach it brings to showcase the revolutionary, experimental and ground-breaking works of today’s Chinese artists.
“In line with our global vision to develop auctions of cutting-edge contemporary art, and as a continuation to the critically acclaimed First Open in London and New York, we are thrilled to present “+86” in China. 33 works of diverse media, styles and themes by a new generation of home grown artists, passionate and ready to set the new course of Chinese contemporary art,” said Francois Curiel, Chairman, Christie’s, Asia Pacific. “In line with our global vision to develop auctions of cutting edge contemporary art, and as a continuation to the critically acclaimed First Open in London and New York, we are thrilled to present “+86” in China. 40 works of diverse media, styles and themes by a new generation of home grown artists, passionate and ready to set the new course of Chinese contemporary art,” said Francois Curiel, Chairman, Christie’s, Asia Pacific. “In line with our global vision to develop auctions of cutting edge contemporary art, and as a continuation to the critically acclaimed First Open in London and New York, we are thrilled to present “+86” in China. 40 works of diverse media, styles and themes by a new generation of home grown artists, passionate and ready to set the new course of Chinese contemporary art,” said Francois Curiel, Chairman, Christie’s, Asia Pacific. “In line with our global vision to develop auctions of cutting edge contemporary art, and as a continuation to the critically acclaimed First Open in London and New York, we are thrilled to present “+86” in China. 40 works of diverse media, styles and themes by a new generation of home grown artists, passionate and ready to set the new course of Chinese contemporary art,” said Francois Curiel, Chairman, Christie’s, Asia Pacific.
Presenting an unprecedented array of works including Purple Air by Liu Wei (b. 1972) and Rigid Body by Qiu Xiaofei (b. 1977), the auction features an ensemble of some of the most energetic and radical Chinese artists working today. Born in the period that ranges from the late 1960s to late 1980s, the artists featured in the auction include Zhang Enli (b. 1965), Qu Fengguo (b. 1966), Chen Xiaoyun (b.1971), Ouyang Chun (b. 1974), Huang Yuxing (b. 1975), Chen Qiulin (b. 1975), Tu Hongtao (b. 1976), Xu Zhen (b. 1977), Shi Zhying (b. 1979), Sun Xun (b.1980), Ran Huang (b. 1982), and Chen Tianzhuo (b. 1985), etc. Their works explore a wide variety of subjects, such as social and historical topics, psychological issues and personal confrontations, as well as reflections on tradition and popular culture.
Danqing Li, Specialist Head of “+86 First Open”, Asian 20th Century and Contemporary Art, commented: “Characterized by their passion, resilience, creativity, technical ability and knowledge of materials, these artists represent the present and the future of Chinese contemporary art. Following two full years of assiduous research, Christie’s is delighted to unveil ‘+86 First Open’ in response to the growth in global interest. We hope our belief in Chinese contemporary art will blaze a trail that continues to attract new and seasoned collectors alike.”
Notes to Editors:
- The title “+86” refers to China’s international dialling code, providing a link back to where the works of art are created. “+86” forms a unique symbol that translates into the followings.
a) “+” symbolizes plus, enlargement, positivity and bridging;
b) “8” represents a series of eight adjectives that best characterize emerging Chinese artists - creative, edgy, refreshing, unbounded, intellectual, progressive, promising and excellent;
c) “6” indicates six different branches of visual art - painting, sculpture, installation, video, photography and new media art.
- “First Open”, which began 10 years ago in New York, owes its name to the fact that the auctions ‘open’ the new season of sales for Post-War & Contemporary Art at Christie’s. It introduces a sale concept that offers affordable, cutting edge Contemporary Art alongside well-priced and desirable Post-War works.
“+86 FIRST OPEN”
AUCTION HIGHLIGHTS
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RAN HUANG (B. 1982) Estimate: RMB 80,000-120,000 USD 13,000-19,000
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Born in 1982, artist Ran Huang has just received the Katrin Cartlidge Foundation Bursary at the Sarajevo Film Festival in August. His short film selection was also nominated at 67th Cannes Film Festival. For this versatile young artist who practices film, video, sculpture, installation, photography, painting and drawing, his passion for film mostly lies in its openness to the ideas of others. Inspired by a line in the film Traffic, The Next Round is True Life is one of his earlier films produced in London in 2009 after his MFA graduation from Goldsmiths College. In the running time of 7 minutes and 37 seconds, Huang investigates the inescapable clichés and dreary nature of contemporary culture and politics. Three men dressed in white shirts take turns chewing the same piece of gum until the flavor fades away. It’s a sign of material communication as the function of eating becomes a metaphor. We eat in order to get energy for life, but when you eat bubble gum it is the opposite – you waste energy chewing it. In real life people draw very clear boundaries for things and events happening around, but the image underneath is somehow blurred. This title is ironic in a sense with regard to hope for the future, culture and politics as well. | |||||
XU ZHEN BY MADEIN COMPANY (est. 2009) Estimate: RMB 250,000 – 350,000 USD 40,000-55,000 |
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Having both vision and an appetite for global information, Shanghai-based artist Xu Zhen is dedicated to produce artwork across multiple media and platforms. He founded MadeIn Company in 2009 whilst simultaneously declaring the death of author as an individual; later in 2013 MadeIn launched the brand Xu Zhen. With a focus on creative production that discovers the infinite possibilities of contemporary culture, "Unification is a reductive process rather than a process of gain, in which loyal believers never feel complete or secure" series No. 1 - having its title named after a quote from Eric Hoffer’s famous social psychology book The True Believer - comes from Xu Zhen by MadeIn’s 2010 True Image Series – a series of work created using visual media (photography or video) and presented as an ‘artwork.’ This work deals with the power and influence of ‘media’ as diffusion of information. Visual mass media became our main source of information and with the increase use of internet this phenomenon has never been stronger than now. Xu Zhen sends a clear message: most of the times a few pictures are perfectly enough. | |||||
HUANG YUXING (B. 1975) Estimate: RMB 200,000 – 300,000 USD 30,000-48,000 | The river has always been Chinese new generation artist Huan Yuxing’s favourite theme; it represents his definition of the ‘shape’ of time. Unique amongst Huang’s series of rivers, trees, bubbles and meteorites, River is a saturated dreamland constructed by the concept of time. The trees far away are not in shapes, melting and floating like a world that is collapsing and disappearing. Using neon acrylic paint of pink, purple, and yellow, the artists captures the light as it pours through this sheer layer of trees and their leaves above the visual horizon then mixes with swirls of water. These ripples - one after another in various colours and sizes – and their reflections demonstrate the river’s nature of the coexistence of destruction and vitality. Huang transfers his strong but complicated feelings to classic knowledge – though facing with a world that is like “the river, flowing slowly or rapidly, but has no room to retreat” brings melancholy, he finds a prototype for his ‘rivers’ in Hawking – ‘the moving and migrating of water molecules are unable to evident the irreversibility of time, they never change nor disappear.’ | ||||
| QIU XIAOFEI (B. 1977) Estimate: RMB 1,200,000–1,500,000 USD 190,000-240,000 | ||||
Qiu Xiaofei wants the viewer to shift their focus away from his artistic approach or form so that they can really see the emotional dimension of his paintings. Executed in 2009, Stiff Remains is a chronicle of the artist’s emotional displacements he experienced in life. The backdrop is a rich black and blue, achieved by repetitive thick and broad strokes falling onto the same spots on canvas. This motion lends to the piece a unique color texture resembling the chipping surface of limestone cliff. A floating image composed of an upside-down modern architecture resembling a castle, a red cube, and the Chinese word of ‘Stiff Remains’ is the result of his attempt to place personal experiences in the bigger historical context, in advance investigating the ever-changing ideology of the society. In the heavy darkness of the background, a naked figure – seemingly bounded mentally and disabled physically- and his bed have become one. The narrative is of complicated yet ambiguous nature, stirring up some painful memories of both the artist and the viewer. Qiu approached the massive canvas with a precise command of the relationship between colors and brushstrokes, bringing to the viewer deep-running emotions and energy. | |||||
In Chinese classics, the mirage of purple refers to a state of haze, lacking of clarity but in fact is full of vitality. Started in 2006, Purple Air Series is a popular painting series in Liu Wei’s versatile oeuvre. In creating it, he uses computer software to generate patterns and pixels and then applied to canvas and fill in the colour. Dominated by a grey and pale blue palette, Purple Air is composed of abstract patterns of upward-reaching vertical lines blanketing the canvas in gauze like grid that is at once engulfing and enthralling. The rising and falling in rhythmic lines create the impression of three dimension buildings lingering in calming air. Employing elements from traditional from traditional landscape painting, such as light and shadow, tonalities, and perspective, are deconstructed and rearranged into geometric colour blocks, Liu conveys the artist’s unique observations and response to the issues and changes in environment, society, and capitalism of our times. |
LIU WEI (B. 1972) Estimate: RMB 1,500,000 –2,500,000 USD 240,000-400,000
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| CHEN QIULIN (B. 1975) Estimate: RMB 40,000 – 60,000 USD 6,000-10,000 | ||||
The earliest photography depicted objective reality, but this myth has been debunked in the digital age. Chen Qiulin, a graduate of the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute and a new-generation artist, harbours profound feelings towards China’s urbanisation. In 2007’s photograph The Garden No. 1, two migrant workers – standing on the dock - bear the sticks of carrying poles on their shoulders, with rich peony, lotus red, rose pink and pale orange carried in their hands in a striking manner in front of the industrial carriers reaching out to the construction site ashore behind them. In recording forced demolition and relocation, transformation, mass migration, gentrification, and other such inevitable concomitants to the process, Chen exploits this front-and-back dichotomy through the depths of this work’s multi-layered composition to distill the essence of social contradictions and their reality. This work has also been widely exhibited at museums and biennales in China and abroad. | |||||