No, this isn't a political post. Democracy Forever is the name of the current exhibit at Plum Blossoms, a gallery specializing in Asian art on 25th Street. We visited it for the first time last night, for a reception related to Asian Contemporary Art Week. The people at the gallery had used their connections well: there was a huge crowd of people from all around the New York art world and elsewhere.
It's a strong show, and there are more images on the web site, but I wanted to point out a couple of artists whose work I really liked. The first is Ji Dachun, who creates acrylic works on canvas of communist icons such as Mao and Stalin.
JI DACHUN
Zhong Nan-hai 0.8
Acrylic on canvas, 2004
43 × 43 inches (110 × 110 cm)
Zhong Nan-hai is the "Chinese Kremlin," a set of buildings once part of the Imperial Court that now serves as the headquarters of the Communist Party.
The other work is by an amazing collective called UNMASK, which creates domed sculptures featuring items of war and industrial devastation. I was told by Andrew Maerkle at the gallery that their "day jobs" are working on sculptures for public monuments. The image below is one of four globes. It appears to be mounted on a wall in the photograph, but they are on separate pedestals at the gallery.
UNMASK
The Shadowless
Installation of Four Units
plastic, stainless steel, fluorescent lights, 2004
4 pcs. each 26 × 26 × 53 inches
(4 pcs. each 65 × 65 × 135 cm)
The show is up through November 27.
On a related note, The Guardian has an interesting article on the state of contemporary art in China, particularly in Shanghai. We know a gallerist, Lothar Albrecht, who has a gallery in Beijing, but we haven't had a chance to talk to him about his adventures there.
