Three Decades: The Contemporary Chinese Collection
Guo Jian | The day before I went away (from ‘The day before I went away’ series) 2008 | Purchased 2008. The Queensland Government's Gallery of Modern Art Acquisitions Fund | Collection: Queensland Art Gallery
Guo Jian
The day before I went away (from ‘The day before I went away’ series) 2008
Purchased 2008. The Queensland Government's Gallery of Modern Art Acquisitions Fund
Collection: Queensland Art Gallery
Three Decades: The Contemporary Chinese Collection
‘Three Decades: The Contemporary Chinese Collection’ celebrates the significance of contemporary Chinese art and the Queensland Art Gallery’s commitment to developing a unique collection of works from the 1980s to the present. A period of enormous change in China, the past three decades have seen the flowering of contemporary art as a response to social, political and cultural transformation.
Since the early 1990s, the Gallery has collected important contemporary Chinese works, with the Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art acting as a major catalyst, alongside key acquisitions and donations. In this exhibition, more than 100 works by 50 established and emerging artists are displayed, ranging from delicate porcelain items to large-scale installations. ‘Three Decades’ highlights the diversity and innovation of contemporary Chinese art across the mediums of painting, photography, video, sculpture, installation and printmaking.
Key themes running through the exhibition include the legacies of the Cultural Revolution, the emergence of an Avant-garde, the citing of history and tradition, the importance of calligraphy, and the often interconnected mediums of performance, video and photography. Featured in the Long Gallery is a site-specific commission by Wang Qingsong, as well as a new series of 36 bronze busts by Ah Xian, on loan from the artist and being displayed in Australia for the first time.
Xu Bing A book from the sky 1987–91
Zhang Huan 12 square meters 1994
Cai Guo-Qiang Dragon or Rainbow Serpent: A myth glorified or feared (drawings). Project for extraterrestrials no.26 1996
Song Dong Stamping the water 1996
Ah Xian China China – bust no.3 1998
Fang Lijun 980810 1998
Luo Brothers Untitled (Baby and tiger) 2000
Wang Zhiyuan Fragments 2000
Liu Jianhua Obsessive memories 2002
Hong Hao Long March in Panjiayuan A 2004
Liu Jieqiong Story of the Red Army 2004
Guan Wei Echo 2005
Mu Chen and Shao Yinong 'Assembly hall series no. 6' 2006
Zhou Xiaohu Utopian theatre 2006
Guo Jian The day before I went away 2008
