08 Mar 2007

The Year of the Golden Pig - Contemporary Chinese Art from the Sigg Collection

From 13 March -17 June 2007, the Lewis Glucksman Gallery will present a major exhibition of contemporary Chinese Art, The Year of the Golden Pig: Contemporary Chinese Art from the Sigg Collection. The title refers to the fact that 2007 in Chinese astrology is The Year of the Golden Pig.

There will be a public conversation between Dr Uli Sigg, Collector and former Swiss Ambassador to China, and Fiona Kearney, Director of the Lewis Glucksman Gallery at 2pm on Sunday, 11 March in the Lewis Glucksman Gallery.

The Sigg Collection
The exhibition will be curated from the collection of Swiss businessman and diplomat Dr Uli Sigg. The former Swiss ambassador to China, Dr Sigg, has taken a keen interest in China and its culture since the late 1970s. Together with his wife Rita, he has been building a collection devoted exclusively to Chinese art since the mid-1990s, and can justly be regarded as a pioneer in this field. Having initially concentrated on the acquisition of new art, Dr Sigg soon began to extend his collection to include historic works of Chinese avant-garde art from the 1980s and early 90s. All the leading positions and important trends are represented by major works, many of which have now achieved iconic status in the Chinese art world. The result of this systematic approach is a collection of contemporary Chinese art that is unparalleled in terms of its scope and quality.

Chinese Contemporary Art
Since the post-Mao reform era began in 1979, China has seen the emergence of an extremely diverse and dynamic art scene, a development that has taken place within a short space of time and in spite of the continuing difficulties faced by those involved in independent art production. In recent years, contemporary art from China has also been attracting great interest in the West with a number of high profile exhibitions in key art institutions around the world. The Glucksman is the only Irish institution to present work from the Sigg collection.

Chinese artists have quickly found their place in the international art scene, and skillfully employ media, techniques and forms of expression that were developed in the West. Nevertheless, their specifically Chinese roots - pre-modern tradition on the one hand, the requirements of the Socialist Realist style prescribed by the Communist Party until the late 1970s on the other - are evident in many of the artists' works; in comparison to Western art, for example, greater emphasis is placed on figurative painting.

Some of these artists consciously address the issue of their national identity by adopting the techniques and formal language of traditional Chinese art and placing them in a new context. Another significant trend is to parody or reflect upon the art and art history of the West from a Chinese perspective. Above all, however, Chinese avant-garde art has to be viewed in the light of the tremendous social and economic upheavals that have taken place in recent decades; a large number of works specifically reflect the tension between the socialist ideals which are still officially valid and the wave of consumerism that has swept the country as a result of the capitalist reforms.

Participating artists:
Ai Weiwei, Bai Yiluo, Chang Xugong, Fang Lijun, Fu Hong, Hai Bo, Hong Hao, Hong Lei, Huang Yan, Li Zhanyang, Lin Tianmiao, Lin Yilin, Liu Jianhua, Liu Rentao, Liu Wei, Liu Xiaodong, Lu Hao, Luo Brothers, Ou Ning/ Cao Fei, Qi Zhilong, Qiu Shihua, Shi Guorui, Shi Xinning, Song Yongping, Wang Guangyi, Wang Jianwei, Wang Jin, Wang Jinsong, Wang Ningde, Wang Xingwei, Wang Yin, Wei Guangqin, Weng Fen, Xiang Liqing, Yin Xiuzhen, Yu Youhan, Yue Min Jun, Zeng Han, Zhang Huan, Zhang Peili, Zhang Xiaogang, Zhao Bandi, Zhou

The Year of the Golden Pig: Contemporary Chinese Art from the Sigg Collection is a unique opportunity to gain an insight into contemporary Chinese culture and explore the visual art of a society, increasingly aware of its relation to western culture while retaining the specific issues and traditions of Chinese life.

403MMcS