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- Canada), who makes exceptional use of brilliant colours like blue, yellow, red, green, pink, etc. in a highly painterly method of applying layer upon layer of colour pigments.
In the 1990s there have been a number of young artists full of creativity like Gu Wenda (b. 1955) [19], who has experimented not only with ink painting, but also with conceptual art and installation art. He has generated considerable controversy by using long accepted ideas and elements of traditional Chinese art in new unorthodox ways. Other interesting styles being created by artists include Shi Hu (b. 1942) [H], who has made use of modern artistic ideas and folk art to create amazing fantasy images; Chen Ping (b. 1960) [N], who paints in a primitive and naive style; Li Jin [37], who paints figures with large heads in an interesting sketch-like manner; and Wang Youzheng (b. 1941) [68], who paints realistic figures from village life with an emphasis on costumes and traditions. Wang�s paintings are often subtle in colour except for a brightly coloured focal point like a child�s costume.
The number of women painters in China is now greater than ever before in history. They are well represented by the veteran, Xiao Shufang (b. 1911) [E], whose style is reflective of Western flower painting, as well as a number of next generation artists like Zhou Sicong (1939-1996) [89], who was a fine figure painter with fresh techniques and paints figures in an Expressionistic style; Nie Ou (b. 1948) [46] who paints the rustic life of peasants in a humorous style; and Shao Fei (b. 1954) [F], whose rich colour palette incorporates elements of folk art.
While oil painting in the West appears to be in somewhat of a decline, its popularity as a medium in China has been rising and it has expanded into the mainstream market. Their oil paintings are being recognized around the world with a number of acclaimed exhibitions.
Conceptual art and avant-garde art have not fared so well in China, as they have been viewed with suspicion and as being too rebellious. Some artists were uncertain of their direction following the crackdown of the �Democracy Wall� in 1979 and the initial refusal of the authorities to allow any more shows like the two landmark controversial and dissident avant-garde Stars (Xingxing) exhibitions of 1979 and 1980 in Beijing, which called for artistic democracy. For a time there appeared to be rejections by the authorities of some art like nudes and non-representational modern art. The censorship of Yuan Yunsheng�s nudes in the wall mural entitled the �Water Splashing Festival� at the Beijing International Airport, being the most celebrated incident. It took a number of years before the censorship was overturned and the whole mural could be viewed, nudes and all.
Again with the political issues that arose with the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, the avant garde movement slowed and became cautious. These artists seem to have alien�ated themselves from the mainstream art establishment, with whom they sought to overthrow, much as the Chinese modernist painters, oil painters and printmakers did to the traditionalists in the early part of the 20th century. However, many of them have been able to make a name for themselves outside of China in the Western exhibitions, like Xing Fei, Yan Li, Zhang Wei, Zhu Jinshi, Ai Weiwei, Xu Bing and Gu Xiong (now living in Vancouver, Canada). In the last while, dramatic abstractionism and modernist experiments are occur�ring both in and outside the academies in China.
Po^Ucript
In comparison to Japanese painting of the 20th century, which so embraced Western art conventions that in many ways it became indistinguishable from Western art, Chinese paintings of the 20th century chose to go a different route and maintain a lot or at least some of its �Chineseness.� There is no mistaking the Chinese aesthetic and brushstroke in almost all Chinese paintings of this century. It is an art form that struggles both for the continuity of its great painting traditions as well as its search for identity and for meaning in the modern world.
In terms of emotion, style and technique, a creative renaissance in Chinese painting on a grand scale has happened in 20th century China. It has reached a new realm untrodden by
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