The White Rabbit exhibition at the Samstag is a portion of the contemporary Chinese art collection of the White Rabbit Gallery in Sydney which claims to be perhaps the second most important of its type in the world today. The Samstag exhibition is also the major part of the visual arts program of this year’s OzAsia Festival.
In the context of the White Rabbit collection, ‘contemporary’ refers to works of this millennium which in turn are considered to be of the third phase of overall contemporary Chinese art that kicked off around 1985. This phase heralds from China’s hard won entry into the World Trade Organisation in 2001 and is marked by its emphasis on individuality, with artists involved not old enough to have lived in the days of Mao and the Cultural Revolution.
Nonetheless, whether by curatorial choice or generally, the collection has a very political feel to them. If art is a way to express one’s feelings about the world around you (eg Australian landscapes of the Heidelberg School), then the world of these contemporary Chinese artists does not indicate any sense of individual freedom but rather persistent anxiety due to state domination, violence and repression.
With China now little more a capitalist country without democracy, this uncomfortable feel should make us all the more wary of where our economic dependence (or at least current prosperity) is coming from and where it may lead.
There are many provocative works to enjoy but my favourite is Wang Zhiyuan’s Object of Desire (pictured), a huge fibreglass construction of a piece of pink lady’s underwear. In it, behind opened curtains, is a reclining, corpulent bureaucrat (as the devil) gawking at the breasts of some local prostitute. Above them is written ‘Diamonds Matter Most’. The work is garish and offensive with its flashing party lights and sound track, yet so large as to make it both unavoidable and almost part of the cultural furniture.
The exceptional craftsmanship of in Shi Jindian’s motorbike and side car (Blue) is also worth the trip. Made entirely of stainless steel yet it is at times so delicate and precise in its construction of detail (of petrol caps, engine parts, gauges and the like) that you think maybe it is of cotton or even the work of a creative spider.
Zhou Xiaohu’s Renown features a video installation of some luminary prattling on to recording media of the West. No translation is provided (and is not much needed) of his thoughts but the more you look at or observe the work the more one questions the status the media is according this fellow, nicely dressed in white, and how narrow are his thoughts and the picture casual viewers in the West receive of China generally relative to the horror of the whole.
This is a thought provoking exhibition worthy of a visit, especially as OzAsia kicks in.
Also see the video on the exhibition at Samstag Exhibition Video
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