This exhibition, organized by the Frist Art Museum, included works by 21 contemporary artists from China, several of whom live in the West. The photographers are internationally celebrated for images that examine contrasts between traditionalism and globalism, the real and unreal, nature and urban life, and the personal and social that have come into sharp focus since the end of the Cultural Revolution.
Among the exhibiting artists are Zhang Huan, Rong Rong, Maleonn, Wang Gongxin and Lin Tianmiao, Yin Xiuzhen, and Sheng Qi, whose photographs link performance art with Chinese narrative traditions, showing the impact of rigid social and political structures on the individual.
Xing Danwen, Zhang Dali, Li Shan, Meng Jin, Miao Xiaochun, Sze Tsung Leong, Wang Fen, Yuan Shun and Li Tianyuan depict the emotional affects of current programs of modernization, which have required the sacrifice of much of China’s cultural heritage. More romanticized landscapes by Hong Lei, Hai Bo, Chen Changfen, Do Do Jin Ming, and Yin Xiuzhen suggest millennia-old painting styles, emphasizing the haunting beauty of China’s artistic and literary traditions, in which humanity is wholly integrated with nature.
This exhibition was supported by The HCA Foundation on behalf of HCA and the TriStar Family of Hospitals.
