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Realism in Beijing China

Wang Yi Dong

20 Artists of Exhibition
“China Realism Picture Group”
Understanding Contemporary Chinese Art

Xin Dong wang

Various genres of art such as contemporary and traditional, popularize the condition of the Chinese art-world. Especially at auctions held in China, prices are constantly escalating and breaking new records. Many Chinese artists are now starting to become represented at auctions outside of China. As the popularity of Chinese art increases, there are “copy-cat” artists, but as a whole, it is a good sign for Chinese art in the future.

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Tenmyouya Hisashi: Kabukimono of the Contemporary Age

Tenmyouya’s started his career as an art director of a record company and then became an artist. He studied painting by himself and specialized in Japanese traditional painting (nihonga) within which he would include Rimpa, Kano and Ukiyo e. But he uses contemporary media such as acrylic instead of traditional Japanese paints. Tenmyouya’s works have a stunning graphic quality and look as if they were created by graphic software such as Adobe Photoshop, but most of his works are paintings. He is known both for depicting scenes of contemporary youth culture, social satire and Zen Buddhist paintings often with a bizarre twist. This year Tenmyouya was one of the 14 artists commissioned to participate in the FIFA World Cup official artist poster project.

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Blue on Blue: The Refined Palette of Shingo Francis

Shingo Francis was born with both the advantage and disadvantage of having a great and famous father, Sam Francis. The advantage is that because of the fame of his father people more willingly turn their attention to the work of his son. The disadvantage is that he has somehow to create a world completely different from his father. Sam Francis was one of the giants of twentieth century art and his prolific creativity will surely only increase in reputation. But his extraordinary legacy makes him a hard act to follow. Shingo has been solving that problem by returning to minimalism.

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