Zhang Hongtu : expanding visions of a shrinking world : [exhibition, Queens, New York, October 18, 2015-February 28, 2016

In this book, leading art experts, art historians, and critics review the life, career, and artistic development of New York based Chinese artist Zhang Hongtu. A pioneer in contemporary Chinese art, Zhang created the first example of "China Pop" art, and his oeuvre is as diverse, intellectually complex, and engaging as it is entertaining. From painting and sculpture to computer generated works and multimedia projects, Zhang's art is equally rich in terms of China's history and its current events, containing profound reflections on China's oldest cultural habits and contemporary preoccupations. He provides a model of cross-cultural interaction designed to make Asian and Western audiences look more closely at each other and at themselves to recognize the beliefs they hold and the unexamined values they adhere to. From his early work in China during the Cultural Revolution to his decades as an artist in New York, Zhang reflects the complex attitudes of a scholar-artist toward modernity, as well as toward Asian and Western societies and himself. Placing Zhang in the context of his cultural milieu both in China and in the Chinese immigrant artist community in America, this volume's contributors examine his adaptations of classic art to reflect a contemporary sensibility, his relation to Cubism and Social Realism, his collaboration with the celebrated fashion designer Vivienne Tam, and his visual critique of China's current environmental crisis. Zhang's work will be on display at the Queens Museum in New York City from October 17, 2015 to March 6, 2016. Contributors: Julia F. Andrews, Alexandra Chang, Tom Finkelpearl, Michael Fitzgerald, Wu Hung, Luchia Meihua Lee, Morgan Perkins, Kui Yi Shen, Jerome Silbergeld, Eugenie Tsai, Thuy Linh Nguyen Tu, Lilly Wei Co-published by the Queens Museum and Duke University Press. "In this book, leading art experts, art historians, and critics review the life, career, and artistic development of New York based Chinese artist Zhang Hongtu. A pioneer in contemporary Chinese art, Zhang created the first example of "China Pop" art, and his oeuvre is as diverse, intellectually complex, and engaging as it is entertaining. From painting and sculpture to computer generated works and multimedia projects, Zhang's art is equally rich in terms of China's history and its current events, containing profound reflections on China's oldest cultural habits and contemporary preoccupations. He provides a model of cross-cultural interaction designed to make Asian and Western audiences look more closely at each other and at themselves to recognize the beliefs they hold and the unexamined values they adhere to. From his early work in China during the Cultural Revolution to his decades as an artist in New York, Zhang reflects the complex attitudes of a scholar-artist toward modernity, as well as toward Asian and Western societies and himself. Placing Zhang in the context of his cultural milieu both in China and in the Chinese immigrant artist community in America, this volume's contributors examine his adaptations of classic art to reflect a contemporary sensibility, his relation to Cubism and Social Realism, his collaboration with the celebrated fashion designer Vivienne Tam, and his visual critique of China's current environmental crisis."--Publisher's description Cover Title Table of Contents Acknowledgements Foreword Chapters 1. The Displaced Artist Sees Things for Us: Zhang Hongtu and the Art of Convergence 2. Wall, Gate, Hole: Three Recurrent Motifs in Zhang Hongtu’s Art 3. Zhang’s Contemporary Cubism 4. The Man in the Moon: A Conversation with Zhang Hongtu 5. “A Hundred Ways to Learn” about Zhang Hongtu 6. Restoring the Aura 7. Zhang Hongtu: Playing with Power 8. Zhang Hongtu’s Fashionable Turn 9. Pop, Politics, and Painting 10. Zhang Hongtu’s Queens 11. What’s Next for Us? Zhang Hongtu’s Environmental Shan Shui Plates Appendix Autobiography Selected Bibliography Guide to Traditional and Simplified Chinese Characters Credits Copyright In this book leading Chinese experts review the life, career, and artistic development of the pioneering Chinese artist Zhang Hongtu, whose diverse works speak to China's past and present, the relationship between Asia and the West, and canonical Western art.