 ditorial Note: Wang Huangsheng is the director of Guangdong Museum of Art. He has published several books on art history and his painting works. As an art critic, he is also the chief editor of the "Art Museum" magazine. ArtZineChina interviewed him recently on the issue of contemporary art in Guangdong.
ArtZineChina: First, I would like to ask, ever since the ‘85 New Wave' movement, what special characteristics haven been produced by the whole of Guangdong’s contemporary art?
Wang Huangsheng: Yes, speaking from the '85 art's trend of thought’s point of view - at that period of time, with the north, or rather, Beijing, being the central area for in various types of art, it was carried out very vigorously. Like Hubei, founder of "Art thought," Jiangsu, the "Jiangsu Pictorial," and Hunan, which later had magazines and artists. That is to say, there are some important art phenomena and publications. As for Guangdong, in the early 80s, there were some small groups, such as Guangzhou's "Studio 105," which explored the relationships between different forms of art and art and  philosophy. Such as the Southern art salon. They integrated a number of performing arts together. Formally, it was also a breakthrough, for the domestic impact by the Southern art salon was great. From the ‘90s onwards, some members of the Southern art salon interpreted it as a "backward" studio. At that time, “backward” was a more loosely scattered group of artists and they had no declaration. Again and again, these artists concentrated on their art exhibitions, and at the same time, continuously expanded their influence and popularity, which later received close attention and interests by the foreign arts.
Discussing from “backward” ‘85 point of view, this phenomenon, back in Guangdong’s eco-art, had many special features. Many art groups from the north are critical and targeted for they often meet together and have a clear art program and declaration of art. The northern salon, “backward” – their actions are ones of artists gathering and doing things together. Of course, their art works are focused and are not directed against the large and vague cultural and historical issues, but rather, at a local culture, such as business problems, personal problems, artistic ontology etc. They aim at more specific things, and then do the things that they feel that they should be doing. We should say that “backward” is more sensitive towards such a specific region in the South. This is probably because people in the materialistic society, or inside a particular environment, feel the commercial tide and a state of a change of heart. Unlike the North, who are more concerned about the relationships with politics, society, and history, “Backward” is more sensitive towards these things, for they started intervening and solving problems such as the relationship between people and the business community at an earlier stage. With specific social atmosphere and the economic environment, and also problems met at the foundation point for the arts, “Backward” expressed interest in  representing for Guangdong’s contemporary art features and trends. Southern artists have a very distinct characteristic: they are more loosely scattered. After gathering together, they are sensitive to their surroundings, such as the relationship between an individual and an individual in a particular society. Artists from the South and Guangdong are both more sensitive towards these things and keen about activities such as these.
ArtZineChina: Judging from the art forms, are these not the same as those in the North? Take the paintings, installation and videos for example.
Wang Huangsheng: Actually it is, and this is more of an amateurish problem than one of great importance. Let us not further discuss this problem. When creating their works, artists use a lot of different techniques. Contemporary artists in particular are very daring in their work. They are able to express their ideas, acquire it, and then use it. A particular feature about the south is their early usage of images and photography. Of course this is cannot be said for everything for we have a wide variety of different practices and techniques. It all depends on what the artist is trying to express.
ArtZineChina: Is there anything in which you feel is a more important art activity or artist’s work?
Wang Huangsheng: Actually, yes. Looking at Guangzhou’s eco-art, a few very specific stages and events are worth paying attention to. “Studio 105” is one of them as in the early 80s, Li Zhentian, Yang Yong and their group began to explore different art forms, and the relationship between art  and its philosophy. It is because at that time, people often debated about philosophy. Some started from the concept of art, but "Studio 105" started more from the relationship between the art form and its philosophy, including the problems which arose from ontology. The southern art salon also had a lot of new breakthroughs. In my opinion, some of their techniques are more advanced as the technique of combining images and performances were rare.
In about 1986, contemporary artists and theorists from the all over the country gathered at the Zhuhai conference. While exploring the issues of contemporary art, the so-called North-South battle arose. As the majority were theorists and artists from the north. We headed down to the south to Guangzhou, Zhuhai. The “South art salon” and “Studio 105” already had some influence. Their concepts of art resulted in a debate, which was quite a fierce controversy from what I heard. At that time, Guangdong’s impact on history was a very interesting historical issue. After 1992, the art market in Guangdong had had a head start. The Guangdong "Contemporary Art Biennial Exhibition" oil painting section was planned by Lu Peng. From the style of the exhibition to the exploration of the issues to the demonstration of features, I think it can be referred to as an evolution of times. It is only in these particular circumstances in Guangzhou, there are such specific historical stages, which results in activities with the art market’s mode of operation being cut into. The promotion of the art market’s mode of operation and the contemporary art are both combined together.
ArtZineChina: Does the mode of operation in the art market you mentioned refer to the Biennale or something else?
 Wang Huangsheng: It refers to the Triennial. With an academic approach and the combination of the market’s method etc., it seems that the relationship between the arts sponsorship and the artists and their works, including the promotion of some artists. At that time, a new term was used: operator. The academic operation and the market operation were made more formal and with a bigger impact.
ArtZineChina: Would this be considered the first, nationwide?
Wang Huangsheng: It is the first, especially in the arts market.
ArtZineChina: Could it be considered to have an economic and social impact on this side of Guangdong?
Wang Huangsheng: There is little impact. On the surface, Guangzhou’s economy and market appear to be more active, but in reality as far as I know, at that time, the source of funds did not come from Guangdong but from Chengdu and Sichuan. It is the support of Sichuan’s enterprises, but with the offices located in Guangzhou. At that time, Guangzhou was more open, further from Hong Kong but closer to Macau, making the access into and out of Guangzhou more convenient.
ArtZineChina: According to my understanding, Guangzhou had an earlier development of contemporary ink painting. Was this the case? And are there more contemporary ink painting exhibitions here?
Wang Huangsheng:I do not think that is the case. Guangzhou has a few artists who work with contemporary ink paintings, and the works by  artists, such as Huang Yilun, Zhou Yong and Wei Qingji, who continually persists in this area of art, are not bad at all. Artists from the north, such as Liu Zijian, have become an important factor in the world of contemporary ink paintings. Pi Daojian, Lü Hong and I are more interested in contemporary ink paintings and have contributed some contemporary ink painting pieces. In 2001, the 20th Chinese experimental ink painting exhibition that Pi Daojian and I held was also the academic sort of large-scale exhibition. We got to experience contributing to Guangzhou’s experimental ink painting. Theorist and scholars were present. However this is more of a controversial matter. The relationship between experimental ink paintings and contemporary art is that part of contemporary art is independent. Can it enter the international large-scale art events? Or would it remain on the edge? All these are worth discussing. Especially contemporary art, which is heading towards a more open territory; videos, installations and images are becoming more well-known and receiving more attention while experimental ink paintings are becoming increasingly marginal. Hence, this matter is worth further discussing.
ArtZineChina: Guangdong contemporary art has another evident phenomenon: the earlier works by Guangdong artists are in Guangdong, followed by north immigrants drifting or going abroad. Artists like Wang Du, Li Jing and Cao Fei later left Guangzhou. Is this phenomenon of any relation to the whole of the market?
 Wang Huangsheng: This phenomenon is not out of the ordinary. People leaving and entering is normal. Places such as Sichuan and Shanghai also experience this phenomenon. There are also a lot of artists from the north, who migrated over, such as the Hubei group, Yang Guoxin and Fang Shaohua. This phenomenon is normal in my opinion. If we speak from the eco-art point of view, or from a better point of view, they are all more individualized issues. Everyone does what they have to do. There is no place like 798 with that kind of appeal all combined together and with the studios of the artists all located in different areas. Another point is that the artist’s mindset, which is relatively more relaxed. It might be that the market’s issues are not as urgent. In Beijing, at 798, where some people are very popular and where the markets are filled with high quality products, you need to be able to discern between the qualities of these goods.
Although Guangdong does not possess a lot of high quality goods, the mentality of the artists are quite interesting. However, speaking from a negative point of view, Guangdong lacks any form of art criticism as people mind their own businesses. It lacks a sense of unity and collaboration. Secondly, the market here is not like the ones of the north, such as Shanghai or Beijing, where the art market is more dynamic and filled with various opportunities. Hence, the artists in Guangzhou live a more challenged lifestyle in order to survive. In order for him to receive a bigger space, interest and result, the artist needs to venture out. Another point is the environment for academic research which brings about two totally separate points of view. On one  hand, it was occupied by the materialistic and political mainstream, whereas on the other hand, it has involves an academic discussion. With regards to these influences and dynamics etc, it is all very limited. A better academic environment is hard to be developed due to this.
ArtZineChina: What roles have the Guangzhou Museum of Art and the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts played in terms of eco-art?
Wang Huangsheng: I am more familiar with the Guangdong Museum of Arts. Ever since the establishment of the Guangdong Museum of Arts, we have been adhering to cultural ideals and promoting in culturally and academically. This includes an academic attitude to the issues of art history. A more serious and orderly approach we can take towards the academic approach is to dig and organize a certain phenomenon, individual, products, information, events etc, from art history. Towards local art history, we have been taking an independent academic approach to it, not accepting external political or surrounding economical influences, but rather, working in accordance with the standards of academics, cultural ideals and attitude. We have helped organize exhibitions for some of Guangdong’s most important artists. Artists such as Tan Huamu, Fu Luofei, Feng Gangbai and Zhao Shou are regarded as important artists in the history of art today, but were neglected over a long period of time. This is all done by us, including some of these events:  Northwest Heritage mission study tours of historical events, the relationship between the avant-garde artists in Guangdong in the 30s and Shanghai, and the arts from Mao Zedong’s time, are all carried out from the space of art history. On the other hand, the promotion of contemporary art - Contemporary Art is a kind of access to the current activities of the art of characterization. Overall, it reflects and captures all aspects of contemporary culture - From exhibitions, collections and surveys from data collection etc, some works are more full-scaled and comprehensive. This includes raising awareness and knowledge about contemporary art to the public, as we focus more attention in promoting all aspects of contemporary art. After years of hard work and effort, we seek to promote these works, and to further our studies on society’s aesthetics, so as to study and understand the demands for the arts and culture. We realized that the society is ever-changing, hence the feeling and demand for contemporary art is not as simple as we had imagined. Through contemporary art, the public will gain a new kind of cognition for society, inspired creativity, and a new of thinking. In whatever contemporary art events we’ve done, we aim to promote Chinese contemporary art exhibitions and to inspire and enlighten the public of new ideas and new ways of thinking. This new method and new of thinking is what the entire society needs.Hence, I feel that our efforts are worth it. In Guangdong, this is obvious to all. Guangdong’s Museum of Art has been established for 10years and has undergone a huge change. This includes Guangdong’s recent Triennial, whose subject was so obscure, making it difficult to understand contemporary art. However, according to the reviews, after purchasing a ticket, normal audiences would visit three to four times, and realize that there’s something of interest in there. This is a complicated phenomenon found in society. Art should be created to encourage freedom; freedom for the public to speak freely and to stimulate their own creativity.
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