China is booming! In the wake of economic liberalization, the nation's art scene has taken flight as well. The Swiss collector Uli Sigg, formerly his country's ambassador to Beijing, has followed the rapid pace of development since the 1980s, compiling along the way the world's largest collection of contemporary Chinese art, comprising more than 1,200 works by some 180 artists. Mahjong, named after the popular and ancient Chinese game of chance, presents more than 200 paintings, drawings, sculptures, photographs, video pieces and installations from Sigg's collection. Alongside them hang such curiosities as vintage Mao posters. In addition to a number of internationally famous works, such as Ai Weiwei's Han vase with Coca-Cola logo, Fang Lijun's bald heads or Xu Bing's "Xinglish" calligraphy, this book also offers readers a unique opportunity to discover tremendously gifted artists still largely unknown outside China.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
good overview.+ pictures + weak essay,
By mdr "mdr" (4points) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mahjong: Contemporary Chinese Art From The Sigg Collection (Hardcover)
if you are not familiar with the contemporary chinese art scene for the last 20 years, this book gives you a good overview of the various chinese artists that have made a name. mr. sigg, who was a swiss ambassador in china and far east, have accumulated an impressive collection in the manner of saatchi. however, the point of view is always from a western persepctive of what is interesting in china, and additionally, the criticism/essays are weak. many of the pop, expressionistic, photo reality-illusion, baconesque, and conceptual artworks created by the majority of the chinese artists are nothing more than copies of western artists from the 1930's to current except that the image is chinese. just because, mao appears in coca cola sign or mao is painted like richter or bacon doesn't make many of the artworks into anything significant other than it is documenting the art situation. there are very few chinese artists (such as xu bing, cai quo qiang) that are really interesting in both ideas and conception, but there are many nice copies of western ideas. as usual, even though the chinese contemporary artworld is still a baby, it is already catagorized such as "myths and legends, contemporary life, city vs. countryside, and etc."
however, this is the current situation of the chinese art world, and for those who need to see who/what is popular amongst western/chinese collectors of chinese works, this is an informative book.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
overview of the diversity of styles and subjects of contemporary Chinese art,
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This review is from: Mahjong: Contemporary Chinese Art From The Sigg Collection (Hardcover)
The more than 200 items (out of a total of 1200) from the collection of Uli Sigg, Switzerland's former ambassador to China, make an eclectic selection which convincingly demonstrates that Chinese art is now truly modern and contemporary; although many international art buyers have been aware of this for some time. Chinese art is no longer statist or propagandistic; although remnants of this can occasionally be seen. But parodies and in a few instances criticisms of the old statist or propagandistic models can more often be seen. And Chinese art has clearly moved away from its foundation in the cult of Mao and subjects and themes determined by this. In the many works handsomely presented, one finds all of the mediums and techniques, many of the subjects (e. g., popular culture), and some of the stances and perspectives (e. g., irony, iconoclasm) of contemporary art. Although as one would expect given the long domination of Chinese Communism and the nation's ingrained Confucianism, the outer reaches--or depths--of the pornographic and seedy have not been reached. One notes too that although there is a free use of many different types of materials, neither industrialization nor environmentalism have been incorporated into Chinese art. Despite such absences, Chinese art is seen as mostly a genre of international art; so much so that one of the essays raises the question, "Chineseness--Is There Such a Thing?" An informative survey of the best of Chinese art in all forms over the recent decades.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Eye opener for Chinese Modern Arts,
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This review is from: Mahjong: Contemporary Chinese Art From The Sigg Collection (Hardcover)
I haven't seen such a incredibly complete book on Chinese Today's arts as this book. It covers basically all areas and good interviews and essays. Must say that after viewing the whole book, I found a few difference between so called chinese modern arts and western modern arts. "Globalisation effects!!"
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