Art Roundup: June 2009

Summer’s here and with it the contemporary art world’s favorite excuse for a party – the Venice Biennale, which opens June 7. The fact that Venice is one of the most beautiful cities on earth no doubt played a role in its biennale becoming the most prestigious fixture on the contemporary art calendar, but for decades now, arriving as an artist in Venice has meant you have arrived internationally.

This year, the upper echelon of Chinese contemporary art will be out in force in Venice, not just at the official China Pavilion, but also in an associated event, the quaintly named “Gift to Marco Polo” exhibition being held at the Venice International University on the island of San Servolo. Sponsored by Shanghai MOCA in cooperation with other “institutions of China Art,” the show brings a roll call of über-artists to the city under the curatorial wing of Lv Peng, China’s pre-eminent historian of Chinese modern and contemporary art. Artists cruising the canals include Zhang Xiaogang, Zhou Chunya, Wang Guangyi, Fang Lijun, Yue Minjun and Zhang Peili.

Venice, of course, helped make the careers of many of these artists; the 1993 Biennale hosted their international debut at a time when nobody was taking much notice of the Chinese contemporary art scene. Today these former debutants – artists like Zhang Xiaogang, Fang Lijun and Zhang Peili – are habitués of such festivals, but it’s nice to imagine that when they revisit Venice they spare a moment to remember when they were young and unknown.

Here in Beijing we can bask in the reflected glow from Venice, with opportunities to see a number of the aforementioned artists’ works in shows around town – check out curator Gao Minglu’s show at Today Art Museum and “19 Games” at T Art Center. Also, look for the work of Tibetan artist Gonkar Gyatso (see photo, above), a rising “star” who will be showing at the modest DAC space in 798 even as his works are being exhibited at the Arsenale in Venice.

June also finds many in the art world hanging at the most upmarket of the market-based art events, Art Basel (Jun 10-14). The New York Times has described the fair as the “Olympics of the Art World” and amongst the starters this year are leading Beijing-based galleries like Boers-Li, Long March, PKM and Galerie Urs Meile. Basel is where the galleries go to sell. Such fairs are becoming an increasingly important part of their survival strategy as they can no longer afford to wait for clients to come knocking. Venice for the culture, Basel for the money … not such a bad time to be in art after all.