Art by a Chinese artist named Liu Bolin. He specializes in camouflage painting. His work challenges us to think about identity and ambiguity in contemporary Chinese society. Click to view larger image.
It’s no secret that China has long been the world’s factory and is increasingly looking to change its position from that of producer to creator. Once upon a time the US, Japan and Germany were engineering new technical marvels and China was simply where the production would happen. That is starting to change, and China is developing new capability for aspects of design, and increasingly, seeking to grow by instigating a kind of new Cultural Revolution – one in which art and artists have new freedoms and the government recognizes that creativity needs to be encouraged to bolster the still emerging economy.
Here in Toronto we have long had government support for the arts and some long-standing galleries, museums and private art spaces, but even here artist zones or development are a relatively new idea. Liberty Village and the Distillery District are two such former industrial areas converted to live/work loft spaces with lots of cafes, galleries and condos in the mix. According to a recent TO Star article, China is incubating these new projects at a furious pace. They may not have pioneered this process but they’re ahead of the global pack (Beijing has dozens of these areas and Shanghai has hundreds). It’s all part of China’s quest to obtain what the article describes as “soft power.”
The article in the Star focuses on artist Yue Minju, one of a number of rising Chinese art stars who earn millions of dollars for their works. If you read the TO Star article 798 Art District doesn’t sound far off from Toronto’s Distillery District. Here’s a snippet to pique your interest: ”As he spoke, Minjun sat perched at a chic outdoor café in Beijing’s 798 Art District, a massive former munitions factory repurposed by the government in 2002 as a home for artist studios, galleries and boutiques. Across the way, a tourist shop’s shelves were filled with versions of his personal brand-name icon: a self-portrait frozen in a cackle of grim hysteria, on coffee mugs, calendars, notebooks and picture frames.”
Read the TO Star article.
Read about and see more of Liu Bolin’s amazing urban camouflage work at the Inspiration Room blog.
Nice work Mike… The potential for the governments of the world to turn poorly planned, abandoned formal industrial areas into artists spaces is timely and practical.