Established in Hong Kong by Chang Tsong-zung (Johnson Chang) in 1983, Hanart TZ Gallery is a pioneering gallery in the field of Chinese contemporary art. Chang—an active curator since the 1980s, co-founder of the Asia Art Archive, and guest professor of China Academy of Art in Hangzhou—is regarded as an influential figure of the Hong Kong art scene. Under Chang’s directorship, the gallery has sought to foster and introduce contemporary art from mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the region’s diaspora to the broader Asian and international art scene.
Read MoreHanart TZ Gallery has developed a key point of connection with the international art world. Numerous artists that the gallery has supported, such as Zhang Xiaogang and Zeng Fanzhi, have become internationally prominent. It has also played a role in several iconic milestone exhibitions, including The Stars: 10 Years—a major retrospective held in 1989 of the famous Chinese contemporary art group, the Stars. In 1993, Chang co-organised the landmark exhibition, China’s New Art Post-1989, which brought over 200 works by avantgarde Chinese artists to the Hong Kong City Hall. The subsequent tour of China’s New Art Post-1989 brought Political Pop artists Wang Ziwei, Li Shan, Yu Youhan, and Wang Guangyi to the Venice Biennale that same year, making them the first Chinese artists to participate in the prestigious international art event.
Hanart TZ Gallery also organised the European touring exhibition, A Strange Heaven: Contemporary Chinese Photography (2003), a landmark survey of photography by 42 Chinese contemporary artists. In China, the gallery was responsible for the solo exhibition of famed Taiwanese artist Liu Guosong at Beijing’s Palace Museum in 2007. In 2010, the gallery opened a second exhibition space, Hanart Square, in the Mai On Industrial Building in the Kwai Chung area of Hong Kong. The former industrial space provides greater room for experimental art and larger installations.
Hanart TZ Gallery’s roster incorporates a variety of established and emerging artists working in a diverse range of practices. Each artist draws elements from their own Chinese or broader Asian cultural context in contrast to Western visions of contemporary art. Over the years, the gallery has come to represent prominent, highly respected Hong Kong artists, such as Gaylord Chan, Chu Hing Wah, and Luis Chan, as well as key Taiwanese names such as Cheng Tsai-Tung, Liu Guosong, Yeh Shih-Chiang, and Yuan Goang-Ming; and prominent artists from the Chinese mainland, such as Chen Beixin, Lin Haizhong, Mao Xuhui, and Fang Lijun. First- and second-generation Chinese artists overseas, such as Chinese-American Emily Cheng, have also been incorporated in the gallery’s programme.
In its mission to bring Chinese contemporary art to the broader Asia region and the world, Hanart TZ Gallery participates in several major art fairs. These include Hong Kong’s Fine Art Asia and Ink Asia; Art Basel in Hong Kong, Miami Beach, and Basel; Taipei Dangdai; Abu Dhabi Art; The Armory Show, New York; and West Bund Art & Design, Shanghai. The gallery also fosters the spread of knowledge and dialogue around contemporary Asian art through pan-Asian talks and discussions hosted by the gallery, and the production of a variety of literature (producing over 100 publications in the last 30 years). In 2015, the gallery published a seminal study of Chinese art from the past century, 3 Parallel Artworlds: 100 Art Things from Chinese Modern History, featuring writing by 14 international scholars examining 100 works by Chinese artists.
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In this video Artshare.com talks with leading expert and Chinese contemporary art pioneer, Johnson Chang Tsong-zung. We discuss his gallery, Hanart TZ, his views on the market, on the Hong Kong art scene and much more.
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