When ShanghArt Gallery opened its doors in Shanghai in 1996, it was one of the first contemporary art galleries in China. Today, the gallery operates from two spaces in the city (West Bund and Putuo District), with additional locations in Beijing and Singapore.
Read MoreCommitted to furthering the practice of contemporary art both at home and abroad, ShanghART Gallery encourages dialogue and research through its vast library at ShanghART West Bund and ShanghART Videotheque, a collection of nearly 600 contemporary video works that was founded in 2008.
ShanghART Gallery represents contemporary Chinese and Chinese-born artists across generations. Senior artists include David Diao, a New York based painter recognised for his abstract works; Geng Jianyi, a pioneer of the 85 New Wave Movement—an avantgarde art movement that swept across China between 1985 and 1989, with a drive for new themes, media, and subject matter; and key players of Political Pop—which emerged in the 1990s and gained attention for combining western pop art with Chinese traditional iconography as a way of extending social critique—such as Li Shan, Wang Guangyi, and Yu Youhan.
Many of the younger Chinese artists represented by ShanghART Gallery work with the photographic or video medium, among them Toronto-based Liang Yue, who employs easily accessible materials; Yang Fudong, renowned for his dreamlike, often fragmented films that explore the social-political conditions of contemporary China; and Sun Xun, whose animated films—consisting of hand-drawn monochrome ink paintings and drawings—engage with alternative narratives.
Among the international artists on the gallery roster are the Indonesian-born Melati Suryodarmo, whose research of the body manifests as photography, performance, and video; Thai artist Apichatpong Weerasethakul, whose films explore personal and collective memories; and Arin Rungjang, also hailing from Thailand, who often works with video and installation to consider unknown histories and the relationship between personal and public recollections of the past.
An active player at international art fairs, ShanghART Gallery participates in ART021 Shanghai; The Armory Show; Art Basel; Art Basel Hong Kong; Art Taipei; Art Yangtze; Photofairs Shanghai; and West Bund Art & Design, among others.
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