YouweiCheng_Dissertation.pdf

This dissertation will delve into the perplexing nature of the “contemporaneity” of Chinese art and how it would reflect and interrogate contemporary Chinese art, the dislocated context, and the imaginative cultural identity. Starting by understanding contemporary art and how it would relate to the Chinese context of art, then investigating the evolution of Chinese art in a historical sense, and later discussing wherein a global context Chinese Contemporary art scene is positing.

The entire piece would excavate and inform what is Contemporary Art happening in this Eastern tradition. In the realm of Chinese art, the concepts of “Contemporary Art”, “Modern Art”, “Postmodern Art” and “Avantgarde Art” are strangely borrowed from each other and lack effective explanation. What is “contemporaneity” ? Is “Contemporary Art” a historical concept of stages or a normative concept of logic? What is the relationship between contemporary art and avant-garde art, modern art and postmodern art? How to understand contemporary art and those terms in a precisely Chinese historical context?