China
Our interest in Chinese art goes back to 1997, when Derek Jessop exhibited the work of Yang Pei Ming and Chen Dan Qing in the exhibition “New Chinese Painting”. In those days there were few collectors for Chinese artwork, so our relationship with Chinese artists was put on hold.
We reestablished our connections with China in 2005. Our goal this time was to build an infrastructure and support for Chinese artists who want to develop international careers outside China. This is an important part of their strategy for survival and growth as the majority of collectors of Chinese art are currently outside the People’s Republic.
In 2006 we partnered with Yang Shu in opening a curatorial office at the 501 Art Warehouse in Chongqing next to the Sichuan Academy of Art. Since then we have hired Nikun as our full time curator and set up Song Youlan as our artist liason in Beijing.
In the words Waling Boers “Today’s generation of Chinese artists is working without limits regarding content, style or media… The path Chinese art is taking is both unpredictable and open. It doesn’t follow any static or linear principle of development but rather a logic of testing opportunities.”
China is a part of the art world where the rules have not been completely written and where the best way to predict the future is to participate in creating it. The adventure we have embarked on in China is working with artists of the region to help create this future.