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Hong Kong,
Hong Kong
Hi Art,
January, 2008
“The
quiet mountain and the beautiful harbor are filled with my laughter and
hope. Everything here is unforgettable. This is a heaven of love… Hong
Kong, Hong Kong.” This old song, sung by Teresa Tang used to celebrate
the freest and prosperous “Eastern Pearl”, Asia’s most international and
cosmopolitan city—Hong Kong, and it was also the catchiest tune that
commemorated a Chinese city. Although there were also songs about
Beijing, Tianjin, Taipei and Erdaohezi, I wonder who can still remember
them today; even if anyone does remember, who has the nerve to sing them
out loud?! However, the two songs that Teresa Tang sang about Hong
Kong, including the dance number: “The Night of Hong Kong”, are still on
people’s humming and singing lips. Hong Kong is not only a shopping
paradise for the mainlanders, but also a favored destination for
Westerners.
Several days
ago, the Kitty Hawk, an American Aircraft Carrier was pretty anxious for
being unable to get the approval from the Chinese government to spend
the Thanksgiving in Hong Kong. The officials, including soldiers and
captains, Department of Defense and the Secretary of the States are
still complaining about it. Although some may say that Hong Kong is a
cultural desert, such claim can only come from a narrow perspective.
Firstly, not only are there regional headquarters opened by first class
enterprises, international firms, banks and stock companies in Hong
Kong, there are also Asia head offices from well respected international
media such as The Associated Press, the Reuters, CNN, Time magazine,
Newsweek and hundreds and thousands of global newspaper and magazines.
During the handover in 97, the British rashly relocated the Reuters to
Singapore, but it only took them a year to bring the major production
team back to Hong Kong. Secondly, from the aspect of movies, Hong Kong
is the only place that can compare with Hollywood cinema in terms of the
popularity, as audience from China can easily name 20-30 Hong Kong film
stars. Meanwhile, there are more than 100 arts performances and
exhibitions opening in the city each month; world class Rock bands,
orchestra, classical or contemporary dance companies and theatres also
rush in to perform. Furthermore, one could almost get any books,
newspaper, films and cultural information from the place without much
pressure, whereas in other countries, only the approved materials can be
seen.
Hong Kong is
still a sacred land for contemporary Chinese art. And the trend for
contemporary Chinese art that is so heated today is in fact, encouraged
by the effort of Hong Kong.
Apart from
the two well-known auction houses: Sotheby’s and Christie’s, numerous
big and small galleries can be found in the city. Among the bunch,
Hanart TZ Gallery (opened in 1983), Plum Blossoms Gallery (opened in
1987) and Schoeni Gallery (opened in 1992) are the most famous, also
known as the 3 major galleries in Hong Kong.
Schoeni Art
Gallery, established by the Swiss Hotel owner—Schoeni and John
Cowperthwaite, son of the former financial secretary-- Sir John James
Cowperthwaite, began by selling antique and later, contemporary Chinese
oil paintings. The gallery is very well-managed, rarely owing money
from artists. Artists whom they have promoted include Wang Yidong, Li
Guijun, Cao Li, Qi Zhilong, Yue minjun, Yang Shaobin, Chen Yu, Zhang
Linhai, Liu Ye and so on, who also contributed the gallery with the fame
of being one the most important galleries in selling contemporary
Chinese oil paintings in Hong Kong.
Plum Blossoms
Gallery, established by an American-- Stephen McGuinnes, has opened
branches in Singapore and New York. They collect museum standard
antique textile and contemporary Asian art while also representing
outstanding ink painters such as C.C. Wang and Wu Guanzhong, and also
young contemporary ink painters like Wei Dong and me at their later
development. Plum Blossoms still remains as an extraordinary
international gallery that promotes Chinese ink paintings in Hong Kong
and even the world.
Hanart TZ
Gallery, established by Hong Konger-- Chang Tsong-zung, is located in
Hong Kong and Taipei. Chang is not only a successful businessman, but
also an important promoter for contemporary Chinese art. Born in Hong
Kong and graduated from Roger Williams University in America, he is the
founder of The International Art Critics Association (AICA) in Hong Kong
and Asia Art Archive, and an advisor on Asian Art at The Solomon R.
Guggenheim Museum, who also has been selected twice by world-renowned
magazine Art Review as one of the 100 influential powerful persons. For
the past twenty years, Hanart and Chang has participated in and curated
“Chinese New Art: Post 1989”, Sao Paulo International Biennale and
Venice Biennale, the “Power of the Word’ series of exhibitions, “Open
Asia International Sculpture Exhibition” in Venice 2005, “Strange
Heaven: Chinese Contemporary Photography”, and projects related to the
“revival of Chinese visual and material culture”. Artists whom the
gallery represents include: Taiwanese artist: Zhu Ming; mainland
artists: Zhang Xiaogang, Wang Guangyi, Chen Xiaotong, Fang Lijun, Zeng
Fanzhi, Li Shan and Hong Kong artist: Luis Chan.
Looking from
a timeline, Chang was the first person to bring in foreign financial
capital in art to the mainland China. Even Ullens, the Belgian
collector who now exhibitions his collections has said, “I was very much
inspired in Hong Kong”. Here, let me detour a little: the first person
to bring in foreign capital in arts industry to China was Brian Wallace
from the Red Gate Gallery. Both Zhang and Wallace are my good friends.
Zhang has once bought my ink painting on behalf of his friend in 1993
and he often comes to the openings of my solo exhibition at Plum
Blossoms Gallery in Hong Kong. Also, 14 years ago, Brain Wallace has
made plan with me about organizing my solo exhibition, which was finally
held in 2005. I often wonder why they had such a sharp eye and
determination in such an early stage. They are even 20 years ahead of
the boosting to contemporary Chinese art and hundreds of galleries
packed in 798, Cao Chang Di in China and other countries.
When Chang
and his gallery was promoting the “Chinese New Art: Post 1989”, it was
the time that contemporary Chinese art needed someone to feel its pulse
desperately. Ever since after the modern art exhibition at National Art
Museum of China in Beijing and the large scale of mainland artists
learning and imitating from Western contemporary art that followed,
Chinese art has reached to the low point where no one knew what the next
step should be. It was at this moment that Chang put his eyes to the
mainland and with the help of Li Xianting, discovered groups of new art
works and artists. In 1993, he organized the “ Chinese New Art: Post
1989” at Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre under the name of
Hanart TZ Gallery, which made a difference from the art trend in the
80’s. Later on, he successfully introduced contemporary Chinese art to
the world.
Until today,
the media from China and the outside world still uses the term “Post
89”. Regardless to whether it is for commercial gimmick or convenience,
everybody still remember “Post 89”, a term which carries a strong
Cantonese accent. This is all derived from the contribution of Hong
Kong galleries. Although Hong Kong is such a tiny place, it really
plays a crucial role in the development of contemporary Chinese art.
During the
late 80’s to early 90’s, everybody was waiting for hope and many have
already left the country. In between streets and roads were English
tutorial classes, TOFEL classes, Japanese classes and also, classes that
taught Cantonese. And artists at that time were like a woman who sells
DVDs under the bridge, carrying a kid in her arm today-- as soon as
someone has laid an eye on her, she would come right up and ask
“Brother, you want DVD?”
Zhu Wei
Sunday, 23
December, 2007
香港 香港
《HI艺术》2008年1月号
“寂静的山岭，美丽的海港，有我的欢笑有我的希望，这里的一切都使我难忘，这里是爱情的天堂……香港、香港。”邓丽君这首老歌唱的是当年最自由、繁荣的东方之珠，亚洲最国际化的大都市香港。也是大家唱着最顺嘴的歌颂一个华人城市的歌曲。当年有歌唱北京的，天津的，台北的，二道河子的，谁还记得住，就是真有记着会唱的，现在谁还好意思张嘴唱出来？！邓丽君为香港唱的歌一共有两首，还有一首快歌《香港之夜》，这两首歌至今一直有人在唱，在哼哼。香港不仅是大陆人购物的天堂，也是西方人、老外喜欢的旅游目的地。前几天美国航空母舰“小鹰号”因为没能得到中国政府的同意在香港过感恩节，急得直翻脸，下到水兵、舰长，上到国防部长、国务卿至今还在念叨，气还没顺。有人说香港是文化沙漠，那是因为丫奴才当惯了，睁不开眼。香港，不仅所有世界上一流的企业、跨国公司、银行、证券商在这里设立区域总部，就连美联社、路透社、CNN、《时代周刊》、《新闻周刊》这样一流的传播媒体，及成百上千家各国报纸、杂志的亚太总部也都设在这里。97年香港回归，英国人一赌气把路透社搬往新加坡，但一年后，还是将主要的制作班子迁回香港。香港的电影是世界上唯一敢跟好莱坞叫板的，大陆观众谁不能张嘴就说出二、三十个香港的影视明星来。这里每个月都有上百个艺术演出和展览开幕，世界上顶级的大牌摇滚乐队、交响乐团，古典、现代舞团、剧院都抢着在这里演出。这里还有任何你想看到的书籍、报纸、电影及文化资讯，没人拦着，在其它地方恐怕你只能看到想让你看到的。
香港还是中国当代艺术的圣地，如今这拨当代艺术火成这样，就是在香港被操作起来的。
香港除了有众所周知的苏富比、佳士得两大拍卖行以外，还有众多的大大小小的画廊。其中以1983年创立的汉雅轩、1987年创立的万玉堂、1992年创立的Schoeni画廊名声最为显赫，被称为香港的三大画廊。Schoeni
Art Gallery由瑞士来港的酒店业经营者Schoeni和前香港财政司郭伯伟的独子小郭伯伟创立，开始卖家具古董后转经营中国当代油画，经营规范，很少欠艺术家的钱，曾经推出了王沂东、李贵君、曹力、祁志龙、岳敏君、杨少斌、陈余、张林海、刘野等，成为香港经营中国当代油画的重要画廊之一；万玉堂画廊Plum
Blossoms，由美国人Stephen McGuinness创立，分别在新加坡、纽约开有分店，画廊拥有博物馆级的古董织物和亚洲当代艺术，代理有顶尖的水墨画家如C.C.Wang和吴冠中等，以及后来较为年轻的当代水墨画家我和魏东，万玉堂还是香港乃至全世界少有的以经营中国水墨画为主的跨国画廊经营者；汉雅轩画廊是由香港人张颂仁创立，其画廊分布在香港和台北。张颂仁不但是一位成功的商人，还是中国当代艺术的重要推动者。张颂仁出生在香港，毕业于美国威廉斯大学，是国际艺术批评家委员会（AICA）香港分会的创办人，还创办了亚洲艺术文献库，被选为古根海姆博物馆亚洲艺术顾问，两度入选国际著名杂志《艺术评论》最具世界影响力的100位权威人士。20年来他和汉雅轩画廊参与和策展了“后八九：中国新艺术”、“圣保罗双年展中国特展”、“威尼斯双年展”、“文字的力量”、“威尼斯国际雕塑年展”、“中国新摄影展”以及“中国视觉文化的复兴计划”。代理的画家有：台湾艺术家朱铭，大陆艺术家张晓刚、王广义、沈小彤、方力钧、曾梵志、李山，香港艺术家陈福善。
从时间上说，张颂仁是将国外的艺术金融资本带到中国大陆的第一人。就连现在敢公开将藏品展出的比利时收藏家尤伦斯也回忆说：“我在香港受到了很大启发。”捎带手说一句，第一个将国外艺术产业资本带来中国的是红门画廊的布朗。这两个人也是我的好朋友。张颂仁93年的时候就替他的朋友付钱给我购买我的水墨画，后来也参加过我在香港万玉堂画廊的个展开幕。布朗14年前就和我约定要为我做一个展览，这事也终于在2005年落停了。我一直很奇怪他们怎么能眼光那么准、提前那么早就下家伙呢？以至于后来大规模的中国当代艺术炒作，几十家上百家境内外画廊蜂拥798、草场地等等，比他们哥俩晚了近20年。
张颂仁和他的汉雅轩画廊推出“后八九中国新艺术”的时候也是在中国当代艺术最需要搭把手的节骨眼上。89年北京中国美术馆的现代艺术大展之后，大陆艺术家在完成了一波对西方当代艺术的大规模的学习和模仿之后，进入低谷，没人知道下一步该干什么。也就是在这个时候，张颂仁开始把眼光投放到大陆，在栗宪庭的帮助下搜罗了一大批新艺术家和作品，并于1993年在香港会展中心以汉雅轩画廊的名义，举办了“后八九中国新艺术”展，成功地推出“后八九”这一有别于80年代新潮艺术的全新的艺术现象。之后又把他们成功地推向世界。
时至今日，国内外艺术媒体还是在沿用“后八九”这个称谓，不管当初是为了商业噱头还是容易上口好记，反正大家现在是记住了“后八九”这个广东口音很重的词。这应该归功于香港的画廊。香港这一小小的弹丸之地，对中国当代艺术的发展起到了重要的推进作用。
80年代末90年代初，每个人都在观望等待，很多人都出国了。北京的街头巷尾除了大大小小的英语学习班、托福班、日语学习班，还有为数不少的专教人说广东话的学粤语的班，而当时的艺术家，就像现在桥底下抱小孩卖盘的，只要你往她那扫一眼，她就敢迎上来：大哥，要盘吗？
——朱伟
2007年12月23日星期日 |
