Half-life of a dream : contemporary Chinese art from the Logan collection

Book

Half-life of a dream : contemporary Chinese art from the Logan collection / Jeff Kelley [and others].

Kelley, Jeff. (Added Author). San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. (Added Author).

Summary:

Half-Life of a Dream: Contemporary Chinese Art from the Logan Collection" is a survey of post-Tiananmen Square Chinese art and culture. As this work reveals, contemporary Chinese art - often discussed as a cynical reaction to emerging consumerism or as a satiric response to the academic patriotism of socialist realism - is more haunted than cynical, more a matter of a nation's suppressed psychic expression than of pop iconoclasm or ironic detachment. The paintings, sculptures, and installations of such Chinese artists as Ai Weiwei, Liu Xiaodong, Zhang Xiaogang, and Lin Tianmiao convey the shadows that trouble their nation as it undergoes a rapid process of modernization. "Half-Life of a Dream" gathers a distinguished group of art historians and critics to assess the Logan Collection and to capture this important moment in Chinese art.

Record details

ISBN: 9780520257795
ISBN: 0520257790
Physical Description: 144 pages : illustrations (chiefly color) ; 25 cm
Publisher: [San Francisco] : San Francisco Museum of Modern Art ; ©2008.

Content descriptions

General Note:: Issued in connection with an exhibition held July 10-Oct. 5, 2008, organized by Jeff Kelley for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Bibliography, etc. Note:: Includes bibliographical references.
Formatted Contents Note:: The half-life of a dream / Jeff Kelley -- Plates -- The potency of the mask : ancient rites in contemporary Chinese art / Christoph Heinrich -- Life after history / Eleanor Heartney -- Plates -- Contemporary Chinese art : the challenge of transition / Kent Logan.
Creation/Production Credits Note:: Artists: Ai Weiwei, Fang Lijun, Li Dafang, Sui Jianguo, Zhang Xiaogang, Yue Minjun, Lin Tianmiao, Zeng Fanzhi.