Copyright by <Chang Tan> <2008> The Dissertation Committee for Chang Tan Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Playing Cards with Cézanne: How the Contemporary Artists of China Copy and Recreate Committee: Sung-Sheng Yvonne Chang, Supervisor Katharine Burnett Neville Hoad Richard Shiff Seth Wolitz Playing Cards with Cézanne: How the Contemporary Artists of China Copy and Recreate by Chang Tan; B.A., M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin August 2008 iii Acknowledgements My thanks go to, first and foremost, Sung-Sheng Yvonne Chang, who not only acted as my advisor for this dissertation, but also offered me steady guidance as well as generous support throughout my graduate years. Without her encouragement, I would not have been able to take up this very challenging project in the first place. I also want to thank my wonderful committee members, Seth Wolitz, Neville Hoad and Richard Shiff, who inspired me with their own brilliant works in their respective fields, and who helped to set me in the right course at different stages of my writing process. My very special thanks go to Katharine Burnett, whose expertise was indispensable for my line of research, and who went out of her way to give me more attention and assistance than I could have possibly asked myself. Both the Comparative Literature program and the Asian Studies Department at University of Texas at Austin assisted me in many ways during my graduate studies. I am especially grateful for the unwavering support from Elizabeth Richmond-Garza, who warmth and leadership helped me through the most difficult times. Finally, I am deeply grateful to my family members who, though far away from me, never failed to make me feel that they were by my side. I want to also extend my thanks to all the friends who gave me moral support, encouragement, and much-needed iv diversions during the past years. All of which, no doubt, makes my years of research and writing possible and productive. v Playing Cards with Cézanne: How the Contemporary Artists of China Copy and Recreate Publication No._____________ Chang Tan, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2008 Supervisor: Sung-Sheng Yvonne Chang My dissertation investigates the concepts and techniques of “copying” and appropriation in contemporary Chinese art, which, despite its phenomenal growth, has seldom been credited as original. Critics either condemn the Chinese artists’ willingness to appropriate from others as a lack of individuality, or declare it as a peculiarly “Chinese” quality. This paper, instead, argues that the Chinese artists deliberately adopt such “copying” as a visual strategy, in order to reexamine the traditions they “borrowed”, to reflect on their own cultural status in the modern world, and to challenge the conventional concept of originality—namely, to show that originality is not created by irreducible individuality or mystified inspiration, but by the author’s choice as well as manipulation of contexts. This strategy, I argue, is essential to the proper evaluation and interpretation of contemporary Chinese artworks. The first two chapters of my dissertation focus on laying out the context from which this art grows. I review how the ideas, styles and institutional structures of western vi modern art were imitated, questioned and redefined by the Chinese artists, from 1978 to the present; I then examine the conceptual complexity of originality and “copying” in the theories of modernism, postmodernism, postcolonialism and in traditional Chinese art. The next two chapters focus on, respectively, calligraphy and photography in contemporary Chinese art, both of which contain the paradox between originality and “copying” in their very nature. The works of four artists, Xu Bing, Qiu Zhijie, Hong Hao and Zhao Bandi, are discussed in details. Xu's site-specific reproduction of “pseudo characters” manage to engage its targeted audiences, psychologically and physically; Qiu's obsessive yet futile copying of a canon of calligraphy returns the act of writing to its essence—a physical pursuit of one's spiritual state of being; Hong's photographic emulation of an ancient masterpiece suggests that painting may excel photography in its ability to portray a grand cityscape; Zhao’s simulacrum of pop culture paradigms enables him to evade political censorship, and to have an substantial yet ironic impact in a broader public sphere. Each of these works has made a unique contribution to the redefinition of artistic originality. vii Table of Contents List of Figures…………………………………………………………………….x Introduction………………………………………………………………………1 Chapter I The "Copying" of Modernism in Contemporary Chinese Art, and the Institutional Shift it Brings………………………………………………...21 Battle Between Realism and Modernism, before 1978…………………....21 The New Wave, and Embrace of the Modern……………………………..25 Contemporary Art after 1989: Global and Local………………………….30 Toward a Modern Institution: the Paradigm and the Alternatives………...40 Margin or Center: The Direction of Experimental Art……………………50 Modernity and Tradition, Reproduced……………………………………58 Chapter II Repetition and Reproduction: A New Vocabulary for Modern Art...65 Modernism Revisited: Dissecting the Cult of Originality………………....65 Criticism of the Postmodern: Repetition without an Original?..…………..72 "Dislocated Repetition": Modernity in the Third-World………………......79 The Concept of Mofang in Traditional Chinese Art……………………....85 Chapter III Obsessed with Copying: Games and Rituals in Modern Calligraphy………………………………………………………………...94 The Art of Calligraphy: Power or Play?.......................................................94 The "Modernization" of Calligraphy Since 1985………………………...103 Xu Bing: The Art of Writing in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction….114 Qiu Zhijie: Maximum Repetition, Minimum Results……………………128 Chapter IV Simulacra or Reality: Irony and Emulation in Experimental Photography……………………………………………………………...144 The Art of the Camera: Realism or Manipulation………………………..144 "From Zero to Infinity: Photography in Contemporary China……….......151 Hong Hao: Emulation of a Canon………………………………………..159 Zhao Bandi: The Ultimate Simulacrum……………………………….….173 viii Conclusion……………………………………………………………………...186 Bibliography ........................................................................................................205 Vita…………….....................................................................................………..213 ix List of Figures Figure 1: Li Chao, I Don’t Want to Play Cards with Cézanne, 1988. Gouache on paper, 16 ¾ × 20 in. ……………...………..………………………………………………….…..1 Figure 2: Fu Baoshi, Guan Yueshan, Jiangshan ruci duojiao [Land So Rich in Beauty], 1960. Ink and color on paper, 9 × 5.5m, ……………………………………….23 Figure 3: Wang Guangyi, New Coca-Cola, 2002. Lithography, 34 × 30 in..……..….36 Figure 4: Fang Lijun, Series 2: No. 2, 1992. Oil on canvas, 200 x 200cm…………...37 Figure 5: Zhang Dali, Demolition Forbidden City, 1998. Photograph……………….38 Figure 6: Rong Rong, East Village, Beijing No. 1. 1994. Gelatin Silver Print……….52 Figure 7: The Exhibition Hall of the 798 Space Gallery, Beijing, 2003……………...52 Figure 8: Gu Gan, Shangshui qing [Mountain Water Sentiments], 1985. Color and ink on paper…………………………………………………………………….......103 Figure 9: Gu Gan, Dongxi nanbei heweigui, [East West North South, Harmony is the Most Precious], 1992. Ink and color on paper. ………………………………...105 Figure 10: Song Gang, Diary (Shenghuo riji), 1989. Ink on paper…………………...107 Figure 11: Wang Nanming, Ziqiu Zuhe (Word Ball Combo), 1991. Paper and ink…..110 Figure 12: Zhang Qiang, Tianyi nongying No.3 [Heavenly Playing with Clothes and Shadows], 1993. Performance......…………..………………...………………..111 Figure 13: Xu Bing, Tianshu, [Book from the Sky], 1987. Mixed media installation, scrolls and hand-printed books…………………………………………………115 Figure 14: Xu Bing, Tianshu, one sample page. 1988………………………………..117 Figure 15: Zhu Qingsheng, Pseudo-Calligraphy, 1985. Ink on Paper………………..117 Figure 16: Xu Bing, Tianshu, installation view from the exhibition Three Installation by Xu Bing at the Elvehjim Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1992…………………………………………………………………………….121 Figure 17: Xu Bing, Square Calligraphy (Yingwen fangkuaizi shufa), writing materials, 1994……………………………………………………………………………..124 Figure 18: Xu Bing, Square Calligraphy Classroom, installation view of the Institute of Contemporary Art, London. 1995………………………………………………124 Figure 19: Qiu Zhijie, Chaoxie Lantingjixu yiqian bian (Copying the Orchid Pavilion Preface for a Thousand Times). 1990-1992. Ink on paper……………………..129 x Figure 20: Qiu Zhijie, Jinianbei—jiyi kaogu [Cenotaph—Archeology of Memory], mixed media installation, 2007………………………………………………………..136 Figure 21: Qiu Zhijie, Jinianbei—jiyi kaogu, in process, 2006………………………..136 Figure 22: Qiu Zhijie, 24 Jieqi: Lidong [24 Seasons: the Start of Winter], 2005. Color photograph……..……………………………………………………………….139 Figure 23: Qiu Zhijie, 607 ge xianzai [607 Now], 2005. Colored photographs.……...141 Figure 24: Jin Bohong, The Echoing Wall, a work in the first Nature, Society and Man exhibition, 1979. Black-and-white photograph………………………………...152 Figure 25: Wu Jun, Shangfang zhe—People Pleading for Justice from the Higher Authorities, 1977, color photograph……………………………………………154 Figure 26: Hong Hao, Selected Scriptures, page 331, The Strategic