Artist Wang Qiuren (left) chats at his home in Xiaopu Village of the Tongzhou Artists' Community with some artist friends, who were greeted with tea during a visit. Photographer: Xu Jingxing.

"The better living conditions and encouraging artistic atmosphere in the community are beneficial to the progress of my art, especially in my understanding of contemporary art," said Cui, a graduate from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing and one of the most active young feminist artists in China.

"Although artists here do not meet as often as in downtown Beijing, the phenomenon that so many artists living independently in a small area is certainly noticeable," said Li Tianyuan, an oil painter and teacher at the art school of Qinghua University who also has a home and studio in the community.
"This, as a result, makes Tongzhou more international with more opportunities for emerging artists," he said.

WANG YIN, 2000 No. 8,2000, oil on canvas, 180 x 300 cm. Zhang Zhaohui, 35, an art critic and curator focusing on contemporary Chinese art, is grateful for more than a year's worth of living in Tongzhou after he completed his graduate studies at Bard College in New York in 1998. "It was a very important start for my career, especially at the moment when I just returned from the United States, where I learned art curating and promotion," said Zhang, who recently became a full-time curator at the He Xiangning Art Museum in Shenzhen of South China's Guangdong Province. Zhang began to research and promote new Chinese art in Tongzhou, where he was able to get acquainted with many promising contemporary artists. "One of my most exciting experiences in Tongzhou was that I opened my gallery of Tongzhou artists' works in a big apartment with the help of a friend," said Zhang. "During my stay there, I also finished 30 articles and three books on Chinese and Western art."

GAO HUIJUN, Soundless Songs, 1999, oil on canvas, 105 x 105 cm.

Although Tongzhou Artists' Community is more commercialized and the artists are better off as compared with the utopian Old Summer Palace Artists' Village, some experts criticize that its art market is obviously limited to foreigners, either foreigners living in Beijing or international art dealers.

Experts say it's a shame that domestic collectors have little interest in collecting new Chinese art, which led to the loss of many excellent works to foreigners.

It is important for China to develop its art market by encouraging the involvement of domestic art dealers, collectors and museums in contemporary Chinese art, the experts say.

Date: 04/05/2000
Author: YANG YINGSHI, China Daily staff
Copyright? by China Daily