Beijing

“Cynical realism—it’s the intelligent man’s best excuse for doing nothing in an intolerable situation.”  - Aldous Huxley

In Beijing, October of 2006 two monumental art world events coincided to the fanfare of a million camera shutters: the opening of the Today Art Museum’s new museum in Beijing’s Pingod District, and within it the second great event: the first solo exhibition on the Mainland of one of China’s most archetypical contemporary painters and celebrated “cynical realist” – Fang Lijun. It was a strange “debut” in his hometown although he is arguably the most recognizable Mainland artist in the world.

Fang Lijun’s baldheads against desperate landscapes are an international iconic symbol of contemporary Chinese art, and Fang is the commonly accepted as the definitive “cynical realist.” The school that he so roundly represents, Cynical Realism, and its contemporary, Political Pop have become the two most identifiable and uniquely “Chinese” contemporary art movements from the mainland—they are also some of the highest priced works in the international art market today.

Cynical Realism at a Glance

Cynical Realist painting, which emerged in the early 1990s, was a patent step away from the collective mindset that prevailed in the Cultural Revolution and towards personal expression. It is often linked with the political events of 1989 that left a sour taste in the hearts and psychologies of many creative intellectuals in Beijing. Although its relationship with society and politics is ambiguous, socio-political themes still emerge in form and content. Perhaps the differ politics are seen from a distance and Cynical Realists take no clear pro-con stance on issues. The result is a cold, realistic view of a Chinese society in transition, a “stylized ambivalence” and a form of humor–later called “grey humor”–that transcends the political realm although its roots clearly lie there. Fang Lijun is known for integrating characteristic individual touches, such as the dusty landscapes of his native Hebei, other “Cynical Realist” artists include: Yue Minjun, XXX. 

Fang Lijun was born in Hebei Province in 1963 and graduated from China’s most celebrated arts academy, the Central Academy of Art in Beijing, in 1989. In the early 90s he joined Beijing’s “Yuanmingyuan Artist Community”, where other bohemians were already taking shelter in their creative companionship, living on mere cents a day and creating in a virtual vacuum. There was no market for their works, no glimpse of hope for public exhibitions or mainstream forum in which to discuss their works. In this unparalleled creative incubator these artists endured truly “realist” (frugal) lifestyles, sacrificing material comforts for their passions. Many Chinese artists who claim success today were part of this early community: Yue Minjun, Yang Shaobin, Wang Jinsong, and Song Yonghong. They bonded together in bitter poverty, painting, drinking and cavorting on the fringes of Beijing’s society, both geographically and allegorically.

Cynical Realism was “born” of this bohemian climate in the early 90s, a time when the avant-garde was malnourished in Chinese society, art galleries were non-existent but replaced by a hive of underground activity like the Yuanmingyuan Artist Community, the “East Village” and independent curators and the famed police-busted exhibitions. As a young painter among them, Fang Lijun was fortunate to put on his resume that his first exhibition was the 45th Venice Biennale in 1993. A series of European exhibitions followed, as well as his inclusion in every international show outlining Chinese contemporary painting in the past 15 years. As he rode to fame he elevated the name “Cynical Realism” along with him.

Chinese Art and the West

Art critics and historians on the mainland banter and debate that the “Western gaze” has had too great an influence on the development of Chinese contemporary art; this argument is reflected strongly in Cynical Realism.

Undeniably, at the time many of the buyers, thus the validation for the movement, were Westerners living or traveling in China. Public exhibition of these works was almost exclusively on foreign soil (indeed it was October 2006 when Fang Lijun opened his first solo show on the Mainland). Criticism of artists who pander to Western perceptions of Chinese society are still rampant, such accusations still dichotomize artists working in modern China.

Those who argue the movement too strongly reflects Western perceptions are referring to the Cynical Realism’s veiled criticism of Chinese society and her government, often interpreted as intolerable and oppressive. Art critic Pi Li argues that the West’s understanding of Chinese contemporary art was distorted from the beginning. His argument points out artists who “exposed the suppression of human nature” in China were praised by Western curators and collectors and their art was shown widely in Europe and North America.[1]

From early on, Western viewers saw an unmistakably different, socialist ideology in these works. Something they understood to be the standard of CCA. Because of their availability and fresh characteristics so different from Western contemporary art these works also became a reference point for Westerners to identify Chinese culture.

What is “Chinese” about Cynical Realism?

What made these works unique “Chinese?” Broadly speaking they include elements that are not part of a globally accepted “modernity” in the art world that made them novel to Western audiences. Socialist Realism was an integral foundation to Fang and his contemporaries. Artists were trained in the Soviet tradition at all arts academies; the purpose of painting was also endowed with connotations of “for the general public,” a psychological remnant from this generation’s childhood during the Cultural Revolution. 

The “cynical” reflects their attitude and reaction to their social environment. Adding the rapid social change in China to the previous 30 years of a distinct socialist representational tradition and a remarkable constrained yet fertile creative environment, something distinct was bound to emerge.

CR was also slight play on words for those who were educated copying the Soviet Realist masters.

The “cynical” in Cynical Realism can also be understood as a prefix to the “Realist” elements found in these works. Generally speaking, one of the Chinese art’s most unique traits was this direct emergence from a pedagogical historical of socialist realism. Also, the Chinese contemporary art world is also distinct from the Western because it lacks entirely “modernity” similar to the Western world. Therefore Chinese artists have no inherent understanding of modern art, nor does what they make fit into the timeline of art history that Western artists have mapped out.

Influential underground Chinese intellectuals also played an important role in shaping the emerging Cynical Realists. It was in this underground arts milieu that art critic/curator Li Xianting, known as the “godfather of Chinese contemporary art,” first put forth the idea of cynical realism. Throughout, Li played a crucial role in promoting the works of these “underground” artists to foreign curators, media and collectors. Whoever came to Beijing seeking the Chinese art world was bound to seek him out, thus his gaze played just an important role in determining the figure heads of the movement…he was especially fond of Fang Lijun, no small part in Fang’s successes.

Summary / Conclusion

Western historians attribute the emergence of Cynical Realism in great part to the disheartenment and post-1989 gloom among the avant-garde that resulted from a dearth of an arts community. Landmark exhibition closings such as the “China Avant-Garde” exhibition at the National Gallery in 1989 and a frustrating political climate left a bitter taste in many people’ mouths, and the art scene went underground to germinate. It is possible that this “incubatory period” was the best thing to happen for this small group of artists. After all, it was their unique socio-political conditions together with their “persecutions” that inspired them and would give many less-successful Yuanmingyuan artists credibility later in the careers.

Chinese intellectuals further criticize that the movement was based on the “Western gaze” and exploited Western opinions of Chinese society and government. Regardless of any so-called pandering to Western audiences, Cynical Realism was an essential stage of development for Mainland intellectual and art communities.

What remains now of Cynical Realism? Although in high demand, does the latest art of Fang Lijun still reflect the same power in an era when he is one of the wealthiest and renowned artists in China?

Cynical Realism is now the “golden pig” of the thriving Chinese art market, and the commercial appeal of the works is proven; in December 2006 Beijing’s Poly Contemporary Art auction Fang Lijun sold for 2,420,000 RMB (US $300,000) setting the record for the day’s auction. He continues to be one of the most sought after contemporary artists in China today. Do collectors clamoring to own these works like the art, or are they buying the fruits of these unique circumstances?

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