is known as the enfant terrible in the Chinese contemporary art world. The 37 year-old Shanghainese artist produces witty, ironic, and often humorous works, although his career as a solo artist "ended" a few years ago. Nowadays, Xu is mostly recognized for his role as the CEO of the successful that hires young artists as collective co-workers/employees to produce and sell art works under the brand of his own name 鈥�"Xu Zhen". Indeed this company is an artwork itself.
"Xu Zhen is dead, long live MadeIn", so says the company's website. This is an artist who, amongst other things, , by bringing a mechanical vulture and a real African baby into a gallery so that attendees could recreate the prize winning shot with their phones. And that exhibition was called "Impossible Is Nothing". Or the time the MadeIn company that were actually made in China, but felt Middle Eastern in the way a lot of clich茅 contemporary Chinese art feels Chinese.
Xu is kind of like the Chinese version of British artist Damien Hirst, in the sense that many may not like his work or agree with his ethic of art making, yet no one can ignore his existence and influence on the art world. So when the news broke that Xu Zhen would have a solo show at , on the museum's one year anniversary, everyone who loves or hates him all came see what this artist is up to.
Claimed as Xu Zhen's biggest solo show so far, the works on display here are a mixture of Xu鈥檚 early personal works, as well as collective works MadeIn produced under the brand name 鈥淴u Zhen鈥�. This is a company making a lot of art -- and money. All versions of the same work are displayed together and treated as one whole piece, though it's unclear if this strategy is taken just to fill the enormous museum space.
So there is the early video work Rainbow Xu made in 1998 that got him into Venice Biennale as the youngest Chinese artist on record, and a bunch of sculptures that graft ancient Chinese and Greek sculptures together, in a sort of East-meets-West irony.
Lots of gold and money elements too: one kuai bills made into tanks in a row; gold covered sculptures; golden color necklaces shaped words on mirror as the work "See no evil, Hear no evil, Say no evil鈥�, and an installation of spinning coins on a reflective table. And these dollar bills.
Downstairs you'll find an early video work by Xu Zhen called Shouting, from 1998, which captures people's reactions when the artist screams at them from behind, in public places. Here's the best quality copy we could find online.
This feels like how the contemporary art scene in China has changed in the past 10 years. Back then, when artists made works, their intention was to call awareness to society, and the audience they aimed for was more the general public, in a vague sense, and perhaps the art academia as well. Artists used to self鈥揻und exhibitions and make progressive works under the pressure of getting shut down by the police, whereas now, successful artists are having cocktail parties with governors and emerging rich collectors, and making works that more or less look like luxury goods. Xu Zhen's Under Heaven paintings -- giant canvases drenched in oil paint from an icing bag -- would fit perfectly in a penthouse apartment.
If you go to this exhibition, see the work in context. Maybe the art factory system Xu Zhen is building is indeed his art statement in response to China鈥檚 consumer culture reality today. Indeed the MadeIn website cites one of Warhol's famous quotes: "Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art鈥�.
Xu Zhen鈥檚 Solo Exhibition runs at the Long Museum from March 29鈥揗ay 24, 2015. Ticket Price: 50rmb. .
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