Wang Qingsong, 2004
As economic development takes top priority in China's national policies, the country has changed, and its people have changed even more. Everyone appears full of aspiration and seems satisfied with the achievements of reform and rapid development, which are expressed in the Chinese slogan, "One change a year, one big change in three years, and one unidentifiable transformation in five years." Capitalism has "modernized" our formerly agricultural country. In the last two decades, the economic reform has witnessed significant achievements-for example, being selected to host the 2008 Summer Olympic Games and China's entry into the World Trade Organization, both of which bring it into much closer contact with other countries. This rich contemporary China provides me with a huge resource for artistic inspiration. To sing highly of this new, sweeter-than-honey life of glory, I use theatrical techniques and let the camera narrate true and understandable contemporary stories.
For China, with 1/5 of the population in the world, it has to resolve problems of clothing, food, housing and transportation. In housing, developers of real estate have created such terms as "Chinese Manhattan", "Oriental Versailles ", "Park Avenue Apartments", "Palm Beach Springs", "Roman Garden", "Modern SOHO", and "European Classics". In food, it is well known that McDonald's and Pizza Hut are just fast-food stores in Europe and America, nothing more than convenience. However, when they came into China, they became the top cuisine and hot rendezvous for people to have parties, invite friends, celebrate birthdays and meet lovers. On the surface, this phenomenon of going after what is western style represents an ideal for Euro-American materialistic life. But in such an era of globalization, does this ideal also represent worship that can create a lot of ridiculous contradictions? With this thinking, I created many photographic works including "Thinker" (1998), "Prisoner" (1998), "Catcher" (1998), "Requesting Buddha series" (1999), "Can I Cooperate with You? " (2000), "Look Up! Look Up!" (2000), "Bath House" (2000), "Forum" (2001), and "Beggar" (2001).
As the quintessence of Chinese traditional culture, Buddhism has accompanied Chinese civilization for thousands of years. It brings comfort and fortune to the people, inspires their soul and enlightens a responsibility for having good relations with the others. This Buddha used to set its goal to save the suffering through self-devotion. However, in the current commercial society, the respectable Buddha has also been changed. It reaches out its hands insatiably for money and material goods towards every troubled person. The "Requesting Buddha" Series is the faithful representation of such a phenomenon, overflowing with desires, hypocrisy and exaggeration.
What has been haunting in my mind is the position and destiny Chinese intellectuals experience in our history. In such an era that lacks ideals, people have cast doubt on the heroes and ideals of the past. I wanted to catch some scenes that describe such loss of hopes replaced with hoarding desire for money and power. To compare the past and present, I appropriated the old and known masterpiece "Night Revel of Han Xizai" which was the best piece of Chinese traditional figure painting. This old art piece reflected the then social life in the torrents of transformation, and depicted the life of a worried intellectual and high official in Post-Tang Dynasty, Han Xizai. He was powerless to fulfill his ideals of reconstructing the country. To "cleanse" himself, he chose to evade and "indulge in" comfort. After several centuries, even though the Chinese dynasties have changed frequently, the status of intellectuals in society has remained the same. With some thoughts on this question, I created "Night Revel of Lao Li". It is a portrait of contemporary Chinese reality in this new century, portraying the situation of contemporary Chinese people, and of intellectuals in particular. ...

Wang Qingsong, born in China in 1966. Graduated from the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts, China in 1991. now lives and works in Beijing.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2004.
Wang Qingsong --- Romantique, Salon 94, New York City, USA.
Wang Qingsong --- Romantique, Courtyard Gallery, Beijing, China (catalogue).
2003-2004
Wang Qingsong: Present-day Epics, Saidye Bronfman Contemporary Art Center, Montreal, traveling to Cambridge Galleries, Ontario; Prefix Institute of Contemporary Art, Toronto; South Alberta Art Gallery, Canada.
2002
Golden Future --- Photography by Wang Qingsong, Galerie LOFT, Paris, France (catalogue). Wang Qingsong Photographic Works Exhibition, Marella Arte Contemporanea, Milan, Italy. Wang Qingsong Photography, Foundation Oriente, Macao, China (catalogue).
2000
Glorious Life- The Photographs of Wang Qingsong. Wan Fung Art Gallery, Beijing (catalogue).
1997
Wang Qingsong Painting Exhibition. Chinese Contemporary, London, UK.

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2004
Over One Billion Served, Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver, USA.
Photosynkyria --- Photography as Narrative Art, Thessaloniki Museum of Photography, Greece (catalogue).
Spellbound Aura --- Contemporary Chinese Photography, MOCA Taipei (catalogue).
Officina, Galeria of Modern Arte, Bologna, Italy (catalogue).
Historia --- PhotoEspana, Madria, Spain (catalogue).
Between Past and Future: New Photography from China, International Center of Photography, New York City, USA (catalogue).
Die Chinese, Kunst Museum Wolfsburg, Germany (catalogue).
Exposure - Hereford Photography Festival, Herefordshire, Britain (catalogue).
Past in Reverse, San Diego Museum of Art, USA (catalogue).
Grotesque Reality - Young Artists from China, Japan and Korea 2004, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea. (catalogue)
2003
China Art Now --- Out of the Red, Trevi Flash Art Museum, Italy (catalogue).
Fashion and Style, The Museum Moscow House of Photography, Moscow, Russia (catalogue).
Prague Biennale 1, Czech Republic (catalogue).
Global Detail --- Noorderlicht 2003 Photofestival- , Groningen, the Netherlands(catalogue).
Now, Images of Present Time --- Mois de La Photo Montreal, Montreal, Canada(catalogue).
Contemporary Chinese Photography, Rudolfinum Art Museum, Prague, Czech Republic (catalogue).
2002
Run, Jump, Climb and Walk, East Modern Art Center, Beijing.
Money and Value/The Last Taboo, Basel, Switzerland (catalogue).
Special Projects, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York, USA.
Chinese Modernity, Museum of the Foundation Armando Alvares Penteado, Sao Paulo, Brazil (catalogue).
The 2nd Pinyao International Photography Festival, Shanxi Province, China (catalogue).
Paris-Pekin, Espace Cardin, Paris, France (catalogue).
CHINaRT, Museum Kuppersmuhle,Zeitgenossische Kunst,Duisburg, traveling in Rome and etc (catalogue).
2001
Constructed Reality --- Conceptual Photography from Beijing. Hong Kong Arts Center (catalogue).
Next Generation. Passage de Retz, Paris, France (catalogue).
Promenade in Asia-CUTE. Art Tower Mito, Japan (catalogue).
China Album. Nice Contemporary Art Museum, France (catalogue).
CROSS-PRESSURES. Finnish Museum of Photography. Finland (catalogue).
16th Asian Contemporary Art Exhibition, Guangdong Art Museum, China (catalogue).
2000
Man + Space, 3rd Kwangju Biennale 2000. Kwangju, Korea (catalogue).
BIG TORINO 2000 Biennale Arte Emergente. Turin, Italy (catalogue).
China Avant-Garde Artists Documenta. Fukuoka Museum of Art, Japan .
Unusual and Usual. Yuangong Art Museum, Shanghai. China (catalogue).
1999
Ouh La La, Kitsch! TEDA Contemporary Art Museum, Tianjin, China (catalogue).
SYNERGI: Fourteen Danish and Foreign Artists Exhibit. Udviklings Center Odsherred, Copenhagen, Denmark (catalogue).
1998
Sites of Desire: 1998 Taipei Biennial. Taipei Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan (catalogue).
1996
China! Kunst Museum, Bonn, Germany, traveling in other countries (catalogue).
Gaudy Life. Wan Fung Art Gallery, Beijing. China.

Public Collection
The International Center of Photography. New York, USA. (2000)
Queensland Art Gallery, Australia.(2001)
JGS Foundation, New York, USA. (2001)
Art Tower Mito, Japan. (2002)
Maison Europ¨¦enne de la Photographie (MEP). Paris, France. (2002)
Guy and Miriam Ullens Foundation, Switzerland. (2002)
Fundacio Armando Alvares Penteado (FAAP), Sao Paulo, Brazil. (2002)
Oriente Foundacion, Portugal. (2002)
The Moscow House of Photography, Russia. (2003)
Agnelli Foundation. (2004)

Wang Qingsong
Chinese contemporary art and photography
www.wangqingsong.com
submission date: August 29, 2004