Present situation of Songzhuang painter village

The painter's residence in Songzhuang, Tongzhou District, Beijing is called "China East Village". It may be very close to the living conditions of avant-garde artists in the "East Village of America" 20 years ago, but China painters tried to create a different road of prosperity.

International Herald Tribune article

More than ten years ago, "Yuanmingyuan painters" began a new way of life that did not appear in China: they exchanged their artworks for food without any attachment or guarantee.

From the point of view of survival, this kind of risky behavior is unique in the world. Because artists in the "East Village of America" can get some government funds and unemployment benefits even if they are equally poor. Moreover, the complete gallery system and non-governmental organizations in the United States provide opportunities for young artists who have not yet become famous.

Unfortunately, the survival samples created by "Yuanmingyuan painters" during the social transition period in China never attracted the attention of China sociologists, so their wild state continued to the Songzhuang painter village ten years later. Facing the ever-changing social background, the survival mode of most painters in Yuanmingyuan-Songzhuang seems to have fallen behind the times. In the suburbs farther away from urban civilization, they still live the life of "artists" more than ten years ago.

Dreams become gaps.

Songzhuang Township in Tongzhou is the largest and most famous painter village community in Beijing, with about 400 artists gathered. Modern artists are one of the most influential groups, with about 100 artists, which constitute the main creative force of modern art in Songzhuang. Songzhuang is located six or seven kilometers east of Tongzhou District, sandwiched between two rivers. One is the Chaobai River and the other is the Canal.

1994, "Yuanmingyuan painter" came to Baoxiao Village in Songzhuang. After renovation, rural houses have become internationally popular townhouses or country houses: tall duplex structures, bright sunshine, huge space and luxurious tranquility for city people; There are flowers, trees, vegetables and fruits in the yard, and the finished and unfinished works of art by the painter are placed in the room. The mighty German shepherd dog and various brands and models of cars constitute a living sample of artists in the painter's village.

Fang Lijun, Yue Minjun and Yang, who live in Songzhuang, have become important figures in contemporary art groups in China.

1995 10 after the "Yuanmingyuan painter village" was banned, many "Yuanmingyuan painters" bought houses and land in Songzhuang. Compared with successful painters, most painters living in Songzhuang still live a simple and imaginative life. Success comes first, and people who also have ideals for art have no reason to give up. So there are more and more painters here, because the painter village can not only provide them with an environment for artistic creation and exchange, but also attract galleries and collectors and provide them with more opportunities.

However, the contradiction in Songzhuang painter village today is the gap between the rich and the poor. Talking about the present situation of Songzhuang painter village, the reporter of Sanlian Weekly said: All China people have been forced into businessmen. Does a society need so many businessmen? As a businessman, can everyone be competent? Obviously not. Painters in Song Dynasty were mostly poor businessmen, some lost their principal and some lost their money. Their present rural life may be forced.

From hostility to prosperity

At the beginning of the formation of Songzhuang painter village, the treatment of painters in the village was similar to that of Yuanmingyuan. The villagers are very hostile to these strangers, which is inevitable in a stable rural society. Whenever a village needs to build roads or install electricity meters, painters know that they have to pay several times more money than ordinary villagers. Anyway, it is much better than Yuanmingyuan, because there is no pain of being expelled and taken in.

After 2000, the situation has changed a lot. If there are any major initiatives in the village, they will consult highly respected painters, who have gained the status of relatively equal here. This result is contributed by the painters who live here, and it is also a good effect brought by the ever-opening society. The ensuing problem is that new painters are pouring into China, and house prices are also rising. However, not all painters can sell their works in time to maintain the increasingly heavy burden of life.

2005 will be the most important year in the history of Songzhuang painter village. There will be several large art centers built and used here, and some important art galleries and galleries will stay in the painter's village. The orderly marketization of rural painters will give birth to works and new lifestyles that are more in line with market standards. But works of art are different from ordinary goods. Artists need money, freedom and independence.

Mr. Song, who is in his forties, is from Handan. He studied painting since childhood and was a classmate of painter Fang Lijun. He bought dozens of acres of land in Songzhuang Bao Xiao Industrial Development Zone. After being idle for several years, he saw the development of the painter's village and decided to build this land into an art center that can accommodate 30 studios and rent it to painters who don't have their own studios at low prices. His proposal was quickly recognized by artists, and 30 studios all had bosses-the first person who dared to eat crabs in Songzhuang.

Recently, artists in Songzhuang are talking about the artist residential area invested and built by the district government on the edge of the Sixth Ring Road. It can be predicted that a larger, more scientific and more reasonable art community will reappear in Songzhuang.

The fantasy of independent creation

In the sales list of Sanlian Bookstore, two books about the living conditions of Songzhuang painters have achieved remarkable results. They are Black and White Songzhuang, which was shot by photographer Zhao in Songzhuang for five years, and Don't Be an Artist, which was dictated by Li Yong. Both albums have extended their tentacles to painters with unsatisfactory living conditions in Songzhuang. They are poor, persistent and always laugh at themselves. The novelty of their lives provides readers with the most luxurious lifestyle of this era: they choose a dangerous lifestyle for fantasy.

Since the "Yuanmingyuan painter village", it has existed in an anti-system form. Subverting convention, creating a new humanistic ecology and opposing the mainstream are the common labels of members of this "East Village of China". While breaking free from the shackles of the original artistic system, they won great autonomy in artistic production and creation for themselves in extreme forms. This model is not only the performance of the imperfect social system in China, but also the immature community construction in China.

However, the dilemma of survival makes these artists who are "living artistically" fall into another kind of loss of autonomy: going to the market, especially for foreigners in Beijing, cannot guarantee the independence and independent creation that painters originally advertised. On the other hand, the pressure of personal survival and the unrealizability of self-expectation, as well as the disorder and disorder of natural villages, make the "Yuanmingyuan Painter Village" unable to obtain enough symbolic capital for legal survival in the art market, and the painters in the village cannot obtain the resources for survival and success with the help of the field force of the painter village. Its lesson lies in being a pioneer, making the present "East Village of China" exist legally, and contributing creativity to a pluralistic society more healthily and orderly.