In what form do women participate in artistic development?

Female artists talk about "female art"

Market Pursuit Hot VS Art Marginalization

-"Female art" may become a depression for contemporary art investment.

Editor's Note: Today, with market success as the yardstick, China female artists who have not yet become strong enough have shown a polarized trend of being sought after by the market or marginalized by mainstream art due to the market-oriented shift of artistic attention. Looking back, "female art" once became an indispensable "present" in the context of contemporary art in China in 1990s. Nowadays, the differentiation of female artists once again puts forward a new proposition for women to seek "self-breakthrough". On the occasion of Women's Day on March 8th, this newspaper specially invited a number of contemporary female artists and curators from China to explore new ways for the future development of "female art".

⊙ Our reporter Lynn Yang Qiu Jiahe

"Female artist" and "female art" are two different concepts.

In China, although the rapid social revolution in the 20th century achieved women's liberation, women left their families, changed their past attachment status and went to various social fields, compared with male artists, few artists can become artists and occupy the role of ideological producers. The traditional male-centered culture is deeply rooted, which is reflected in the art market. Traditional ladies' paintings wrapped in modern realism are still very popular. Under this cultural background, some female artists become producers of this kind of commodity paintings, while others are satisfied with expressing women's lives and emotions. The "female art" that really appeals to women's rights is even rarer.

Interestingly, the art market has risen rapidly in the past two years, and female artists, whether engaged in commercial art, academic art or contemporary art, have been rapidly polarized by the market-either marginalized or sought after by the market. The signal of the market has become the focus of public opinion, and the blindness of the market has been exposed. On the one hand, these changes reflect the absence of academic carding and artistic criticism in China contemporary art in the cultural transformation; On the other hand, it shows that there are many traps and opportunities in the current market. For discerning participants, the works of female artists with both artistic value and social and historical value still need to be explored in the market. This newspaper hopes to leave some thinking clues for interested readers with the help of the interview experiences of many female artists.

■ Interview with female artists

Cui Xiuwen: Only works can represent the way of existence of female artists.

"Everyone's understanding of the world can't be a single angle, and the gender perspective is only part of it. I think the only way to represent my existence as an artist is my work, and nothing else matters. So many years of artistic experience have been exhibited at home and abroad. Planners or exhibition organizations often know my works first, and then contact me through various channels and ways. Many times they don't know my gender. The world only accepts and recognizes good artistic ability, regardless of gender.

The market should be adjusted, changed or even changed with the ideological depth of works, the strength of ideas and the expansion of people's thinking space, instead of artists changing with the needs of the market. Artistic works first convey abstract thoughts and spiritual feelings to people, and what the market needs is the commercial value attached to it. Some people buy the same works for artistic value, while others buy them for commercial value. Many questions have different starting points and completely different results. "

Xiang Jing: No longer do female art, but stick to the female perspective.

"With the maturity of thought and the development of society, I gradually found that the female world looks at problems according to personal internal experience. For example, attention to politics and power issues must be male thinking, and society is also dominated by male values. So I don't think artistic language is a simple stage problem. As an artist, we should constantly surpass ourselves and stop doing female art-this used to be an evil obstacle. In 2008, we will continue to break through and go out from the state of' self', but we will still adhere to the female perspective.

Traditional female education points out that women are affiliated. In fact, we have seen too many cases in which female artists are left to fend for themselves, and having children will be abolished as long as they fail to pass this barrier. Now that I think about it, in fact, most of the successful female artists are husband and wife, all from Qi Fei. Behind personal success, you need a great partner.

I think art should not be divided into genres and genres, but should be based on individual cases. Now that a new generation of artists has appeared, we are very happy to see such a new force. Looking forward to the emergence of younger artists is also a kind of promotion and motivation for yourself. "

Sun: The more independent women are, the more marginalized they are.

"I like every period of my art, and I hope that I have been making progress and will always be full of desire to express. There is no doubt that my expression and feelings are female, but after all, women are not the mainstream force in this society, and their works are often internal, so their works will be hindered or ignored in communication. Men themselves are more concerned about politics and socialization, so their works can be more recognized by the mainstream of this society. As a woman, I often feel that I am a member that this society wants to ignore. The more independent women are, the less they can get help, that is, the more independent women are, the more likely they are to be marginalized in this social group. "

Jin Cai: The career of female artists is bound to be influenced by family responsibilities.

"I know nothing about the market, but what I can say is that I have never lived by the market, and my creation has no financial support. There are many excellent female artists who perform very well in the market, but my works are very ordinary in the market. Because I have lived abroad for more than ten years, I am mainly family and have little contact with society.

Because I have a family and children, I only spent one-fifth of my creative time, while in the past, I spent 90% of my time on artistic creation. Because there are too many trivial things, and a lot of thoughts are on children. As a woman, career is bound to be affected by family and other responsibilities, but it is also inevitable. "

Hu Ming: It is discriminatory to single out female art.

"It is discrimination to propose female art alone. Men and women are the same in creative thinking. Paying special attention to women's art gives people the feeling of charity. I create more out of a sense of self, which is a way of life. Although I don't know much about the market, I think art is the last commodity to be hyped. What is needed is the real thing. Whether the market is good or not depends on the quality of the works. At present, there are no female artists whose works cost more than F4 on the market, because there is really no female artist whose works have that momentum. "

Liang: Female artists should not play gender cards.

"My artistic journey is still changing, and it is not enough to talk about staging in constant experiments. Whether I am an artist or not, I am a woman. It is an undeniable fact that I am a woman from eating, sleeping, walking, wearing and speaking. So everything a woman does can be considered to be related to her gender, including female artists, I think. However, I think creation has nothing to do with gender, and art has no way to distinguish between male and female themes. But what is certain is that male artists and female artists will definitely have different expressions. The art market is not the main way for me to consider and live. So far, I haven't been given special preferential treatment or neglected because I am a woman. I don't think it is necessary to distinguish between female art and male art, and artists should not play the gender card. The market should judge artists from the quality of their works rather than gender. "

Liao: Female art is still in the middle.

"If we look at the history of women's culture in China, the status of contemporary women's art in China is already very middle. The art market environment is controlled by economic laws, which is beyond the control of female artists. I think as an artist, I just need to do my job well. "

Female artist market link

Taking stock of the works of contemporary female artists in China, especially those who insist on exploring contemporary art, is also seen from time to time in the auction, but it is not difficult to see that female artists have not formed an independent price support plate in the auction, but only as a case, some of them are sought after by the market. Here, this newspaper selects four representative artists, namely easel painting, photography and sculpture, and analyzes their auction records, hoping to provide reference for readers to understand female artists.

L: Sotheby's in new york.

Although Lin is a veteran of contemporary art in China, because he is mainly engaged in installation art, his works rarely appear in auctions. His works were first shot in September 2006 and are still limited to photographs. The transaction records of her works show that the current turnover is on the rise. But it is worth noting that the photos taken on the website are plural, and there are fewer varieties that really circulate. At the same time, new york's Sotheby's is its main promoter, and the works shot one after another account for 6 of all the 1 1 works; Four more works will be shot at the spring auction in March this year. From the auction records of a few auction companies in the mainland, we can see that there is a gap in the transaction price in the mainland.

Jincai: Mainly mainland buyers.

Jin Cai's works are easel paintings. Shelf painting is the most common variety of female artists in auction, but commercial painting in this field is mixed with avant-garde experimental painting. Jin Cai is one of the few artists who insist on avant-garde artistic practice. The auction records of his works can be traced back to 1994 and 1995, and some of his works have been auctioned in Guardian, China. But a lot of her works were shot after 2005. Judging from the ranking of transactions, the record of sky-high transactions is mostly created by domestic auction houses, which shows that their works mainly come from mainland buyers.

Auction data: 82 lots, 66 of which have been sold, with a turnover rate of 80%. The total turnover was 65,438+03,265,438+04,265,438+00 yuan, of which 5 items were sold for more than 500,000 yuan.

Xiang Jing: Autumn shooting started in 2006.

Xiang Jing's sculptures are well-known and have the largest number of photographs, which is also very rare among male sculpture artists in China. Her auction records can be traced back to 1997, but most of them are below 40,000 yuan. It was not until 2005 that she broke through 654.38+10,000 yuan. In the autumn of 2006, the auction began to climb, breaking through the integer mark of 500,000 yuan, 1 10,000 yuan and 2 million yuan. It is worth noting that most of these important auction records were created by Shi Kuang auction companies.

Auction data: 1 12 lots, sold 105 lots, with a turnover rate of 94%. The total turnover is 24 182274 yuan, of which 8 * * has a turnover of more than 500,000 yuan.

Cui Xiuwen: In 2007, the transaction records accounted for more than half.

Cui Xiuwen's job is photography. Because of her short photography history, she is a rookie in the field of auctions. She didn't show up until the autumn auction in 2005. Judging from the existing auction records, most of them were auctioned in 2007. Like Lin, her works are concentrated in Sotheby's in new york, and three works were shot in the spring auction on March 17. Sotheby's in Hongkong also has many works in auction, and there are also many works in Chinese mainland.