Area Daily: Avant-Garde China, Exhibit at The National Art Center, Tokyo, Japan

China has been all over the news recently for its rapid economic growth and hosting of the Summer Olympics. It’s also becoming the subject of worldwide attention for its contemporary art.

Avant-Garde China: Twenty Years of Chinese Contemporary Art, running through Oct 20 at The National Art Center in Tokyo, takes a look at the progression of Chinese art over the past 20 years, starting from the 1980s. Displaying works by 14 artists and 2 artistic groups, it’s the most all-encompassing, historically comprehensive introduction to Chinese contemporary art ever displayed in Japan.

The exhibition introduces many eye-opening examples of China’s modern art world, a world that has developed through such new forms of expression as performance art and videos in addition to conventional mediums like painting and sculpture and has become recognized as a cultural symbol of China’s reforms.