I am an art historian specializing in modern and contemporary art in China and East Asia. I also study ecological art, collaborative and socially-engaged art, public art, and the politics of exhibition.
A study of Zhuang Hui's artwork that questions the role of photography in contemporary art and vi... more A study of Zhuang Hui's artwork that questions the role of photography in contemporary art and visual culture. It also instigates art's connections with ecology, the aesthetics of "ruins," and the configuration of the individual and the collective in Chinese culture.
An essay that discusses how contemporary Asian and Asian Art may intervene in the perceptions of ... more An essay that discusses how contemporary Asian and Asian Art may intervene in the perceptions of people of Asian ancestry as well as tthe narratives of modern & American history of art.
Compared with other ‘peripheral’ art, exhibitions of Asian art in the
United States remain depoli... more Compared with other ‘peripheral’ art, exhibitions of Asian art in the United States remain depoliticized and unscrutinized. This essay examines recent exhibitions against the long trajectory of collecting, classifying and displaying Asian art in the US, and argues that, despite their efforts to venture beyond conventional museology, art institutions today still tend to prioritize poetics over politics, ‘tradition’ over modernity, homogeneity over heterogeneity. Such lingering Orientalism can be attributed to reasons ranging from logistical difficulties to conflicted interests, but above all to a lack of historicity: the intentional or habitual shunning of contextual complexities, the inclusion of which may deprive the artworks – and their hosts – of their pretense to neutrality, transcendence and aura. The critical approaches taken by contemporary Asian American artists and curators, on the other hand, are also fraught with contradictions and ambivalence, but they point to more historicized, nuanced and illuminating ways to display Asian art. Contemplating the unexplored directions and hidden connotations of Asian and Asian American art exhibitions in recent years, this essay contends that restoring and explicating historical specificity is crucial for building and propagating meaningful accounts of world art history, in which issues such as the appropriation of as well as resistance to modernity, the migration of objects, personae and techniques, and the experiences of the global diaspora can serve as governing themes and guiding principles, replacing a taxonomy based on nationality, ‘culture’ or chronology. Those accounts of world art history are destined to be fragmentary, yet only through such stories can we envision substantive (if ephemeral connectivity)
Nature (ziran) has been a key concept in Chinese art, yet the ‘nature’ celebrated in Chinese shan... more Nature (ziran) has been a key concept in Chinese art, yet the ‘nature’ celebrated in Chinese shanshui paintings and gardens are already abstract inventions, bearing only tenuous connections with the physical world beyond human habitation and control. This article studies several contemporary ‘landscapes’ that are devoid of conventionally defined nature, including Yang Yongliang and Yao Lu’s deceptively traditional shanshui that are in fact collages of scenes of urban congestion and pollution, Zhan Wang and Zhang Jianjun’s use of industrial materials to manufacture objects that signify ‘nature’ in domestic settings, as well as Miao Xiaochun’s seemingly straightforward portrayals of modern life that employ the compositional principles of shanshui to create sensations of the surreal. Those works have been interpreted as critiques of urbanization and commodification, but the ecological sensibilities they embody, I argue, are meant to undo the binary between nature and culture. Through seductive yet subversive appropriation of the conventional representations of nature, they remove the concept from a ‘transcendental, unified, independent category’ and reveal it as diverse, malleable and intimate, at once subject to and elusive from human interventions. Showing that the physical world become visible only through the mediation of metaphors and imagery, this article also stresses the role aesthetics plays in our interactions with the environment.
A study of Zhuang Hui's artwork that questions the role of photography in contemporary art and vi... more A study of Zhuang Hui's artwork that questions the role of photography in contemporary art and visual culture. It also instigates art's connections with ecology, the aesthetics of "ruins," and the configuration of the individual and the collective in Chinese culture.
An essay that discusses how contemporary Asian and Asian Art may intervene in the perceptions of ... more An essay that discusses how contemporary Asian and Asian Art may intervene in the perceptions of people of Asian ancestry as well as tthe narratives of modern & American history of art.
Compared with other ‘peripheral’ art, exhibitions of Asian art in the
United States remain depoli... more Compared with other ‘peripheral’ art, exhibitions of Asian art in the United States remain depoliticized and unscrutinized. This essay examines recent exhibitions against the long trajectory of collecting, classifying and displaying Asian art in the US, and argues that, despite their efforts to venture beyond conventional museology, art institutions today still tend to prioritize poetics over politics, ‘tradition’ over modernity, homogeneity over heterogeneity. Such lingering Orientalism can be attributed to reasons ranging from logistical difficulties to conflicted interests, but above all to a lack of historicity: the intentional or habitual shunning of contextual complexities, the inclusion of which may deprive the artworks – and their hosts – of their pretense to neutrality, transcendence and aura. The critical approaches taken by contemporary Asian American artists and curators, on the other hand, are also fraught with contradictions and ambivalence, but they point to more historicized, nuanced and illuminating ways to display Asian art. Contemplating the unexplored directions and hidden connotations of Asian and Asian American art exhibitions in recent years, this essay contends that restoring and explicating historical specificity is crucial for building and propagating meaningful accounts of world art history, in which issues such as the appropriation of as well as resistance to modernity, the migration of objects, personae and techniques, and the experiences of the global diaspora can serve as governing themes and guiding principles, replacing a taxonomy based on nationality, ‘culture’ or chronology. Those accounts of world art history are destined to be fragmentary, yet only through such stories can we envision substantive (if ephemeral connectivity)
Nature (ziran) has been a key concept in Chinese art, yet the ‘nature’ celebrated in Chinese shan... more Nature (ziran) has been a key concept in Chinese art, yet the ‘nature’ celebrated in Chinese shanshui paintings and gardens are already abstract inventions, bearing only tenuous connections with the physical world beyond human habitation and control. This article studies several contemporary ‘landscapes’ that are devoid of conventionally defined nature, including Yang Yongliang and Yao Lu’s deceptively traditional shanshui that are in fact collages of scenes of urban congestion and pollution, Zhan Wang and Zhang Jianjun’s use of industrial materials to manufacture objects that signify ‘nature’ in domestic settings, as well as Miao Xiaochun’s seemingly straightforward portrayals of modern life that employ the compositional principles of shanshui to create sensations of the surreal. Those works have been interpreted as critiques of urbanization and commodification, but the ecological sensibilities they embody, I argue, are meant to undo the binary between nature and culture. Through seductive yet subversive appropriation of the conventional representations of nature, they remove the concept from a ‘transcendental, unified, independent category’ and reveal it as diverse, malleable and intimate, at once subject to and elusive from human interventions. Showing that the physical world become visible only through the mediation of metaphors and imagery, this article also stresses the role aesthetics plays in our interactions with the environment.
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Papers by Chang Tan
United States remain depoliticized and unscrutinized. This essay
examines recent exhibitions against the long trajectory of collecting,
classifying and displaying Asian art in the US, and argues that,
despite their efforts to venture beyond conventional museology, art
institutions today still tend to prioritize poetics over politics,
‘tradition’ over modernity, homogeneity over heterogeneity. Such
lingering Orientalism can be attributed to reasons ranging from
logistical difficulties to conflicted interests, but above all to a lack of
historicity: the intentional or habitual shunning of contextual
complexities, the inclusion of which may deprive the artworks – and
their hosts – of their pretense to neutrality, transcendence and aura.
The critical approaches taken by contemporary Asian American
artists and curators, on the other hand, are also fraught with
contradictions and ambivalence, but they point to more historicized,
nuanced and illuminating ways to display Asian art. Contemplating
the unexplored directions and hidden connotations of Asian and
Asian American art exhibitions in recent years, this essay contends
that restoring and explicating historical specificity is crucial for
building and propagating meaningful accounts of world art history,
in which issues such as the appropriation of as well as resistance to
modernity, the migration of objects, personae and techniques, and
the experiences of the global diaspora can serve as governing themes
and guiding principles, replacing a taxonomy based on nationality,
‘culture’ or chronology. Those accounts of world art history are
destined to be fragmentary, yet only through such stories can we envision substantive (if ephemeral connectivity)
traditional shanshui that are in fact collages of scenes of urban congestion and pollution, Zhan Wang and Zhang Jianjun’s use of industrial materials to manufacture objects that signify ‘nature’ in domestic settings, as well as Miao Xiaochun’s seemingly straightforward portrayals of modern life that employ the compositional principles of shanshui to create sensations of the surreal. Those works have been
interpreted as critiques of urbanization and commodification, but the ecological sensibilities they embody, I argue, are meant to undo the binary between nature and culture. Through seductive yet subversive appropriation of the conventional representations of nature, they remove the concept from a ‘transcendental, unified, independent category’ and reveal it as diverse, malleable and intimate, at once subject to and elusive from human interventions. Showing that the physical world become visible only through the mediation of metaphors and imagery, this article also stresses the role aesthetics plays in our interactions with the environment.
United States remain depoliticized and unscrutinized. This essay
examines recent exhibitions against the long trajectory of collecting,
classifying and displaying Asian art in the US, and argues that,
despite their efforts to venture beyond conventional museology, art
institutions today still tend to prioritize poetics over politics,
‘tradition’ over modernity, homogeneity over heterogeneity. Such
lingering Orientalism can be attributed to reasons ranging from
logistical difficulties to conflicted interests, but above all to a lack of
historicity: the intentional or habitual shunning of contextual
complexities, the inclusion of which may deprive the artworks – and
their hosts – of their pretense to neutrality, transcendence and aura.
The critical approaches taken by contemporary Asian American
artists and curators, on the other hand, are also fraught with
contradictions and ambivalence, but they point to more historicized,
nuanced and illuminating ways to display Asian art. Contemplating
the unexplored directions and hidden connotations of Asian and
Asian American art exhibitions in recent years, this essay contends
that restoring and explicating historical specificity is crucial for
building and propagating meaningful accounts of world art history,
in which issues such as the appropriation of as well as resistance to
modernity, the migration of objects, personae and techniques, and
the experiences of the global diaspora can serve as governing themes
and guiding principles, replacing a taxonomy based on nationality,
‘culture’ or chronology. Those accounts of world art history are
destined to be fragmentary, yet only through such stories can we envision substantive (if ephemeral connectivity)
traditional shanshui that are in fact collages of scenes of urban congestion and pollution, Zhan Wang and Zhang Jianjun’s use of industrial materials to manufacture objects that signify ‘nature’ in domestic settings, as well as Miao Xiaochun’s seemingly straightforward portrayals of modern life that employ the compositional principles of shanshui to create sensations of the surreal. Those works have been
interpreted as critiques of urbanization and commodification, but the ecological sensibilities they embody, I argue, are meant to undo the binary between nature and culture. Through seductive yet subversive appropriation of the conventional representations of nature, they remove the concept from a ‘transcendental, unified, independent category’ and reveal it as diverse, malleable and intimate, at once subject to and elusive from human interventions. Showing that the physical world become visible only through the mediation of metaphors and imagery, this article also stresses the role aesthetics plays in our interactions with the environment.