Kong Chang’an 2011-04-05
Kong Chang'an's studio
Los Angeles
“[The ‘China/Avant-Garde’ exhibition in 1989] should be considered a very good one. I was quite amazed by all the works that I saw in the exhibit. Before setting up the exhibition, we had to go through a final selection process because there were simply too many works for us to display them all in our limited space. However, the same works that we saw during the selection process looked completely different on the opening day. These works looked bigger than life on the opening day and made me very excited to see them. There were truly many unforgettable works of art shown in the exhibit. No matter what approaches they took, what ideas they had developed from, or what channels they were conceptualized through, they were all pretty good. Chinese art in the 80s, generally and irresponsibly speaking, was full of derivative and plagiarized works; this exhibition, however, made a very different kind of impression. There was a genuine political atmosphere in the exhibition space. You could feel that, more than just making art, these artists tried to express a kind of human instinct and desire through art. “
Biography:
Kong Chang’an (b.1953, Xi’an) is an artist, critic and curator.
In 1978-1982, he studied in the English department at the Xi'an International Studies University. During this period, he organized and participated in ‘Xi’an Modern Art Exhibition.’ In 1988, he graduated with a M.A. degree from the art history department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, with a thesis on Duchamp. After graduation, he worked at the Beijing International Art Company and the Art Gallery of Central Academy of Fine Arts. He was in the organizing committee of the ‘China/Avant-Garde Exhibition’ in 1989.
In 1991-1993, Kong got a scholarship and went to the University of Bologna in Italy, studying in the visual art department. In early 1992, using the penname ‘Chan, Lauk'ung’, he published the influential early article ’Ten Years of the Chinese Avant-garde: Waiting for the Curtain to Fall’ in Flash Art. In 1993, he was one of the curators of ‘Aperto’ at the Venice Biennial. In late 1990s he moved to USA. He currently lives and works in California.
