Despite numerous articles and exhibitions about Chinese modern art, studies about Chinese abstract art are scant. Abstract art, however, is one of the most important topics in Chinese modern art. This paper discusses the concept, characteristics, and value of 1980s Shanghai abstract art by taking Li Shan (李山, b.1942)’s abstract paintings as a case study.
Abstract art emerged as one of the major trends in Deng Xiaoping’s regime. It was Shanghai that abstract paintings were densely produced. One factor that made Shanghai a special stronghold of abstraction is, I argue, Shanghai’s early experiences with European modern art during the 1920s and 1930s. That is, the experiments with nonrealistic art or formalistic approach remained in Shanghai with its practitioners. Li Shan started to aggressively experiment with abstraction in this culturally amenable time and location.
Many of Li Shan’s early works were lost, but among surviving series such as Order, Origins, and Extension, several significant aspects are recognizable. The first distinctive characteristic is Li Shan’s emphasis on individuality, which was expressed by vigorous brush strokes and his signature on paintings. Against Mao’s years that collectivity dominated the entire society, Li Shan proclaimed his identity as an individual artist and expressed his interest in individuality through abstract paintings.
The second aspect to consider is the fact that he produced figurative and abstract paintings at the same time. This mixture of figurative and abstract is closely related to a common tendency to understand abstract art from abroad by relying on Chinese traditional art. Depending on Chinese literati paintings, Chinese scholars in the 1980s understood the concept of abstraction as an on-going process of capturing the essentials of an object, rather than a complete elimination of recognizable figures. Figurative and abstract are thus not incompatible concepts. I believe Li Shan was influenced by this concept. That is to say, his mixture of figurative and abstract paintings was generated by the localizing process of abstract art.
Third, the closure and criticism of ‘83 Experimental Painting Exhibition where Li Shan exhibited his abstract paintings indicates that abstraction held political meaning in 1980s China. Since abstract art was prohibited during the Mao’s years, to allow abstraction indirectly meant allowing deviance from the Mao culture. Due to its inherent political meaning, regulations on abstract art constantly changed during Deng Xiaoping’s regime according to the shifting political climate. ‘83 Experimental Painting Exhibition is one of the most important examples of this fluctuating cultural policy of Deng, allowing us to see the inseparable, ambivalent tie between abstraction and the Chinese Communist Party.
Characteristics of Li Shan’s abstract paintings are similar yet different from those of other locations and times. That is because new meanings were formed as abstract art was transplanted to a specific given time and space?1980s Shanghai. Li Shan’s experience and work indicate that there existed different meanings and values of abstraction, and help us to break out of a single, homogenous definition of abstraction. There are multiple local versions of abstract art, and Li Shan’s is its small, yet significant version. Although Li Shan’s abstract art cannot represent the entire story of 1980s Chinese abstract art, Li Shan’s abstract work is a significant example of the distinctive aspects of Post-Mao abstract art.