Exposing Chinese Epigones
In view of these photos I only want to raise two questions:
1. Why have contemporary Chinese artists chosen to imitate the Europeans and Americans, not the Indians, the South Americans and the Africans?
2. Why do the Europeans and Americans celebrate exactly these copycats of their own art? Is not hidden behind this seeming approval actually the denial that the Chinese can invent something new?
Left: Ai Weiwei, Table with Three Legs, (2006). Right: Robert Therrien, No Title, (1993).
Left: Cai Guoqiang, Head On, Installation Deutsches Guggenheim Berlin, (2006). Right: Joseph Beuys, The Pack, (1969).
Left: Qiu Zhijie, Monuments, Installation Artist's Studio, (2009). Right: Joseph Beuys, Olivestones, (1984).
Left: Zhang Huan, Window, (2004). Right: Joseph Beuys, Aktion "Coyote, I like America and America likes me", (1974).
Left: Kan Xuan (Participant on Venice Biennial), Looking, Looking, Looking For, (2001). Right: Yoko Ono, Fly, (1970).
Left: Yin Xiuzhen, (Participant on Venice Biennial), Airplane, (2008). Right: Anselm Kiefer, Poppy and Memory, (1989).
Left: Shen Yuan, (Participant on Venice Biennial), The First Trip, (2007). Right: Claes Oldenburg, Spoonbridge and Cherry, (1985-1988).
Left: Miao Xiaochun, The Last Judgment in Cyberspace, (2006-2008). Right: Michelangelo, The Last Judgment, (1537-1541)
Left: Wang Ziwei, Hopeless Miss Revolutionary, (2003). Right: Roy Lichtenstein, Hopeless (1963)
Left: Wang Guangyi, Great Castigation Series: Coca Cola, (1993). Right: Andy Warhol, Do It Yourself (Sailboats), (1962).
Left: Yan Peiming, Mao, (2000). Right: Lovis Corinth, Woman With Rose Hat, (1912).
Left: Zhang Xiaogang, Untitled, (2006). Right: Gerhard Richter, Woman With Child (Beach), (1965).