Abstract art is an outstanding achievement in the world art history since the 20th century, being the extreme art for the sake of art, the maximized display of art’s own value, and the logical destination of modern art. Without abstract art, there would be no individuality and self-sufficiency of conceptual art. In this sense, abstract art is also the theoretical foundation of the whole contemporary art. Although abstractionism has already become a part of history as an enormously influential art school, abstract art is still an important way of expression of contemporary art with figurative and expressionistic languages as a basic language of visual arts. Abstraction is a comparatively special type during the more-than-40-year developing course of Chinese contemporary art, as being in the marginalized and individualized status of existence far away from hot spots of ideology and commercial exploitation. The character and maturity of abstract language is the most direct inspection of art creation standard, and its expression back to the visual reality is the purest academic manifestation of metaphysical contemplation.
The serial abstract art exhibitions entitled “Metaphysics” is an academic brand that I established in 2001, and four of the serial exhibitions have been held successfully in the Shanghai Art Museum in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2005. Being periodically held in a state-owned art institute in the Chinese Mainland for the first time, these abstract art exhibitions have become a classic academic art project during the developing course of abstract art in Shanghai even in China. Although this serial academic exhibition has been paused for almost two decades, many artists who were active on the stage of Metaphysics have already grown into the most important representative figures of Chinese abstract art circles nowadays.
Resorting to the platform of the Being Art Museum, the new abstract art exhibition with the theme “Metaphysics 2024: Restart” is to be launched again, gathering 34 Shanghainese abstract artists of different generations being born from the 1940s to the 1990s and living in Shanghai and other regions, intending to reiterate Shanghai’s crucial position in the developing course of Chinese abstract art. This exhibition is not only the restart of the serial exhibitions of Metaphysics, but also an attempt to restart the basic recognition of abstract art by the general public and media in the current times. The seemingly “old-fashioned” abstract art is certainly to bring back entirely new enlightenment for the contemporary art circles in the 21st century.
Chief Curator: Li Xu
