Hong Kong, March 2009---Wang Keping is one of the most recognized Chinese sculptors in contemporary art history and is included in most historical texts about the history of Chinese contemporary art.
In 1978, his brazen sculptures were the first voice of criticism towards the communist regime seen from a young sculptor in China. He created the first artwork in China after the death of Mao Zedong, entitled Idol, that openly dared to criticize the Chairman himself. He was one of the most active and outspoken members of the Stars Exhibition (Xing Xing) of 1979, which was the first movement leading to a protest that opened the doors of freedom for artists in post-Mao China. He moved to France in 1984 where he continues to live and work.
The launch of the book entitled “Wang Keping”
This 378-page book documents Wang Keping’s personal history as an artist and for the first time publishes in full his ‘Memoirs of the Stars Exhibition’ (written by Wang Keping in 1980 and edited in 2008) in its original Chinese, with English and French translations. This important text documents the day-by-day events of all the key players in this important movement. Other contributors to the book include Musée Maillol curator Bertrand Lorquin, author of Art and Artists of Twentieth-Century China Professor Michael Sullivan and a biography of the artist by Katie de Tilly. In addition, it includes a chapter about Wang Keping from, New York Times journalist, Fox Butterfield’s 1981 book, China, Alive in the Bitter Sea.
This 378-page book documents Wang Keping’s personal history as an artist and for the first time publishes in full his ‘Memoirs of the Stars Exhibition’ (written by Wang Keping in 1980 and edited in 2008) in its original Chinese, with English and French translations. This important text documents the day-by-day events of all the key players in this important movement. Other contributors to the book include Musée Maillol curator Bertrand Lorquin, author of Art and Artists of Twentieth-Century China Professor Michael Sullivan and a biography of the artist by Katie de Tilly. In addition, it includes a chapter about Wang Keping from, New York Times journalist, Fox Butterfield’s 1981 book, China, Alive in the Bitter Sea.
Wang Keping’s works from the days of the Stars Exhibition through to the current day are looked at and his major themes are explored – women, mother and child, men, couples, heads, abstract forms, birds, and pure forms. The evolution of his work over the years can be seen here through some of his favourite works where form and nature guide his path.
His works have been exhibited in the National Art Museum of China, the Fukuoka Museum in Japan, the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, the Musée Maillol in Paris, the Groningen Museum in the Netherlands, the He Xiangning Art Museum in China and on the Avenue des Champs-Elysées in Paris at Les Champs de la Sculpture.
