The Excitement And Exhaustion Of The Idealism

As the first civil exhibition operated in the mode of western modern artexhibition by inviting art critics and toastmasters, as well as the first to try holdinglarge-scale exhibition by private investment and establishing art market mechanismunder circumstances of absent market tradition, THE FIRST1990S’BIENNIAL ARTFAIR GUANGZHOU, CHINA (hereinafter referred to as the Guangzhou Biennale)was a milepost in the history of Chinese contemporary art. These attempts condensedideals of a generation of artists who devoted themselves to the development ofChinese modern art. Guangzhou Biennale not only made progress in modern art of1980s, but also pioneered the market road in1990s. Due to the comprehensive effectit had made, concepts such as art, market, exhibition mechanism, law of art, has comeinto vision. The wide range of information possessed by Guangzhou Biennale, fromthe exhibit to its market effect, makes it a valuable research object.By collating the information about the advance of Biennale, the evaluatingorganization and law, as well as the styles of exhibit, the main purpose of this article isto survey the efforts that Guangzhou Biennale had made in order to develop Chinesemodern art and to establish art market from new perspective. Meanwhile, this articleaims to make introspection through the exposed problems during the Biennale, and toresearch the historic meaning of the Biennale by making cross-comparison, therebypresenting an authentic and objective Guangzhou Biennale.