Chinese Contemporary Oil Painting Urban Context

China is witnessing the transition period from the agriculturalsociety to modern metropolis, from planned economy to marketeconomy, and from agricultural culture to modern urban culture.During the period, ideology, economy, culture and art interplay and actas the external reasons as well as the results of the transition, whichforms the complex Chinese metropolitan context. The characteristicsof traditional culture value, together with the orientation of Westernurban cultural value, constitute the “dual value system” of the Chineseurban culture. Influenced by the system, the modern culture and artform is in the phase of changing and fusion, therefore, a stable nativeart form has not formed.In the modern metropolitan context, ideology does not directlyinterfere and limit art as before. However, the uniform economicdevelopment strategy makes it apparent that ideology has a strongimpact on culture and art in the modern economic development. Someovert and covert problems, like the contradiction between the mainideology transition and the traditional morality, the great change of theoriginal life style because of the rapid economic development, and thehierarchy evolvement brought by social integration, will directlyrepresent in the modern oil paintings with consciousness of problems.The historical background of the modern Chinese oil paintingsdecides that creators of oil paintings act as the witnesses as well asparticipants of times. As intellectuals, the oil painters should clearlyknow, face and point out problems during the development of eras,which is of great importance in constructing the significance of modernChinese oil paintings. The paper firstly analyses the metropolitancontext of art and culture, and then the “dual art value system” is putforward. One is the coexistence of reflexive art under the conception oftraditional culture and hereditary art under the influence of modernurban culture; the other is the contradiction between the Chinese andWestern cultures and arts. After the analysis of modern urban problems,the “corresponding problems” and “crisis performance” reflected in modern oil paintings provide evidence for the further study of oilpainters’ dilemma and responsibilities as well as for the remolding ofhumanistic values. In addition, the author also tries to define the urbanoil paintings.The results show that the Chinese oil paintings lack theirevolution process but remain the traces of social developmentcompared with the Western oil painting system with hundreds of yearsas well as the study of styles and images of the Western oil paintings.Moreover, every manifestation of oil paintings is closely related to thesocial changes of China. The fact that the modern society istransforming from population migration to social integration decidesthe complex aesthetic values and artistic appearance of the modernurban oil paintings. Influenced by the modern metropolitan context, thecomplex appearance will continue to remain.