The Way Of Behavior And The Cultural Significance Of Artistic Media

This essay focuses on the "reflexive turn" of Chinese contemporary art since year 2000. Reflexivity in art practice is defined herein from three aspects:(1) the subject matter of art work derives from the everyday life lived by the artist, with frequent use of ready-mades; (2) the artist’s way of performance and his/her experience during the creative process, rather than semantic meaning conveyed to the audience by the final appearance of the work, are being emphasized, and (3) artists reflect on the cultural meaning of specific art media, such cultural meaning are integrated into the meaning of the artwork as a whole. Therefore,art media applied is not neutral dimension in reflexive art practice but a symbolic and meaningful one.As performance and experience are central to reflexive art practice, the essay therefore focuses on creative process of artwork. A summary of three types of performance are maded in chapter one, which is based on numerous case studies on Chinese contemporary art works. The essay then further discusses how these performances contribute in shaping the experience of the artist during the creative process, and how-by conducting such performances- new perspectives of observation on his/her everyday life-world can be achieved by the artist.Chapter two discusses a special type of painting frequently seen in Chinese contemporary art in recent years -- the so called "photographic paintings"-- by various Chinese artists. As a specific type of painting, photographic paintings are ideal illustrations of how reflexive thoughts on the cultural meaning of art media can be transformed into significant elements of the painting.In chapter three, the reflexive turn in Chinese contemporary art practice is discussed in its relation to Chinese social-cultural context. Since 2000, the institution of Chinese contemporary art has undergone radical change. As a result, social identity of Chinese contemporary artists must be constructed in a different way from that of the last two decades of 20th century, and how the relationship of art and social reality is defined remains a central point of reflection to most Chinese contemporary artists. In this context, the reflexive turn as a general tendency in art practice in recent years can be considered as reaction of the artists through creative practice, in their confrontation with institutional change.As a conclusion, reflexive art practice can be deemed as a kind of cultural practice, on one hand it is the result of social identity construction practiced by Chinese contemporary artists in institutional context of 21th century; on the other hand, through close observation and reflection on everyday life world, reflexive art practice can serve as means of cultural critic.