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One of the pieces of work on display at the Anna Bella “On
This Land” exhibition.
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A painting by Huang Yan. |
China
Image by Zheng Xuewu.
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Now in its 15th year, the Red Gate was
one of the first professional art galleries to have opened in
Beijing. So far it has contracted more than 20 Chinese artists,
many of them prominent figures in the nation’s contemporary
art world. The struggles of its founder, Brian Wallace, epitomize
the fits-and-starts progress of China’s artistic sector over
the past two decades.
Today, China’s art is on the upbeat,
as evidenced by growing government aid and public support and
increased media coverage. Art exhibitions these days receive more
visitors and generate greater revenue than ever before. Along
with China’s booming auction business, they contribute generously
to its thriving art galleries.
Yet art is still very much a nascent
sector in China. Professional commercial galleries have emerged
in big cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, but in small numbers.
Chinese galleries have a long way to go as regards accessibility
to all.
Even before the 1990s (in 1988 and 1989) my friends and I organized
exhibitions at the Ancient Observatory, a Ming structure. This
was certainly an auspicious beginning to my new career (now rapidly
approaching 20 years) in the art world. But it was more than foreign
initiative that got things moving – something much bigger
was happening. The nascent commercial contemporary art scene of
the 1980s was concentrated in the Concert Hall Gallery because
there were no other galleries -- as we understand the concept
of the professional commercial art gallery – in existence.
Of course, this was a reflection of the larger palette of society
and business at that time – it was early days.
Shunned by the traditional structures of established art organizations,
younger artists and their patrons organized their own shows at
various spaces around Beijing. Amazingly, we were able to use
such magnificent settings as the Old Summer Palace, the Confucian
Temple, the Temple of Longevity, the Temple of Law, Ritan Park
(Temple of the Sun), and the Observatory. Contemporary Chinese
art has a very imperial background.
There was a palpable yearning by the youthful art community for
more than isolated, anonymous practice. They wanted to show off
their creativity and understanding of the stirring world around
them to a wider audience of friends, artists, and a yet unknown
public. Young artists were traveling from all over the country
to Beijing, leaving behind blissful innocence to wander through
the bohemian world of the Beijing art scene that was, literally,
on the edge of Beijing. Simultaneously daunted, exhilarated, impoverished
and wired, many were trained at the most prestigious academies
in China that gave them high credibility. Others had modest or
no arts training at all. Either way, it would not be until the
next century that their insights and critical eye would be acknowledged
by the establishment, let alone by society as a whole. We had
no idea of how we would get there.
During the 1980s things certainly moved along, culminating in
the pivotal Chinese Avant-garde ‘No U-Turn’ exhibition
at the National Gallery in 1989. Honestly hailed as recognition
of the new era of contemporary art in China, this notorious show
preceded a major setback for the art scene. After the events of
May and June, the contemporary art world crashed. The ensuing
two years were a period of disenchantment, reflection and sobering
shafts of reality for the young artists who had grown up in the
post-Cultural Revolution idyll. There was little attempt to exhibit,
even if you could. People did other things, such as thinking about
studying overseas, having families, pursuing new interests –
but it was hard to adapt. It was in 1991 that life started to
become more relaxed as possibilities and opportunities, hope and
maturity converged.
During the two years 1989 to 1991 I worked at the Foreign Languages
Press before making the decision to go to the Central Academy
of Fine Arts in Beijing to study Chinese art history on a one-year
bridging course. I, along with my fellow students who were artists
and teachers from all over the country, covered 5,000 years of
history, slide by slide, in little over nine months. For me it
was a fantastic introduction to the broad range of the Chinese
arts – calligraphy, painting, furniture, architecture, sculpture,
bronzes, carvings, and so it went on.
My specialty was post 1949 history which leapt forward in a very
revolutionary manner to the 1980’s when my active participation
started. In what seemed a flash I had been in China for five years.
My scholarships gone and savings depleted, I had to acknowledge
that the part-time job I’d had all along was not going to
support me forever. But I did not want to return to Australia.
I was faced with the decision of whether to go home or find a
job in Beijing in the business world (my background is in business
management and marketing) neither of which appealed.
It was this dilemma that prompted me to consider opening an art
gallery. Beijing was relaxing and the business community and China
itself were opening up again. There was a new energy – the
resilience of the populace was once more in evidence! Small businesses,
restaurant, bars and larger businesses were gaining the confidence
to have a go. It was a period of ‘Jumping into the Sea’
(xia hai) and a new dawn – albeit commercially led -- was
upon us.
We approached the Observatory again to see if it would be possible
to rent the garden pavilion we had used before, but on a long-term
basis. We were summarily refused, but proffered the suggestion
of Dongbianmen jiaolou Not knowing what that was, we were led
down the road to the Dongbianmen Watchtower on the corner of the
old city wall: one of the few Ming towers to have survived the
destruction of the city wall. Heavily damaged and unkempt, during
the late 1980s the state restored this magnificent structure to
its original glorious testament to the strength and culture of
the Ming Dynasty.
Having been given permission to rent the top floor, in July 1991
we held the first show of works created by a group of young artists.
This was an exciting time for the art scene. Red Gate’s vision
was to provide a space for young Chinese artists in which to present
their work to an anticipated but unknown audience, which at that
time consisted of other artists and the more adventurous expatriates
in Beijing. We had no idea where the sales revenue to support
the gallery’s operation would come from. But I had lingering
confidence based on our previous experience, and that important
feeling that things were on the move. That very first day we started
selling.
Winter was approaching and we could not work in the tower because
there was no way of heating it. We were kindly offered a space
at the China World Hotel, and eventually moved there. In those
days the watchtower was perceived as inaccessible despite its
fantastic location. So we remained at the hotel location until
1999, when the Bureau of Cultural Relics approached us, suggesting
that we return to the tower. We agreed immediately to re-open
there at the top level, and within a few months were also able
to secure the ground floor and build an office area that allowed
us to work through the winter. By the end of the year we had left
the China World Hotel and completely re-located. We were back
home at the Red Gate, behind the large sets of red doors after
which the gallery was named, secure in the only Ming corner tower
in existence.
Our exhibition program was in full swing and we quickly celebrated
our tenth anniversary with an exhibition called “Clues to
the Future.” It was an exciting presentation of works by
the gallery artists indicating where they were heading, rather
than where they had been over the past ten years. Held in 2001,
it was an intuitive show that hinted at the future of these artists
and of the Red Gate.
The past 15 years has been packed with shows of works by our
own artists as well as offshoot guest-curated and international
exhibitions.
Today, despite the scene having changed rapidly in the last four
years, our mission is still the same. Many artists have been with
us for more than a decade – some as long as 15 years. Like
any other commercial gallery, we have a constant turnover of artists,
though I must say our stable is very stable indeed. Each year
we introduce new, unknown and young artists to maintain our gene
pool. Of course, this rich pool of talent is underpinned by the
maturity, success and endurance of some of the older artists who
joined us in their 20s and early 30s. They are perfect examples
to the younger, more newly arrived artists, who could aptly be
described as pre-emergent.
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