2003.3.14-2003.3.30

Millennium Art Museum, Beijing, China

2003.12.5-2004.2.1

Anderson Galleries, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, NY, USA

Curator: Gao Minglu

Gao Minglu coins the term to define the fundamental methodology applied by a number of contemporary Chinese 'abstract' artists. Based on his definition of Maximalism, Gao unfolds his examination and analysis on the so-called Chinese 'abstract art' phenomenon. He characterises Maximalist art from multiple perspectives, such as its differentiation from Western abstract art, the context of Chinese contemporary art and the influence of traditional thought patterns. Gao's main approach for interpreting the meaning of the 'abstract' artworks is to decode the inter-relation between the art objects and the spiritual environment where the objects are made by the artists in a meditative way. Accordingly, he points out that Chinese Maximalism is neither self-expression, nor abstract representation of the outer world, rather it is a part of the seamless whole of the artists' life and philosophy. Maximalism is the fusion of tradition and contemporaneity, as well as the crystals of methodolgical experimentation of Chineseness. Maximalism criticises the old philistine ideological semantics that are still fashionable in China in a deconstructive way by applying the methods of 'repetition', 'process', 'measurements', etc. At the same time, the practice of Maximalism also inspires us to think about the rebirth of the independence of art and the rebuilding of the dignity of artists.

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