Themes and Affect in the Third Wave of Contemporary Chinese Art
Themes and Affect in the Third Wave of Contemporary Chinese Art

Summary/Abstract: At the turn of the 21st century, the international art world declared that China was entering into a renaissance of style and theme. The combination of Chinese artist’s new exposure to Western art of the 20th century, as well as recent easing of censorship and the arrival of a new generation of artists inspired an economic force. The art auction market doubled in 2010 over the previous year with about half the art coming from China, making it a popular center for the contemporary art scene.Despite this boom, most of the research on the third wave of contemporary art is stylistic, not thematic. This thematic analysis examines the 25 highest priced sold pieces of art created by Chinese artists from 2000 to 2011 in order to locate the thematic roots of popular Chinese contemporary art. By identifying these themes, we can understand the identity of the contemporary Chinese artist and the contemporary Chinese art consumer. The six themes found in the collection are: restraint, control, exile and alienation, war, destruction and decay, and western organizational culture.

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