China ― The New Generation

The first book to focus on Chinese artists born in the 1980s, exploring the advent of a new generation appearing on the national and international scenes.

This visionary, forward-looking selection of twenty young artists is the work of two key figures in China’s art scene, namely Jerome Sans, co-founder of the Palais de Tokyo in Paris and former director of the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing, and Jean-Marc Decrop, a specialist in contemporary Chinese art with the French and European Chamber of Experts. Born in a country in the full swing of economic, social, and urban change, and benefiting from global access to information and new technologies, these artists have broken free from any artistic legacy to draw upon a transversal, worldwide culture. Embodying the dynamics and diversity of methods and styles, so vast as to be entirely unprecedented in China, these artworks and approaches attest to the extraordinary wealth and accuracy of fresh perspectives on today’s world. One of the most vibrant in the world, this new art scene is reinventing China’s cultural history.

For the last twenty years Jean-Marc Decrop has pioneered the discovery and public awareness of Chinese art across Europe, helping to build some of the most prestigious collections including those of Guy Ullens, A. M. Gillion Crowet, J. J. de Flers, P. Donnersberg, and the DSL Collection. He published Modernites Chinoises (Skira, 2003) with Christine Buci-Glucksmann. Always in search of new talents, he is an active art consultant and curator in South Asia, notably Indonesia and Pakistan, as well as in the Middle East.

Jerome Sans has curated numerous major exhibitions around the world, including the Taipei Biennial (2000), the Lyon Biennial (2005), and the Nuit Blanche in Paris (2006). He is currently artistic director of the Lyon Rives de Saone–River Movie, and co-founder of Perfect Crossovers Ltd., a Beijing-based consultancy for specific cultural projects between China and the rest of the world. He has contributed to various art publications and is the author of several books, includingChina Talks (Timezone 8, 2009), a compilation of interviews with thirty-two leading Chinese contemporary artists.