Huang Rui: The Way of Subtraction

As an original founder of the avant-garde art Stars in 1979 now actively involved in the development of the 798 Art District in Beijing, Huang Rui is one of the leading figures of the Chinese contemporary art scene. He is a highly socially engaged artist who incorporates numerous and complex political and historical references into his works. Decidedly conceptual works like “Chairman Mao 10,000 RMB” or “Chai-na/China,” for instance, reflects the paradoxes posed by the ideological collision between socialism and capitalism up to the present day in contemporary China. 

Huang Rui’s body of work is intrinsically tied to memory, yet ­manages to avoid the usual memory trap of bitterness and nostalgia. Most ­importantly perhaps, he also successfully keeps a sharp ­political stance without falling into cynicism. Irony on cultural stage was one of the most important phenomena in China of 1990s, as illustrated by the ­commercial success of “political pop,” “cynical realism” and the like. Although ­undoubtedly refreshing in a Chinese context, the post-modern game of artsy quoting to which numerous contemporary artists have committed themselves in the recent years is certainly not as subversive as one often tends to believe. In this regard, the Chinese political situation, and Huang Rui’s work in particular, offers a great opportunity to reconsider the relation between art production and the power structures in which it is involved. In the end, is irony not the cardinal virtue of existential ­liberalism, but the nervous tic of those too timid to hold true convictions?