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Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art to Show Works by
China’s Gao Brothers
First US
Exhibition Only in Kansas City, on view September 17–January 2
Chinese artists Gao Qiang and Gao Zhen, known as the Gao
Brothers, have collaborated on their art since 1985. Much of the Gao
Brothers’ work is inspired by their family’s experiences during China’s Cultural
Revolution (1966–76). Due to their subject matter, the Gaos’ works are
frequently censored by authorities in China. Featuring large-scale sculpture,
painting, and photography, the exhibition Gao Brothers: Grandeur
and Catharsis is
the artists’ first museum exhibition in the United States. The exhibition,
curated by London-based scholar Arthur Hwang, is on view September 17,
2010–January 2, 2011, only at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas
City, Missouri. Admission is free.
The
exhibition will open with a free public reception, Friday, September
17, 5:30–7:30 p.m. at the Kemper Museum. The artists and
curator will be present. See below for a complete list of events related to the
exhibition.
In 1968 the artists’ father was arrested as a counter
revolutionary, and days later he died while in custody. Their father was among
the estimated 1.5 million people who died during the Cultural Revolution, when
much of China’s cultural heritage and family foundations were destroyed. The Gao
Brothers’ works of art seek to understand China’s complicated history and
government controlled by the Communist Party. The Gaos’ works range from
politically charged to satirical and irreverent works, but in the end the
brothers seek to understand the wrongs and shortcomings of China’s past. In many
of their works, Mao Zedong (1893–1976), former leader of the People’s Republic
of China, plays the lead, but in others, viewers will find a variety of
portraits of famous and infamous public figures.
With many of their works of art being critical of the Chinese
government and its leaders, the Gao Brothers find it difficult for them to
express themselves freely as artists and generally show their works at secret
art exhibitions to avoid seizure of their works by authorities. In 2006, an
exhibition of their works in Beijing’s gallery district, called 798, had several
works removed by the government.
The brothers are not afraid to create contextually
loaded, controversial works of art. In the sculpture Execution of
Christ (2009), a
half dozen life-sized bronze sculptures of Mao Zedong point bayonets at a
life-sized sculpture of Jesus Christ. At the back of the group, one Mao appears
to be turning away from the execution, perhaps regretting or rethinking his act.
The positioning of the artwork’s figures mirror two well-known paintings,
Francisco de Goya’s The Third of May 1808 (The Executions on
Príncipe Pío hill) (1814) and Edouard Manet’s The Execution
of Maximilian (1867–69). In both works, a central figure stands before
a firing squad. When China became a communist state in the 1940s, its
government adopted atheism and forced many religious followers, including
Christians, to observe their faith in secret.
Other works mock Mao and China’s
evolving practice of Communism. In the outdoor sculpture Miss Mao
Trying to Poise Herself at the Top of Lenin’s Head (2009), a relatively small
Mao figure balances on the head of Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924), leader of
Russia’s Bolshevik revolution and first head of the USSR. After Mao’s forces
defeated Chiang Kai-shek and his army in 1949, China emerged as the People’s
Republic of
China and private enterprises became state owned and farms became collectives.
In this monumental sculpture, the artists satirize the careful balancing act
that China practices today now that it has evolved into State Capitalist economy
controlled by the Communist party.
Free
Educational Programs
Panel
Discussion: Gao Brothers
Saturday, September 18, 1:00–2:30
p.m.
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art | Atkins Auditorium |
Free
4525 Oak Street, Kansas City, Missouri
In the years since the end of
the Cultural Revolution, Chinese artists have been allowed latitude in creating
art that references this historic period when Maoist Red Guards attacked
traditional Chinese and Western philosophy, the intelligentsia, religion, and
other “bourgeois” or “reactionary” traditions. Under the scrutiny of the Chinese
Communist Party, the Gao Brothers have pushed the boundaries of expression and
anti-Mao sentiment.
In this panel discussion, the Gao Brothers, Kemper Museum
Curator Barbara O’Brien, exhibition curator Arthur Hwang, and Associate
Professor and Director of the Center for East Asian Studies at the University of
Kansas, Megan Greene will discuss their monumental and politically provocative
artwork. Greene also will talk about China’s Cultural Revolution and the
frenzied transition from the Maoist era to the China of today.
This program is free and
requires no ticket for admission. Seating is first-come,
first-served.
Sunday
Cinema Series
Kemper Museum Meeting Room | Free
Experience contemporary China
through the lens of documentary and artistic filmmakers in this Sunday Cinema
Series. At each screening, experts from the Confucious Institute at the
University of Kansas will lead discussions before and after the
films.
Sunday, September 19, 2:00 p.m.
Art in
the Cultural Revolution (1997). 33 minutes. directed by Kubert
Leung
Digital Underground in the People’s Republic
(2008). 18 minutes.
directed by Rachel Tejada
Sunday,
October 17, 2:00 p.m.
The Sun Behind the Clouds: Tibet’s Struggle for
Freedom (2010).
79 minutes. Tibetan and Mandarin with English subtitles. directed by Ritu Sarin
and Tenzing Sonam
Sunday,
November 14, 2:00 p.m.
The World (2004). 139 minutes. Mandarin
and Shanxi dialect with English subtitles. directed by Zhang Ke Jia
Sunday, December 12, 2:00
p.m.
The Other Half (2006). 111 minutes. Sichuan dialect with English
subtitles. directed by Liang Ying
Contemporary Connections in the Classroom
Friday, October 15,
6:00–7:30 p.m.
Meeting Room | Free | Registration
Required
High school educators are invited to this evening
workshop that will explore China’s Cultural Revolution and its impact on today’s
China while learning about trends in contemporary Chinese art that have emerged
along side a market-driven economy. Educators will receive a tour of the
exhibition and a teacher resources packet with classroom activity materials.
Light refreshments will be served. Space is limited. Register by contacting Beth
Harris at 816-457-6134 or bharris@kemperart.org.
About the
Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art
Kansas City’s renowned free
modern and contemporary art museum, the Kemper
Museum of Contemporary Art
opened in 1994 and draws more than 120,000 visitors each year. The Museum boasts
a rapidly growing permanent collection of modern and contemporary works of
artists from around the world and in three locations—the
signature Gunnar Birkerts-designed building,
Kemper at the Crossroads, and Kemper East. The Museum hosts temporary
exhibitions, installations, lectures, concerts,
children’s
workshops, and other creative programs.
The Museum (4420 Warwick
Blvd.) is open 10:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m., Tuesday–Thursday; 10:00 a.m.–9:00 p.m.,
Friday–Saturday; and 11:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m., Sunday. Café
Sebastienne, a four-star restaurant, serves
lunch 11:00 a.m.–2:30 p.m., Tuesday–Sunday; and dinner
5:30–9:30 p.m., Friday–Saturday. The Museum and Café are closed on Mondays and
major holidays. Admission is free.
Kemper at the Crossroads (33
West 19th Street) is closed for renovation. It reopens October
1.
The galleries of Kemper East
(200 E. 44th Street) are open 10:00 a.m.–4 p.m., Tuesday–Friday. Admission is free.
The Museum
thanks its annual sponsors
The Kemper Museum
acknowledges the generous support of Francis Family Foundation; Arvin Gottlieb
Charitable Foundation, UMB Bank, n.a., Trustee; Muriel McBrien Kauffman
Foundation; and Missouri Arts Council, a state agency. Financial assistance has
been provided by ArtsKC Fund—Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City; H&R
Block Foundation; Hallmark Corporate Foundation; David Woods Kemper Memorial
Foundation; William T. Kemper Foundation—Commerce Bank, Trustee; and Richard J.
Stern Foundation for the Arts—Commerce Bank,
Trustee.
For more
general information about the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art,
visit www.kemperart.org.
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