Over a decade ago, Beijing's Central Academy of Fine Arts needed space. In a country where artistic expression was still potentially threatening in the eyes of the state, funding was hard to come by. So the academy started using an abandoned factory district on the outskirts of Beijing. For a long time, these converted factories and warehouses were a place for artists to work and hold the occasional exhibition. Over time, however, came notoriety and commercialism. Now the Dashanzi Art District teems with galleries, shops and cafes. Many tourists and locals consider it a must-visit along with the Great Wall and Mao Zedong's mausoleum. Another artistic force has been on the Beijing art scene for over a decade: the combined energy of Julia Colman and Ludovic Bois. The two Europeans came to China in search of new artists, then in 1996 started a gallery in London called Chinese Contemporary. In 2004, they opened one with the same name in Dashanzi. Now, with Chinese artists as hot as could be and pieces selling at exorbitant rates, Mr Bois says: 'This is Chinese art's moment.' That may be so, but what are Chinese artists putting forth? To celebrate their 10th year, the pair is holding a small exhibit at Dashanzi to show 'a catalogue which shows what Chinese Contemporary is doing on year 10,' wrote Mr Bois in an email. The art is so straightforward as to be deafening: communist China collides with new capitalism. It's a style that has dominated Dashanzi's history. In the paintings by Zao Bo, Coca-Cola signs peak out from behind cartoon-like characters wearing the red star on their green berets. There is a dominant feeling of attachment to China's Maoist past. Move to the playful work by the Luo Brothers and you get the same thing: laughing babies painted with a glossy sheen hold up a giant hamburger while seated on what looks like Mao's little red book. The works by Xue Song are collages within various Mao outlines. In one, his shape is filled with photographs of the old and new China. The cumulative effect of the exhibit feels less about art than history: the grip of old China is still too strong to escape. Mao is dead, long live Mao. Mr Ludovic, however, believes the art is representative of the moment: 'Chinese art is, by definition, a reflection of its society with an authoritarian system and its rampant consumerism society,' he said. 'Juxtapositions of Mao and Coca-Cola will eventually diminish.' One piece in the gallery bucks the trend. It is a digital collage of a woman in a wedding dress in various stages of drowning. The work, by Chen Qiulin, is called Drown Diary. Chen is commenting not just on China, but the human condition as well. And that's something we all respond to.
