Preface
GROWING UP——Exhibition Celebrating SWFC 3rd & ShanghART Gallery 15th Anniversary

Initiated in 1996, ShanghART Gallery has been dedicated into Chinese contemporary art over the course of past fifteen years. The recollection is as vivid as always that Lorenz Helbling from Switzerland rode his bicycle along the sinuous alleys into stone gate for visit to avant-garde artists in Shanghai like YU Youhan, LI Shan and DING Yi and so forth. At that time, art market was nowhere to find in China, an environment that allowed merely dreams owned by artists. Then, ShanghART Gallery staged its very first exhibition on the corridor in Portman Hotel. And it is precisely this corridor that opened the door for Chinese contemporary art into international market as ShanghART also put down its root in art field of this country.

The time spent in the old workshop in Fuxing Park witnessed not just a beautiful legend. Meanwhile, ShanghART experienced firsthand the steps taken by Chinese contemporary art developing from being closed to open and by art market from being blank to prosperous. It may well be asked, is there any stage in the evolution of Chinese contemporary art without participation of artists from ShanghART Gallery?

ShanghART now has two spaces in 50 Moganshan Road (Main Space and H-Space), a public warehouse space in West of Shanghai (ShanghART Taopu), and a gallery space in Beijing. These material supports, however, are not the treasure ShanghART is really proud of. Instead, it is people from the entire industry that do matter for the gallery: curators, critics, gallerists, professors and businesspeople. We prefer creation over exhibition; creation of artpieces, mutual influence and debate over display, consumption and sale. For both artists performing a better role on global context and those remaining comparatively idealized, therefore, ShanghART anticipates to maintain their spiritual realm, which is also most cherished by us for its most personalized and creative part.

The autumn in October 2011 coincides with the 3rd anniversary of SWFC. With artworks by more than 30 artists, ShanghART is delighted to present diverse principles, themes and expressions employed by Chinese contemporary art, expecting to share the moments experienced by both gallery and artists “growing up”over fifteen years.  

Lu Leiping