(excerpt)
…I am living in the middle of Beijing’s art scene, just a few minutes from 798 and CaoChangdi. For theoretical discussions with art historians, critics and various new media artists I have Homeshop. Despite all the art around me I sometimes feel a bit vitamin deficient.
I am looking for art that goes beyond a realistic portrait or still life, that pushes boundaries and surprises me or draws me in. In particular I am craving examples of work that are not only conceptually interesting but also are in some way or another transferable to my own work.
Oil painting seems to be the medium of choice in Beijing right now. I have also seen some great installation art and experimental film, but it often seems as if new and experimental all gets lumped into the realm of new media.
I am not an oil painter, and while I sometimes work in media considered “new,” I am more interested in the integration of this media with other aspects of art and life than with the preoccupation over boundaries between the supposedly “new” and the supposedly “traditional.”
I often feel that I am between categories, particularly while in China. I am not looking to create some form of “pure art” produced in so many painting and drawing academies, the sort that either recalls an idealized notion of the classical West or reiterates pop and expressionism. I use ink but I do not paint “guohua” (Chinese painting). When I interact with my friends who are conceptual I often find myself equally out of place. For all our similarities, I often make two dimensional, physically demanding work which doesn’t fall neatly into the “new media” category.
I love much of the work here, but sometimes feel the deep divides between categories box me in or wall me out…
Meili Paper 