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Chambers Fine Art is an art gallery based in New York City and Beijing that specializes in Chinese
contemporary art Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic co ...
. Opened in New York in 2000 by Christophe Mao. Notable Chinese artists who had their first solo show in the United States at Chambers include: Lu Shengzhong,
Shi Jinsong Shi Jinsong (born 1969, Dangyang County Hubei Province, China) is a Chinese artist based in Wuhan and Beijing. He studied at Hubei Institute of Fine Arts in China where he majored in sculpture and mastered an array of traditional styles and techniqu ...
, Hong Hao, Qiu Zhijie, Hong Lei, and Chi Peng. In 2007 Chambers Fine Art opened a second gallery-space designed by the artist, Ai Weiwei, in the Caochangdi district of Beijing. The inaugural exhibition ''Net: Reimagining Space, Time and Culture'' was organized by eminent Chinese art scholar, Wu Hung, and included works by Chinese contemporary artists
Ai Weiwei Ai Weiwei (, ; born 28 August 1957) is a Chinese contemporary artist, documentarian, and activist. Ai grew up in the far northwest of China, where he lived under harsh conditions due to his father's exile. As an activist, he has been openly ...
,
He Yunchang He Yunchang (born 1967), also known as A Chang, is a Chinese performance artist. Life and career He Yunchang was born in Kunming, southwest China, in 1967. He graduated from the Yunnan Art Institute in 1991 with a degree in oil painting an ...
, Hong Hao, Hong Lei, Lu Shengzhong, Qiu Zhijie, Rong Rong & inri, Shi Jinsong, Song Dong, Wang Jianwei, Wang Tiande, Wu Jian’an, Yin Xiuzhen, Yu Hong,
Guo Hongwei About Guo Hongwei (born 1982) is a Contemporary artist based in Beijing. Guo graduated from the Oil painting Department of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in 2004. After graduation, he created a style of painting based on old photographs of the a ...
, Zhan Wang, Zhang Peili, Zheng Guogu. In October 2009, Chambers Fine Art moved its New York gallery to a ground-floor space on 19th street in Chelsea's gallery district.


History

Chambers Fine Art is named after the distinguished British architect, Sir William Chambers who, in addition to his architectural practice, was a leading exponent of Chinese principles in garden design in the late eighteenth century. Inspired by the example of Chambers, Christophe W. Mao, founder and director of the gallery since 2000, has organized a stimulating series of exhibitions that have introduced the work of some of the best artists active in China today to an American audience. The gallery program has alternated between monographic exhibitions devoted to the work of established artists and thematic exhibitions organized by recognized scholars in the field. Thus, the first exhibition in the gallery, ''First Encounter'', was devoted to the work of the outstanding paper-cut artist Lu Shengzhong who converted the gallery space into a vividly colored "temple" that evoked another aspect of life in China than the contemporary urban culture explored by so many younger artists. Other memorable solo exhibitions in the last eight years have been devoted to the work of Hong Hao, Wang Tiande, Wang Jianwei, Qiu Shihua, Rong Rong and inri, Hong Lei and Qiu Zhijie. In contrast group exhibitions beginning with ''Cement: Marginal Space in Contemporary Art'' (2002) and ''Too Much Flavor'' (2003) and continuing to ''Blog It: New Wave of New Wave'' (2008) have introduced the work of a younger generation of Chinese artists to the American audience. These carefully selected “reports” on the latest developments in China contrast with monographic exhibitions devoted to well-established artists whose work is frequently being shown for the first time in the United States.


First Chinese Pavilion at Venice Biennale

In 2003, Chambers Director, Christophe Mao, agreed to sponsor the first ever Chinese Pavilion at the 50th
Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...
, the major contemporary art exhibition which takes place in
Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...
, Italy every two years. Five Chinese artists were selected to represent China, including Lu Shengzhong, who was the first contemporary Chinese artist exhibited by Chambers when it opened in 2000. However, because of the
SARS Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a viral respiratory disease of zoonotic origin caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV or SARS-CoV-1), the first identified strain of the SARS coronavirus species, '' s ...
crisis, the Chinese Pavilion was canceled. In 2005, for the 51st
Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...
, the first official Chinese Pavilion was built by the Chinese Ministry of Culture and Chambers Fine Art provided sponsorship for the exhibition "Virgin Garden – Immersion", which included the artists
Yung Ho Chang Yung Ho Chang () is a Chinese-American architect and Professor of MIT Architecture. He was formerly the head of the Department of Architecture at MIT. He studied at the Nanjing Institute of Technology (now Southeast University) before moving to ...
, Liu Wei,
Sun Yuan & Peng Yu Sun Yuan (born 1972) and Peng Yu (born 1974) are artists living and working collaboratively in Beijing since the late 1990s. Sun was born in Beijing and Peng in Heilongjiang. Sun and Peng are contemporary conceptual art, conceptual artists whose ...
, Wang Qiheng and Xu Zhen.


Architecture

Since the gallery opened in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City in 2000, Chambers Fine Art has opened two additional exhibition spaces which have both been recognized for their architectural merits. In 2007, Chambers Fine Art opened a second gallery in the
Caochangdi Caochangdi () was an urban village and renowned arts district located in the Chaoyang District of northeast Beijing at the intersection of the 5th Ring Road and Airport Expressway. Translated as "grasslands" in Mandarin, Caochangdi was home to a d ...
district of Beijing. In 2008, an additional storage and exhibition space known as "ArtFarm" was opened on a rural piece of private land in Salt Point, New York. Both of these buildings were designed by the Swiss architectural firm, HHF Architects, in conjunction with renowned Chinese artist and architect,
Ai Weiwei Ai Weiwei (, ; born 28 August 1957) is a Chinese contemporary artist, documentarian, and activist. Ai grew up in the far northwest of China, where he lived under harsh conditions due to his father's exile. As an activist, he has been openly ...
, who is widely known for collaborating on the design of the " Bird's Nest" stadium built for the
2008 Beijing Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nati ...
. In 2009, HHF Architects received the "best architects 10" gold prize for the ArtFarm project. Described by the architects, "The outer shape is a consequence of the use of a pre-engineered and easy to assemble type of steel building, which often gets used for agricultural purposes in that area. With its abstract metallic appearance the structure becomes an equal member of a whole group of sculptures which are spread out in the landscape."HHF Architects ArtFarm project ""


See also

* Chinese fine art


References


External links

* {{coord, 40.745732, -74.00716, type:landmark_globe:earth_region:US-NY, display=title Art museums and galleries in New York (state) Art galleries established in 2000 2000 establishments in New York City