AEMS: AEMS Database

China has been the biggest art seller in the entire world since 2012. Yet they remain relatively unknown compared to these numbers. Who are these artists? What drives them and how do they circumvent censorship? Contemporary Chinese art took off spectacularly after Mao’s death. Artists have revisited Western art and some have hijacked communist propaganda, supplementing it with a vitriolic critic of western consumerism currently sweeping the country. Art is well placed to observe the excesses of Chinese society and it has become the flag bearer for aspirations to freedom. These contemporary works symbolize people’s wounds and hardships, as well as state violence. Although two artists—Basquiat and Koons—account for 50% of the American market, China has placed 47 artists in the top 100—nearly half of them are newcomers. Through personal encounters with the most original and avant-garde artists—in their workshops or during performances—this film sets out to understand their work and what motivates them as well as their fight against censorship.