Curated by Lin Shuchuan from The Art Museum of Nanjing University of the Arts, the ChinaNow exhibition invites 10 leading Young Chinese Artists (YCAs) to exhibit their works in London together for the first time.

Ranging from paintings, sculptures and digital art, artists Chen Chenchen, Double Fly Art Centre, Feng Zhengquan, Han Jianyu, Huang Yishan, Shan Dingkai, Wu Didi, Wang Yuyang, Wu Jian’an and Zhang Quan, represent the indefinable diversity of YCAs.

Over the past three decades, China has not only witnessed its economy growing exponentially, but also its contemporary art market. Todays’ China, the world’s second largest economy, had recently over-taken the UK to become the second largest global art market. Although these positions have switched back following the economic slowdown, it is undeniable that the Chinese art market has become increasingly globalized and diverse.

Ai Weiwei is still the dominant icon of Chinese contemporary art in the eyes of western audiences and an ever wider range of Chinese contemporary artists names are frequently included in international auction houses and exhibitions. Mainland China’s top collectors have begun to shift their eyes from Chinese contemporary art towards the western modern masters, while the rapidly emerging Chinese private art museum sector, has also become thirsty for western modern and contemporary art exhibitions.

Moreover, this dynamic evolution has brought the young Chinese artists (YCAs), born after 1975, a vast variety of choices and unlimited possibilities, allowing this generation to create work with more freedom and less restrictions than ever before. According to Lang Xiao and Lin Shuchuan, the producer and curator of the ChinaNow exhibition, “Today, to be a Chinese contemporary artist, one does not need to be a spokesperson for any political ideology. The unprecedented diversity is the nature of YCAs.”

11 May – 22 May 2016 11.00-18.00

Oxo Tower Wharf, South Bank, London, SE1 9PH