Amid towering trees, fledgling artists blossom

Large outdoor sculptures by 16 contemporary Chinese artists will be exhibited in the Sussex countryside in July.

The exhibition, called "A Beautiful Disorder", will be the first large-scale showcase of Chinese contemporary sculpture in Britain and will run until November.

"We began discussing the possibility of an exhibition of Chinese contemporary art in 2012 when we were thinking about expanding our program," Clair Shea, the curatorial director of the Cass Sculpture Foundation, tells China Daily.

The foundation, established by Wilfred and Jeannette Cass in 1992, is a charitable commissioning body dedicated to the support and exhibition of contemporary sculpture.

So far it has commissioned more than 400 works from emerging and established artists, including works by Anthony Caro, Tony Cragg, Andy Goldsworthy and Marc Quinn among others.

Ella Liao, a Shanghai-based curator, worked with Shea to pick Chinese artists for the program.

Liao speaking to China Daily in Shanghai, says: "When British and other European audiences talk about contemporary Chinese art, all they know are big names such as Xu Bing and Cai Guoqiang. But a new generation of artists is reaching maturity and creating impressive artworks, and we wanted to introduce them to a wider audience."

This idea found favor with Shea, and the project began to take shape.

Explaining how the foundation went about executing the plan, Shea says: "When we began discussing an international exhibition, we talked about the exciting work being done in China. In particular, we thought it would be interesting to show works by a younger generation of artists, whose works had not been widely exhibited internationally. We then approached artists and commissioned works and they responded in unique ways, establishing the concept of A Beautiful Disorder."

The foundation has about 10 hectares of open ground in Goodwood, Sussex, where 80 sculptures will be displayed. Sixteen of them have been specially commissioned for the event.

"Some of the artists, such as Cheng Ran and Xu Zhen, are conceptual artists who usually work on large installations and use digital media, so they are not sculptors in the traditional sense," says Liao, adding that creating large outdoor projects demands a different mindset.

The title of the exhibition comes from a quote by Jean-Denis Attiret, an artist and missionary in the 18th century.

His writings about Chinese landscaping and gardening had a great impact on English garden culture.

Attiret used the phrase to describe how Chinese gardens could provoke strong and often opposite reactions from viewers.

The exhibition is aimed at reflecting this diversity through the works of the 16 artists, while focusing on China's past, present and future relationships with the world, as well as providing an insight into Chinese culture, politics and society as it exists today.

Artists visited the exhibition site before finalizing their projects, so that they could understand the venue better, and conceive pieces specifically for it.

Expressing confidence in the project, Liao says: "I believe these artists will be able to present different aspects of contemporary Chinese art."

All the sculptures the foundation commissioned will be for sale, with the proceeds split equally between the artists and the foundation, in order to facilitate the commissioning of new works.

In the past 23 years, the foundation has raised and invested more than 10 million pounds ($14 million) in more than 250 artists.

The Cass couple are avid collectors of sculptures and have befriended many artists, including Henry Moore, over the years.

So setting up a foundation to support emerging artists seemed like a natural thing to do for the retired couple, who made their money in the pigment business.

They then found the piece of land at Goodwood, home to a wealthy countryside community where horse races and vintage car shows also take place.

Contact the writer at zhangkun@chinadaily.com.cn