This interview was conducted at Li Shan's studio in Shanghai on 4 March 2009. 

Biography:

Li Shan (b. 1942, Heilongjiang Province) is an artist who lives and works in Shanghai.

Li graduated from Heilongjiang University in 1963 and furthered his education at the Department of Theatre Design, specializing in oil painting, at the Shanghai Drama Institute between 1964 and 1968, where he became a teacher after graduation.

From the late 1970s, Li Shan became an active member of the Shanghai contemporary art scene, participating in various exhibitions such as ‘’83 Experimental Painting' (Fudan University, Shanghai, 1983), ‘A State of Transition: Contemporary Painting from Shanghai’ (Hong Kong Arts Centre, 1987) and the first and second ‘Concave-Convex’ exhibitions (Shanghai, 1986 and 1988). In 1989, he performed Washing Feet in the ‘China/Avant-Garde Exhibition’ at the National Art Museum of China (NAMOC) in Beijing.

Li was one of the leading members of the political pop movement that emerged in China in the 1990s. He continues to work as an artist and exhibits widely.


簡歷︰

李山,1942年出生於黑龍江蘭西,藝術家,現於上海工作和生活。

1963年畢業於黑龍江大學。1964—1968年間就讀於上海戲劇學院,專研油畫,後任教於該校。自七十年代末開始活躍於上海當代藝術圈。八十年代參加的展覽包括《83階段—繪畫實驗展覽》(1983,上海復旦大學);第一、二屆《凹凸展》(1986,上海徐匯區文化館;1988,上海美術館);《轉變中:來自上海的現代繪畫》(1987,香港藝術中心)。1989年的《中國現代藝術展》中,他在中國美術館內演出了行為⟨洗腳⟩。
 
李山於九十年代被評為「政治波普」的重要藝術家之一,參加了國際上多個大型展覽。

Context

In 2006, Asia Art Archive began a focused archiving project called 'Materials of the Future: Documenting Contemporary Chinese Art from 1980-1990'. This project aimed at developing a comprehensive collection of primary research materials including books, periodicals, newspapers, exhibition brochures, invitations, video recordings, correspondence, and other relevant documents. 

As part of this project, AAA digitised more than 80,000 items of material from personal archives to include artists Mao Xuhui, Wu Shanzhuan, Zhang Xiaogang, and Zhang Peili; curators and critics Fei Dawei, Lu Peng, and Zheng Shengtian; as well as the archives of Tokyo Art Gallery. As part of the research process over 75 in-depth interviews with key artists, curators, and critics were conducted. From a portion of these interviews, AAA created a documentary film about experimental art in South China (Guangzhou) in the 1980s entitled From Jean-Paul Sartre to Teresa Teng: Contemporary Cantonese Art in the 1980s.

AAA’s 1980s archiving project culminated with the launch of a comprehensive website portal called www.china1980s.org in September 2010.

Alternative title

Fang Wen: Li Shan

Access level

Online

speaker
Spoken language

Mandarin

Content type

event photograph/recording, 

interview documentation

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Interview: Li Shan (Chinese subtitles), 訪問:李山