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Village raises hopes and expectations

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-10-13 09:57

Curator of Songzhuang Art Museum Li Xianting poses with a sculpture at Songzhuang Art Festival on Sept 27 in Beijing.

It was a Tuesday morning just like any other busy working day, with thousands of workers flooding into the office buildings of the city's Central Business District. That is, all except Li Xinggang.

Li, who lined up in the outbound bus station of World Trade Center, also known as Guomao, appeared older than his 25 years. He dressed more like a farmer than the typical white-collar types that surrounded him. But in his hands, rather than carrying a bag of fertilizer or produce, he held a painting. The destination for him was Songzhuang, a suburban town cum artist community in the capital's east.

"I am going to sell it there," he told Metro while holding up his oil painting.

More of a community of artists, Songzhuang was made famous by internationally-acclaimed Chinese artists like Fang Lijun, and many more throughout China who unanimously choose to live here and build a collective haven for their craft.

Li just came to Beijing four months ago from Guangzhou, where he quit his well-paid job as an art teacher to follow his dream. He rented a small apartment as his studio and has been running the gamut of galleries and festivals trying to sell his work.

"It is hard at the beginning, but I don't regret it. A stable job will kill inspiration, which is the most dangerous thing for artists like me, " Li said.

Songzhuang's reputation is what brought him here. Li, along with about 400 other young artists, share the same goal - not only to exhibit and sell their works, but if possible, to get a chance at stardom.

In the early 1990s, the first generation of freelance artists moved out of the city and settled in Songzhuang not only for its inspiration, but particularly for its cheap rent.

After hundreds of painters across the country flocked to the area to make a go of it, Songzhuang went on to become China's largest community of avant-garde artists.

This year also marks the fifth year for the local government to hold its annual month-long art festival, which began on Sept 19. Artists from Chengdu, Nanjing, Xiamen, Taiwan, and even South Korea and Italy are participating in the art gala.

Different from the exhibitions typically displayed in Songzhuang's museums and galleries, the annual art fair claims to provide a special exhibition for both artists and buyers.

Free booths are available to artists who can exhibit for 20 days until it closes.

Whether it be contemporary art, traditional Chinese paintings, or installations, all art forms are welcome, with prices ranging from hundreds of yuan to tens of thousands.

The total sales of the art fair last year reached over 4 million yuan. Li Chun, an artist and curator of the art fair, said that the fair's success would not repeat that of last year due to the economic recession.

"There seem to be more exhibitions than visitors," said Tian Meng, who came to the festival from downtown.

"Transportation is a big problem. Nobody wants to take an exhausting journey just to see some exhibitions, even if the quality is very good," Tian said. "That is why 798 continues to grow in popularity while Songzhuang and its festival are not experiencing the same success."

But for Hu Xiuyun, the festival is good. As a farmer who moved to Songzhuang after marrying her husband several years ago, she can now earn around 50 yuan a day looking after and organizing the paintings during the festival.

Although she sometimes does not know about the paintings, she is happy that some of the most famous names in Chinese art circle now live in her neighborhood.

"The artists have really helped change the village, which makes the place no longer like countryside."

Although several artists have left Songzhuang due to the economic crisis, Wang Yongding, a 26-year-old freelance artist, decided to stay here and wait through the global economic downturn.

Although it is harder to sell paintings than ever before, when somebody likes his paintings, he can sell a dozen at a time. It gives him hope.

"The crisis is tough, but I believe it will be over, sooner or later," Wang said.