Snapshot of some of China’s most exciting artists from the country’s booming contemporary art scene.
the exhibition features 48 artworks, revealing powerful responses to China today, as well as perspectives and attitudes towards tradition.
28 Chinese is the culmination of the Rubells’ six research trips to China between 2001 and 2012 where they visited one hundred artists’ studios in Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Xi’an and acquired artwork from twenty-eight artists. source: Rubell Family Collection and Contemporary Arts Foundation.
Parting Before Daybreak
- by An Qi
- First the day,
- then daybreak,
- and finally the time for parting.
- Local time in Beijing is 7 o’clock according to the TV.
- As a child, I liked to lie in bed,
- waiting for daybreak,
- my silver broach stayed in its soft dormant curve.
- I counted my fingers,
- exactly ten.
- Almost daybreak,
- still no light in the sky.
- At daybreak you come, daylight is gone when you go,
- days with light, days without light, days come, days go.
- You come, you go, coming and going, you come and go.
- Now a grown-up, I still daydream,
- waiting for daybreak like waiting for an archaeologist
- to excavate, patting me with a spade
- and expose me to daylight.
- Oh, oh, just as I feel the thrill, I see your hand leaving.