Page 8 - The Parker Collection: Hua Qi Min

and the pleasure of sharing art with others.

Chinese contemporary art is now an important part of the world's art market.
Chinese collectors are also playing an increasingly important role in international
auction sales. In the late 1970s, Chairman Deng Xiaoping modernized art policies by
offering artists more opportunities to learn about art from around the world, as well
as the ability to work independently of State commissions and the sanctioned Social
Realist style. Multiple styles quickly emerged.

The Stars Group, which included Ai Weiwei, produced works spanning several
different Western avant-garde styles, while the Xiamen Dada group created enigmatic
works that subverted the logic of modernization. The '85 New Wave culminated in
the 1989 "China Avant-Garde" exhibition. The early 1990s saw the ascendancy of two
styles that engaged in sharp cultural critiques: Political Pop and Cynical Realism.

More recent movements include the Post-70s Ego Generation, which consists of
young artists raised under China's One Child policy who tend to take the self as
subject rather than the collective. Many contemporary Chinese artists, however, such
as Cai Guo-Qiang and Ai Weiwei most famously, continue to take broader social
issues and traditions as the basis for their work.

I devote an enormous amount of time searching for artists who meet my criteria for
excellence. This quest has taken me to Europe, Russia, Asia, Africa and across the
United States. When Yvonne and I find an artist who we believe is "best-in-class," we
buy that artist in depth.

For the first time "The Parker Collection" of Hua Qi Min art is presented to the public.
Yvonne and I hope you will enjoy his mixed-media paintings from 'The Remote East'
series as as much as we do.