Perspectives

INTERNATIONAL INFLUENCE 

As the importance of Asia in the global financial market continues to grow, so too does its influence and reputation in the art world. These three artists are helping lead the way.

Few Asian artists embody modern art with a global appeal better than Shilpa Gupta. Born in Mumbai, where she still lives and works, her multimedia-based art reaches far beyond the borders of her native India. Gupta uses a variety of different means to create her works, ranging from interactive websites to videos, photographs, sculptures or public performances. By tackling serious contemporary issues such as cultural divides and similarities, commerce, religion or terrorism, Gupta ensures her work resonates with a global audience. She says she is fascinated by the increasing possibilities offered by interactive media and likes to challenge viewers of her art, forcing them to analyze and sometimes rethink what they are seeing.

The inspiration for Zhang Xiaogang’s Bloodline series may come from the Chinese Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s, but he also acknowledges a more international influence. 

The family portrait element comes from the popular Chinese photographs of the 1960s, but his surrealist twist comes from a love of European artists such as Picasso and Dali. Zhang became well known within China during the 1980s before gaining international acclaim as one of China’s most collectible contemporary artists. He has exhibited his works around the world, from Beijing to Paris. In March 2007, his work Bloodline: Three Comrades sold for just over $2 million at auction in New York.

As befitting a man that divides his time between his native Tokyo and New York City, Japanese photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto has been strongly influenced by various aspects of Japanese and US culture. 

With a reputation as an extremely technically accomplished photographer, Sugimoto has produced series of works on everything from old American movie theaters (Theaters) to Japanese pine trees. His Pine Trees series references the ancient tradition of Japanese ink painting. Sugimoto is also an accomplished architect and has designed a number of structures and installations. In 2009, his seascape photograph Boden Sea was used as the cover image for the U2 album No Line on the Horizon.

Published by PROJECT M in April 2010

(Photos: gettyimages/India Today Group, Laif/Le Figaro Magazine, Fotofinder/Hermann Bredehorst)