'The Third Criticism' opens at Times Museum

Who cares about the father! No matter what, its mine. No.12 by Xiao Yu Photo: Courtesy of the Times Museum

No matter if it's painting, sculpture, literature or stage plays, one of the key functions of art is to critique society and human norms. Focusing on this facet of art, The Third Criticism - Art Language, an exhibition which combs through the critical side of contemporary Chinese art, opened Saturday at the Times Museum in Beijing.

Curator Liu Libin, who himself has focused on the critical function of art for many years, said it is becoming increasingly popular among artists to express their critical thoughts through the language of art.

Featuring dozens of works from 22 domestic artists including big names such as Liu Xiaodong, Sui Jianguo and Xu Bing, the exhibition intends to impress visitors with its special focus on how artists reflect society in their art, i.e. the critical power of the language of art itself.

"Over the past three decades, which have witnessed the fast development of contemporary Chinese art, the theme or the act of art has been the focal point when people talk about the criticalness of art, but art language itself has been neglected," said Liu. "However, the latter has existed for a long time, which we can see either from early artists such as Wu Guanzhong or representative figures in the 1980s such as Zhang Xiaogang."

Regardless of the medium an art work uses, the language of art has always played an important role when it comes to expressing the thoughts of artists. Something that the exhibition, which ends on November 4, hopes to convey to visitors so they can better understand this unique language.