Only 3 weeks until the Summer Olympics opens in Beijing. The coverage will start to inundate the airwaves, website, and every other screen.
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So we wanted to take another look at the photography scene there, and in this case Out Of The Red.
In a country with over 1.4 billion people, the diversity and experience of the artists has only been revealed to the western world in unfortunately relatively small doses.

It’s not the historical images we’re looking at right now, like those in the Sidney D. Gamble collection from the beginning of the century, or those from Fan Ho of Hong Kong of the 50’s. It’s finding the culture of the China we know today, and the photography that has emerged.

We’re not going to discuss the politics of the government here, because you are all wise enough to realize that from controversy can come great art. Sometimes it’s complacency that produces non challenging art. Neither is a judgment, but an observation.

The art world has been tracking these artists for a while and their popularity is racheting up.
As in, their prices are skyrocketing.

“Out of communist China, out of the cultural revolution, out of a closed world… Out of the Red presents photography at the end of this outage, at the start of a new generation of Chinese image makers. What does a young photographer see in the viewfinder of her camera in Beijing, Shanghai, along the Yuan River? The latest generation of Chinese photographers is given free reign across these pages. Witness the visions of Li Wei, Weng Fen, Lin Tianmiao & Wang Gongxin, Chen Lingyang, Huang Yan, Liu Jin, Ma Liuming, Wang Qingsong, Yang Fudong, Yang Zhengzhong, Xu Zhen, Zhao Bandi, Cui Xiuwen, Zhou Meijun, Song Yongping, Bai Yiluo, Hong Lei, and Liu Zheng. With an introduction by Francesca Jordan, an English critic and curator who lives China, and Shu Jang, a Chinese critic, curator, and artist.”

Now this book is a couple of years old, and the door has opened for a ton more photographers since it’s publication. At the Houston FotoFest this spring, China was the country of honor and many new artists were featured. The link will give you some samples.

It’s easy to get one of these books for free from photoinduced.com
This is how:
First of all you MUST be signed up for the NEWSLETTER. Then…. on Weds. @ 9:00 AM PST check your email in-box
1. Open the email from [email protected] and Hit Reply
3. Delete the main body of the email (saving server space).
4. Put the “special word” –posted right here on Weds. AM , in the subject line.
5. Add a shipping address.
6. Make sure you followed all of the above directions.
7. Hit send.

THE SPECIAL WORD FOR THIS BOOK IS….RED..

The 50th person to reply will be sent this look at current Chinese photography.
Enjoy.