'True artists couldn't care less'

The market for Chinese contemporary art has cooled down dramatically, but Wu Yang couldn't care less.

Undaunted by the market, the 33-year-old artist is hard at work in her simply furnished studio in Beijing's 798 art district.

On the walls are several of Wu's recently finished pieces. Using acrylics on photographic paper, she creates abstract shapes and patterns in black and white to evoke the energy and uncertainty of public spaces that people are familiar with but often ignore. Her style is modern, yet it evokes traditional Chinese ink painting.

"My works are not mainstream," Wu said on a recent Sunday afternoon. "The market isn't good out there. But that doesn't matter much to me, because this is something I've always wanted to do."

Wu moved her studio to 798 a year ago when her apartment became too crowded. "There was no room to hang the paintings, and I literally had to lie on the floor to paint the larger pieces," she said.

By the time she moved in, the rent at 798 was five times what it was in 2001, when the art district first took shape. Unlike wealthy artists, some of whom own several restaurants and bars, painting is Wu's only means of support. Her husband, a newspaper editor, often helps her with the rent.

"The situation is tough for artists now because of the economic downturn," said Wu. "But true artists couldn't care less."

(China Daily 04/13/2009 page1)