EXHIBITED:

Today's China: Chinese Contemporary Art Exhibition, Belvue Museum, King's Palace, Brussels, Belgium, July 18 – August 31, 2008

ILLUSTRATED:

Today's China: Chinese Contemporary Art Exhibition, Belvue Museum, King's Palace, Brussels, Belgium, 2008, color illustrated, cover of the catalogue and announcement

Zhou Chunya, Timezone 8, May 2010, color illustrated, pp. 400-401

T is the name of artist Tu Hongtao's dog. Tu Hongtao's friends call him Tutu, and his choice to name the dog TT shows his love for this animal. In Zhou Chunya's dog-related artworks, his own dog, Heigen, is deservedly the most famous dog, but recently TT has had the opportunity to become number two. Zhou Chunya and Tutu are next-door neighbors at the Blue Top Art Zone, and their beloved dogs play together in the yard. For the artists, their dogs are their most direct creative subjects. TT's long fur and fierce yet gentle bearing fit perfectly with the artist's creative trajectory over the past two years.

In China, "angry youth" is a term for youths who are unsatisfied with society and urgently strive to change reality. Zhou Chunya is not an angry youth, but his focus on society has already transcended the mere use of artistic expression. As he sees it, "a good artist must have the ability to deal with all kinds of social problems. Society will not wait for you; you must present yourself before society." In his own way, not only has he continued with his focus on the state of society, he has taken action in his signature style.

In 2010, 55 year old Zhou Chunya held a retrospective exhibition at the Shanghai Museum of Art and founded his own art research institute. Aside from organizing material on his own artistic experience, the institute's main function is to manage the two charitable projects that he has funded: the Five Color Fund and the Sichuan Art Institute Scholarship Fund. Many people think that it's a bit early for people his age to be holding retrospective exhibitions, but his path from the Cultural Revolution to the reform and opening to today, where China is growing powerful, has been like a century. Actually, the standard for retrospective exhibitions is the quality of the artwork, not the artist's age.

The crowds at his retrospective exhibition were testament to the artist's achievements, and they also embodied his solid standing in the art community, as well as his influence beyond his field - this year he won the Martell Artist of the Year award.

Zhou Chunya is probably one of the most broadly socially involved artists in China, whether it's through his Five Colors Fund, which helps children disabled by earthquakes, his scholarship fund's assistance of poor students, or his work as the Chinese representative at the 2010 British Contemporary Art China Exhibition, in which he brought top artist Damien Hirst to exhibit his artworks in six second-tier Chinese cities, starting with Chengdu. These days, Zhou Chunya has become the poster child for the arts in Chengdu, working hard to provide opportunities for the city to put itself on display. With his substantive actions, Zhou Chunya embodies the mantra, "with power comes responsibility".

TT's predecessor Heigen was like the artist's state at the time, absorbed in artistic creation. Zhou Chunya began the "Green Dog" series in 1997. Around 2004, Zhou further expanded the form of the dog, presenting a standoffish, showy side, while also taking the artist's expressive skills to a higher level. In 2006, 2007 and 2008, TT began to leap into the picture, with both his brown proportions and the size of the image growing increasingly large, while the shape, fur and gaze of this "green dog" growing more concrete.

Compared to earlier creations, the later TT series is more about expressing "sentiments, thoughts, ways of life; maybe your views on nature and humanity, or your views on a certain color." The artist believes that "true ideas are very important. What is true is more important than what is correct."