Week 35, Zhao Bandi, 40 Stories
Joanne Bushnell, Director
At the turn of the millennium there was an explosion of interest in contemporary Chinese art, which coincided with my move to Aspex and learning of the large Chinese diaspora living and working in Portsmouth. I was determined that despite our limited resources, Aspex was going to continue to work in an international context, while showing art that would interest and engage our local community. Southern Arts (which later became part of Arts Council England) offered emerging curators Research & Development bursaries, and I was fortunate to secure support for my first trip to China in 2000. A culturally rich and formative experience, I met some extraordinary people, including Zhao Bandi, an artist with a ‘rock n roll’ persona who had earned celebrity status in the cultural hubs of Beijing and Shanghai.
Zhao created Pandaman as a persona, giving him mainstream acceptance in China, but I was fascinated by the way he blurred the boundaries between art and advertising, inspired by public service information and government propaganda. Fortunately my admiration for his work was shared with peers from across the UK. The Red Mansion Foundation supported his UK residency, when he came to stay in Portsmouth in 2003, and we worked in collaboration with the Ikon Gallery, Birmingham; Manchester Art Gallery and Platform for Art on the simultaneous presentation of exhibitions, performances and outdoor projects across four cities, including at London’s Piccadilly Train Station.
I look back at this project with such joy. It enabled us to display Zhao Bandi’s work on billboards right across the City, reaching out to much broader audiences with work that was both fun and thought provoking. While the themes explored by the artist remain every bit as pertinent today. It was also a career defining point for me, that small R&D grant had such an impact on my work and Aspex’s programme. I can’t advocate enough that we need to continue to support artists and curators to work internationally.