On November 3, 2012,Credit Suisse Today Art Award 2012 Finalists Exhibitionsponsoredby Today Art Museumand Credit Suisseand organized byOriental Art – Mastersopened at Today Art Museum. The exhibition will last from November 4 to November 16, during which 6 artists’ over 20 latest works will be on show. Different from the previous 2 exhibitions, the winner ofToday Art Award 2012will be unveiled to media and the public right on the day of theopening ceremony. The artist Jiang Zhi won out with his works ofunaccustomed time

        Credit SuisseToday Art Award 2012still adopts the same review system as the previous years. The professional panel consists of Hou Hanru, Huang Du, Zhang Qing, Tomas Rose, Andre Rogger and Zhang Zikang, making assessment from the following five aspects: innovativeness, thinking ability, material application, art language independence and culture sustainability. Eventually,Hu Xiaoyuan, Ji Yunfei, Jiang Zhi, Shao Yinong, Xu Tan and Zhang Enli become the finalists of the award of this year. The six artists have totally different art angles and unique working methods. The finalists exhibition is to be held in the form of 6 mini-scale exhibitions, which aim to maximally demonstrate the 6 artists' redefinitions on parameters of contemporary visual cultural works. The finalist' works with outstanding visual expressions and inherent values will be on show in the exhibitions.

The First Domestic Contemporary Art Award Established by Art Museum

       Today Art Award 2012by Toady Art Museum and Credit Suisse is the first domestic contemporary art award established by a non-profit art museum. It was established in 2010 and facing worldwide Chinese artists. This award is presented to an artist with everlasting originality who dares to challenge traditional art definitions and makes contribution to the enlightenment and exploration of visual art and contemporary culture.

Today Art AwardProviding an International Platform for Artists

       As the firstnon-governmentalpublic-interest art museum in China, Today Art Museum has established an image of the explorer and representative of Contemporary Chinese art both domestically and internationally after the efforts and developments during recent years. Today Art Museum has been providing the artists with the widest range of support for their creationandprogress. Credit Suisse has been an ardent supporter for cultural events and has sponsored various reputable cultural deeds during the past decades. Credit Suisse is enhancing its cultural sponsorship on a global basis.Credit SuisseToday Art Award 2012togetherwith Today Art Museum not only inspiresthe highly talented artistsbut raisesthe public awareness and interest in contemporary art.

       Right at the initial period of the cooperation, Dr.Urs Buchman,General Managerof Corporate Banking Asia PacificofCredit Suisse, said: "It is our great honor to work with Today Art Museum, especially on this event that supports contemporary artists by providing them a world recognized platform. This cooperation with Today Art Museum is a sufficient demonstration of Credit Suisse's philosophy to sponsor the worldwide cultural deeds. The cultivation of contemporary Chinese art shall be highly valued to continue our diversified culture in the future. Visual art is a major area of sponsorship for Credit Suisse. We strive toestablishlong-term partnership withmajorcultural institutions to support their future planning and create more space for inspirations."

      Today Art Museum and Credit Suisse has established a 3-year strategic partnership since 2010. During this period of partnership,as the exclusive strategic partner ofToday Art Museum,Credit Suissehas provided great supports for the award and exhibitions. 

Finalists Redefining Parameters of Contemporary Visual Cultural Works

       From the works of this year's finalists (Hu Xiaoyuan, Ji Yunfei, Jiang Zhi, Shao Yinong, Xu Tan and Zhang Enli), we can see the artists use different medium languages and unique working methods to vividly redefine the parameters of contemporary visual cultural works.

        Hu Xiaoyuanhas an outstanding sensitivity and self-awareness on “form”.From theformal aspect of her installation works and paintings, "form" is directly connected to her personal experience of dailiness. The inclination of her works embodies the 1970s young artist's concern on the subtle relation between the present psychological reality and individual existence in China.Ji Yunfeiadopts the medium of traditional paper and ink but he is never confined tohistorical restraints. He tends to bring the past texts to his works, through which he states and discusses the negative experiences. The texts may belong to the East or the West, ranging from art, literature to movies. The texts may be real or totally imaginary. They may be the elite's tradition or just folk stuff. Different from other artists focusing on medium stuff,Jiang Zhialways puts emphasis on the target objects. Under the background of experimental art in the 1990s, he has never directly applied the realistic expressions, which makes his works attractive and expressive.

       Shao Yinong’s most works areata manageable slow rhythm, which maximally approach the ideal traditional context. His works are highly accomplished. He treated his visual art works elaborately even if they are beyond theconceptual expression.Xu Tanhas been working on the activity of key words research and survey since 2006. The art project ofSearching for Key Wordsis constantly conducted among people from different fields and backgrounds. The project consists of interview videos people of different social classes. According to different criteria, 100 key words are extracted upon analyses on the videos. The key words reveal the values and drives of contemporary Chinese society, which are helpful for us to have further understanding of Chinese collective social consciousness. At first glance,Zhang Enli’s works have nothing special at first sight but ordinary things painted on largecanvases. Daily necessities, ordinary sceneries,the method of leaving out blank space and the way of painting colors are Zhang Enli’s painting characteristics.However, what his works intend to express is far more than what we see. Just like people’s comments on Turner’suse of the blank space, “they are concerning significant or similarly significant paintings. As for where the significance hides, we need stop to see and think.”

Jiang Zhi, the winner, has his unique understanding of life.

The professional penal gave the following comments on Jiang Zhi's works：The finalists of this year’s Today Art Award are the most excellent artists who have the best performance in multivariate language application and represent the outstanding creation achievements of Chinese contemporary art. Through thorough and intense discussions, the penal hereby declares that Jiang Zhi wins this year’s Today Art Award. Jiang Zhi has been focusing on various social and cultural topics. He uses multivariate languages and cares for the patterns of contemporary art. Jiang Zhi’s works are full of his personal features. We can see from his works the unique critiques on social problems and medium languages. He expresses his unique understanding and attitude toward life. He is not confined to the personal affections and cultural attitudes that can arouse the audience’s sympathy. His works are maximally featured with openness by the critiques on the intense relationship between art creation and social reality from the perspective of social and individual psychology. His finalist works bring the visitors unexpected surprises and deeply rethink the significance of life, which highly express his outstanding visual language skills and the maturity of his creation.