Ego Generation 自我一代
From ArtSpeak China (ASC) Wiki
The Ego Generation is the name given to the group of Young Chinese artists who have replaced the debate about China’s political past with subjects relating to their own lives, dreams and emotions. China's one-child policy, introduced in 1979, has been a major influence on the movement. Li Jikai (b. 1975) and Wei Jia (b. 1975) both belong to this generation of young artists.[1]
Unlike the generation before them, which grew up during times of political and ideological discord, today’s young Chinese grew up as only children, typically with two hard-working parents. Generally, as planned children, they never starved but they did experience tremendous pressure to excel from their parents. The paintings by Li and Wei exude a melancholy mood of loss and loneliness, solitary figures inhabiting barren, dreamlike landscapes. The new focus on the individual is a testimony to the historical development from an age of collective communities and hardship to today’s growing individualism in a capitalistic and globalized world.[1]
