Reasons to love Shanghai? Check out the cartoonists' time-tunnel
"Old Lane" by Lucie Guyard
Shanghai is a magnetic city. Different people have different reasons to "fall in love" with it. A cartoon exhibition titled "Why Love Shanghai?" running at Marie's Gallery through February 25 might shed some light on the issue through drawings.
Organized by Shanghai Artists' Association, Shanghai Animation and Cartoon Association and Xinmin Evening News, the exhibition features 194 cartoons chosen from 489 local and overseas submissions, including 28 by foreign artists.
On stepping into the exhibition, visitors seem to enter a time tunnel in which various events from different periods in the city happened, unwittingly rendering a special Shanghai-school culture.
This culture is difficult to explain but it permeates every corner of the city in the exhibits and can be felt in a drawing that might be worth a thousand words.
For example, one exhibit titled "Car Accident" features a group of people crowding around a vehicle crash scene while a long orderly line of vehicles wait to pass. The artwork immediately rings a bell in the heart of locals, as kan nao meng (看闹猛), or rubber-neck in English, is an aspect of Shanghai-school culture.
Shanghai people are curious and sensitive to what is happening in their lives. They are also eager to voice opinions or make judgment on issues. Sometimes they are willing to offer help or take a stand on injustice.
"When I have some questions or difficulties, it is always safe to ask the old 'uncle' or 'auntie'," said Li Xiaoman, a 28-year-old white-collar worker who came to Shanghai from Chongqing five years ago.
"Shanghai Street View" by Samuel Porteous (Canada)
For 37-year-old Lucie Guyard, a French graphic designer who has lived in Shanghai for more than a decade, "Shanghai is already a part of my life."
Guyard's work "Old Lane" depicts ordinary life in the old neighborhoods.
"In Paris, everybody is conscious about how they dress, but here is more free," she said. "People are not afraid of putting their laundry outside, which somewhat differentiates our cultures."
Guyard revealed that she didn't originally plan to stay long in Shanghai, but now she really enjoys the vibe, the feeling, the culture and the people.
"Little by little, I started to build my own life here. I have my friends, I met my husband, a few years later we had a baby. A lot of big steps in my life relate to Shanghai. Now, wherever I go, I always talk about Shanghai," she said.
Perhaps this is another trait of Shanghai-school culture. Cultural gaps may exist, but an open and free city spirit always attracts people to settle down in the city.
"Bidding for the Painting," another cartoon in the exhibition, features a group of bidders competing for an antique masterpiece, an activity that pervades the current art market, although the work was created more than 20 years ago.
"Happiness is ... living in Shanghai" by Esther Ang (Singapore)
A cosmopolitan city, Shanghai is also an artistic city. The passion and love for art has long been a tradition. It is common to see queues of people at the entrance to big exhibitions in art museums scattered around town. The booming previews and sales by top auction houses, one after another, also reflect the "cultural power" of the city.
"Today you can still find the same auction scenario depicted in a cartoon from nearly two decades ago," said Zhang Lixing, vice chairman of Shanghai Art Critics Association. "It is widely known that Shanghai locals have acquired the particular bourgeois taste that is nurtured in the city."
Perhaps the reasons to "fall in love" with Shanghai vary, as there are too many facets of the city. One might like its unique snacks, delicious cuisine, convenient transportation, friendly people or the artistic atmosphere and culture.
Despite the different backgrounds of the artists, maybe some are locals, some from others regions in China or even other parts of the world, these drawings all resemble "love letters" written to Shanghai.
"Dashijie (Shanghai Great World)" by Zhang Wenyuan (1947)
Cartoon important in Chinese art history
Cartoon is an important art genre in China's modern art history and Shanghai is the "cradle of Chinese cartoons."
Lianhuanhua (连环画), pocket-sized comic books originally published in the 1920s, were a major source of public entertainment in China. In the 1950s and 1960s, they publicized government policies and targeted illiterate people.
For example, Sanmao, a household character created by Zhang Leping (1910-1992), was an orphaned big-headed boy with only three strands of hair. His wanderings around city streets won a world of readers.
Earlier comic books featured folk legends and opera characters. The works of a few renowned comic book artists, such as Feng Zikai (1989-1975), Wan Lanming (1900-1997), He Youzhi (1922-2016) and Zhang Leping are included with other cartoonists in the "Salute" section of "Why Love Shanghai?"
Some of the works in this section are on loan from the family members of these masters, such as Wan's figure cartoon referencing Picasso's cubism when it was first unveiled.
The heydays of lianhuanhua ended during the "cultural revolution" (1966-76), but made a comeback in the late 1970s and early 1980s to once again become a pervasive element of pop culture.
Date: Through February 25, 10am-5pm
Venue: Marie's Gallery
Address: 3300 Yan'an Rd M.
