The nearby city of Hangzhou has a poetic history and cityscape: It was once the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty and is now the home of e-commerce giant Alibaba and renowned for its thriving commerce and private entrepreneurship. In recent years, the city has become a magnet for artist-run alternative spaces.
This year, Hangzhou successfully attracted a critical mass of the art crowd heading to Shanghai, thanks to the citywide “Make a Swing Art Week” initiative, spearheaded by By Art Matters, a museum founded by fashion mogul and major collector Li Lin.
Over several decades, the city’s China Academy of Art (CAA) has nurtured talents who have greatly contributed to China’s art market. Artist Feng Chen, whose studio I visited, is a quintessential example. He frequently commutes between the two cities on a one-hour high-speed train and is represented by gallery Capsule Shanghai.
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