Curator, Founder of Laboratory Art Beijing and the Mustard Seed Garden, Zhenhua Li, has been nominating artists for The Sovereign Asian Art Prize for many years. This year however, he arguably had his greatest success as a nominator – with his nominee Li Binyuan taking home the coveted Grand Prize (USD30,000). We sit down with Zhenhua to discuss his nominee, what he looks for in potential nominees, and how we can continue to uplift the work of Chinese artists.

What first drew you to Li’s artwork?

I was drawn to Li Binyuan’s performance at night, when he was naked and running wild, or on the back of a motor bike, holding a sculpture in his arm, or nothing at all. I enjoy the freedom of what Li Binyuan tries to express: freedom in a such limited and restrained time of our society. I also consider that Li Binyuan’s work with social intervention may be hard to be categorized via online media. Art must be free. Art does not have to be useful, art must have happy moments and joy.

Having acted as nominator for The Sovereign Asian Art Prize for a number of years, do you have any advice for artists looking to enter? What do you look for in potential nominees?

For me, the process is like a river flowing to the sea. I would love to discover artists in their practice truly, but also reflect on the world situation – for example nature, climate change, new economic phenomenon, new technology and related subjects. I believe in the artist’s intuition with whatever medium or method they use, but something very true from the personal experience and emotion can be transferable to the others.

As an artist yourself, and founder of Laboratory Art Beijing, are you working on any new projects currently?

My newest curated project with Ms. Liu Jiaying (CryptoZR) is COOKIE COOKIE. This project is focused on Crypto Art and Blockchain related artistic intervention.

Click here to learn more.

What can we do to continue to uplift the work of Chinese artists? Do you have any resources to recommend?

Thank you for giving the prize to Li Binyuan, it’s a great encouragement to the Chinese Art World. I wish more artists can emphasis this effort of The Sovereign Asian Art Prize and the artist – as the water finally converges in the sea.