Ma Dongmin Is Leading The Contemporary Chinese Art Scene

Ma Dongmin is leading the contemporary Chinese art scene.

- Joseph Low

Chinese contemporary artist Ma Dongmin was born in 1968, just two years after the start of the Cultural Revolution in China. The years after the sociopolitical movement heralded a period where new information and knowledge on art flowed into China from the outside world. Art styles from the West quickly influenced the way Chinese people appreciate art and it also introduced a new vernacular to the highly insulated art community.

Ma enjoyed painting from a tender age and was even awarded first prize at an art exhibition when he was just nine years old. That experience spurred Ma on to continue painting and eventually admit himself to the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA). Contemporary Chinese artists like Xu Bing, Qiu Zijie, and Liu Xiaodong were all alumni of this elite school.

It was at CAFA that Ma grew to admire master painters such as Lucian Freud and contemporary artist Gerhard Richter, who till this day remains his greatest inspirations as he continues on his artistic journey. “To follow their footsteps was my dream” and so Ma did, he began paving his career as a professional artist upon graduation. After years of hard work, Ma became a highly sought-after artist in international fairs and has fans from different countries. A notable collector of the artist is the esteemed philanthropist, Steven Rockefeller. Ma’s artworks, “Benedict XVI” and “Blue Horse”, even won the Gold award during the 2019 Venice Biennale. The artist’s three most recent auction sales commanded spectacular results, where all have been over S$500K and one lot was sold for more than S$700K. Ma’s artworks have appreciated over the years as people got to know him and his body of works through the various exhibitions.