Culture January 1, 1

For all the glossy books that have appeared on contemporary Chinese art in the past few years, a basic overview—rather than an artist-by-artist glossary or a survey exhibition catalogue—has been slow to arrive. Art in America senior editor Richard Vine’s New China New Art goes a long way toward filling that void, offering a medium-based walk through the range of recent artistic production on the mainland. Five chapters devoted to painting, sculpture and installation, performance, photography, and video are accompanied by copious illustrations that get beyond the standard auction-catalogue fare. While Vine’s selections are largely informed by Western exhibition history