“Surrealism” was first introduced to China in the 1930s and then quietly took root within Chinese art. It was not until the 1980s, following the Reform and Opening-Up, that it more visibly permeated the practices of Chinese contemporary artists.As a capacious artistic concept, Surrealism has long transcended the confines of stylistic definition. Although it can no longer be simply equated with the avant-garde, Surrealism continues to serve as a sharp instrument for artists committed to creative freedom, through its departure from rationalism and its disruption of everyday logic.
As time advances, the meanings and implications of Surrealism continue to expand. Drawing on philosophy and psychology, it persistently pushes at the boundaries of how “reality” is understood. At the same time, shifting social contexts, transformations in urban life, and the emergence of new forces—such as the internet, artificial intelligence, and animation culture—have continually reshaped its modes of expression.Within this evolving framework, a younger generation of Chinese extends the intellectual lineage of European figures such as Salvador Dalí, Giorgio de Chirico, Max Ernst, and René Magritte, while infusing into what may be termed “New Surrealism” a set of experiences specific to the present. Distinct from earlier or Western forms of Surrealism, this “New Surrealism” in China more directly reflects contemporary concerns and anxieties shaped by economic fluctuations, environmental crises, shifting social discourses, and the overwhelming flow of information in the digital age.At the same time, surrealist modes of expression enable artists to move beyond the constraints of both reality and stylistic orthodoxy, opening up freer forms of expression. Through these practices, in turn, Surrealism itself continues to exert a sustained influence within an increasingly complex and multidimensional field of Chinese contemporary painting.Accordingly, traces of surrealist sensibility can be discerned—albeit to varying degrees—across diverse artistic tendencies, including the “Cartoon Generation,” “Cynical Youth,” “Image Painting,” and “New Painting.” In this sense, with its mutability, fluidity, and dreamlike qualities, surrealist language gives form to the instability of human experience and a persistent distrust of rational order, becoming a critical means through which contemporary artists probe interiority and articulate individual experience.
For those attentive to broader global conditions, it is also evident that Surrealism has undergone a renewed resurgence in the context of globalization and digitalization. Today, “New Surrealist” painting resonates with a world shaped by information overload, technological acceleration, and cultural convergence. The support of new technologies, the proliferation of virtual imagery, and the rise of artificial intelligence are reshaping artistic subjectivity and, consequently, artistic themes, challenging and expanding established notions of reality and image production. In essence, “New Surrealist” painting today deconstructs the informational fabric of reality itself, generating new visual worlds through the combined impetus of digital art, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence. At the same time, the broader condition of globalization has positioned “New Surrealism” as a potentially central force in the future development of art.
Globalization has already become a defining condition of the present. Despite periodic fluctuations, it is unlikely to be supplanted in the foreseeable future. At the same time, it has not resulted in the total homogenization of cultural forms; rather, it has reshaped attitudes toward regional difference and fostered new forms of cultural diversity grounded in specific historical and cultural contexts. Within this framework, the question of artistic specificity faces renewed challenges. The notion of “originality” has been fundamentally reconfigured, if not altogether abandoned. Factors once thought to determine artistic form—such as geography, climate, and local resources—no longer occupy a central position in critical concern. Instead, the question has shifted toward how art operates across different civilizations, systems, value structures, belief frameworks, and social formations, and how these domains interact and influence one another. The language of “New Surrealism” offers one such channel: through its inclusivity and expansive vision, it opens a path for artists to navigate the dense and often fraught terrain of a global “forest” of civilizations.
In summary, “New Surrealism” has become one of the most significant painterly approaches employed by contemporary artists today, particularly those born in the 1980s and 1990s. Its influence is likely to persist well into the future. This understanding also constitutes the primary basis for the selection of artists and works in Reality, Surreality: A Major Exhibition of Chinese Contemporary Painting .