NEW YORK, NY.- An exhibition of work by pioneering artists in China from the 1970s and 1980s, on view at China Institute Gallery through December 11, 2011, provides important clues to the development of contemporary Chinese art as we know it today. Blooming in the Shadows: Unofficial Chinese Art, 1974-1985 offers a unique opportunity in the U.S. to witness the artwork created in China during the critical decade leading up to the Communist Party’s 1985 decision to allow modern artistic practices. The exhibition focuses on paintings and sculpture from three unofficial groups of artists, the No Names, the Stars, and the Grass Society, which pushed beyond Maoism in the early post-Cultural Revolution era. Each group pursued creatively diverse paths to artistic freedoms under the harsh political strictures and against the accepted aesthetic norms of the time. The work they produced opened the door for the avant