THE Shanghai Oil Painting & Sculpture Institute plays a key role in helping sculptors gain recognition for their work.

The museum, open since 2010, has fought an uphill battle as it focuses more on the academic side of paintings and sculptures.

On the sculpture side, art collectors have usually shied away from the works as they often don’t have the space for such large pieces and not enough confidence to determine genuine quality.

Sculpture exhibitions are also more difficult to arrange due to higher costs associated with transporting large pieces, which means there are far fewer exhibits.

The institute’s vice director, Fu Jun, says they have solved the problem by providing its eight in-house sculptors with a free venue, a salary, additional financial support to run an exhibition and a team to make all the necessary arrangements.

“Such advantages are coveted by their peers,” Fu says. “At the same time, it’s also a challenge. There is an unstated competition between the sculptors. One’s understanding toward sculptures, one’s technique, modeling ability and creativity are all reflected. Surely they will feel some pressure to do well.”

It is widely recognized within the art community that the sculpture market is much smaller than that for paintings. Sculptures by respected artists can sell for tens of thousands of yuan at local art fairs, but even these relatively inexpensive prices — compared to paintings — often fail to attract collectors.

“Compared with other art forms, sculptures have not really been coveted by collectors in recent years,” says Xu Mingson, a local art critic. “Today when mentioning sculptures, many relate it to the notorious urban sculptures around town. I have to admit some of them are really ugly with no aesthetic taste. I know some young sculptors, especially recent graduates, who are engaged in this area to ‘earn their bread’ as they start their careers.”

The much attacked “vegetable sculptures,” a term referring to coarse sculptures made on order and rather common around the country, is one of the main reasons that the status of sculptures has been degraded as an art genre.

“Sculptures are different from other art forms as they have a functional side,” says Fu. “The urban sculptures are scattered around China and the price competition is ferocious. What do you want? The cheap or the better, you can guess the result.”

But for many Chinese sculptors, especially young unknowns, vegetable sculptures are a “necessary evil.”

Yang Dongbai, an in-house sculptor at the Shanghai Oil Painting Institute, says sculptures aren’t meant to be just public art.

“This is a particular phenomenon in a particular period in China,” he says. “In the West, sculpture is sculpture, and public art is public art.”

He sees public art as a series of designs to decorate or beautify an environment.

This means many genres including sculptures. But a pure sculpture is a more “concentrated” work that reflects the soul of the sculptor, he says.

Chen Yanyin, one of the institute’s eight in-house sculptors, has begun fusing photography into her works. At one exhibition she showcased family photos with sculptures she had made for family members. The exhibition, in essence, was like a 3D photo album.

The institute’s director, Xiao Gu, says: “These sculptors do need a platform to gain recognition. “Through our exhibitions we try to dig deeper into the core of what sculptures are and can be.”

Although sculptures have existed in China since ancient times — think Buddha sculptures and carvings — they have often been more related with tombs.

“It was during the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907) that sculptures were linked with craft work,” Yang says. “The best example is the tricolored glazed pottery of the Tang Dynasty.”

Experts believe China’s modern sculpture movement began in the 1930s under Zhang Chongren and Liu Kaiqu, who both traveled to Europe and learned Western sculpture techniques in the Rodin style.

“Since then, human figures started dominating the mainstream of China’s modern sculptures, and many Chinese now relate sculptures to human figures,” Yang says.

Despite this shift, most Chinese art collectors have little interest in sculptures because they don’t see the direction the genre is taking. The so-called vegetable sculptures have made the situation worse, according to some insiders.

“The old generation of sculptors generally controlled the market as their aesthetic tastes were similar to that of government officials, who allocated the money,” Yang says. “Then it became a project involving sculptors, real estate developers and the government.”

Yang doesn’t have a problem with vegetable sculptures as he understands that sculptors need to earn a living.

“The problem is not agreeing to do it, but where to find such projects,” he says.

Critic Xu agrees.

“How many Chinese sculptors today could live merely on selling their sculptures?” Xu Mingson says. “Except a handful of names like Zhan Wang, Sui Jianguo and Xiang Jing, who are already famous at home and abroad, I bet no other sculptors could refuse commissions for vegetable sculptures.”

One also needs to remember that sculptors require a large studio and heaps of time to complete each piece.

“Painters usually take one or two months to complete a piece, even faster for an ink-wash painting,” Fu says. “But one of my sculptor friends said it once took him nine months to finish a piece.”

The process for making a sculpture is complicated. It starts with sketches, then small modeling before moving on to the final modeling.

This is where the Shanghai Oil Painting and Sculpture Institute provides important support to sculptors, not just its in-house ones.

“It’s necessary to have someone with the ability to deepen the art concept and the nature of sculptures,” says the institute’s Fu. “So let’s be the pioneer.”

Yang says despite the challenges he is confident about the future of the market in China.

“Collectors are smarter than you think, they know either the academic value or the commercial value in the artworks,” he says. “The new pursuit regarding materials, the concepts, and the link with other art forms, I believe, will boost the status of sculptures in the country. The situation will change.”