From the painstaking walk-through of theoretical issues and historical/cultural context appearing in his Prolegomenon, through the concise yet bracing conclusion, Paul Gladston's study of Zhang Peili and contemporaneity is far more than a mere biographical sketch of a single artist; it is a treatise on visual art of the present and China's particularized presence in that sphere. It is a landmark work both in terms of cultural-criticism and art-historical analysis.

Paul Manfredi, Professor of Chinese, Pacific Lutheran University, USA

Contemporary Chinese Art, Aesthetic Modernity and Zhang Peili is an important contribution to a critical discourse on contemporary art in the global context. Reading artworks by Zhang Peili through post-Enlightenment, poststructuralist as well as Neo-Confucian, Daoist and Zen-Buddhist lenses the author not only sheds light on multiple and entangled histories and epistemologies of Chinese art but also convincingly argues to conceive of contemporary art in general as constituted transculturally.

Birgit Hopfener, Associate Professor of Art History, Carleton University, Canada

Gladston has taken the example of a single artist to anchor reflections on issues of immense contemporary importance, in particular the diversity of cultural histories that lead to the richness of global aesthetic positions. His scholarship actively helps to rescue cultural knowledge at risk of disappearing due to the lack of suitable academic platforms.

Johnson Chang, Curatorial Director, Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong

While emphasizing that our understanding of what is specific to China may be analysed with notions originating as much from China as from the West, the main strength of Gladston's book, particularly obvious in its ambitious prolegomenon, is to elucidate the idea of contemporaneity in the present debate about Chinese art.

Frank Vigneron, Professor and Chairperson, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

With its judicious application of critical theory, the book will be essential reading for a better understanding of contemporary Chinese art and visual culture in the global contexts.

Jason C. Kuo, Professor of Chinese Art, University of Maryland, USA