The thesis focuses on those artists who have emigrated from their Middle East homelands since the middle of the Twentieth Century. The first Chapter proposes that the artists form an identifiable group, through the use of common themes deriving from their heritage. The second chapter debates if Post-Colonial theories of alienation, hybridity and ‘third space' are useful concepts and tools for these artists. The last chapter discusses the different approaches to the concept of universalism, which is frequently used in the presentations of the work of these artists. Chapter One identifies the themes of calligraphy, literature, nostalgia/longing and politics which are common to the group of artists. These themes demonstrate a clear cultural memory, with each artist using one or more of these characteristics. Chapter Two questions the usefulness and relevance of Post-Colonial concepts of alienation, hybridity and ‘third spaces' in the analysis of the artists' work. The individuality and complexity of the artists, their lack of clear alienation from either or both of East and West and the absence of predictability in their output makes it difficult yo apply these concepts as analytical tools. The third chapter shows the way in which contemporary Middle Eastern art has taken over from the earlier, Western based, Orientalism. The resulting work has frequently attracted the label of Universalism but this term has different connotations for Western viewers and curators compared to the Middle Eastern artists and their patrons. The former results in differentiation, the latter claims to transcend boundaries and geographies. The Conclusion, thereafter, draws together the discussions and attempts to position Middle Eastern art within the current international art scene, rather than as an ‘other' which is outside a usually Western mainstream. The Middle East expatriates are seen as part of a growing but incomplete globalism, within which localism can co-exist.

This thesis examines the questionable avant-garde-ness of contemporary Chinese art, based on a systematically archived primary source. It includes year-by-year databases of artworks, exhibitions, diaries, notebooks, articles, reading lists and music records collated by the author specifically for this research with the help and involvement of the artists and historians concerned. The carefully selected material is not only derived from direct conversation with historical witnesses, but also reflects the author's cautious cross-examination of the available evidence, as history is recorded by human beings, to some extent, it can be poorly documented and biased. In spite of many existing publications on the origin of contemporary Chinese art, this thesis provides a much closer scrutiny of particular aspects with a first hand and meticulously chosen material, which offers a macro-microscopic (collective/individual) dualist view on the history. In the filed, the term “contemporary Chinese art” has been used to describe certain trends of art developed in China since 1978. The '85 New Wave movement – within which emerged dozens of new art groups – has been commonly recognised as the birth of contemporary Chinese art. The New Concrete Image was the leading art group of the Life-Stream, one major faction of the New Wave. The development of this group explains the uniqueness of the trajectory of avant-garde art in China: from autonomous organisations to semi-governmental powers; from a modernist movement to a post-modernist one.