Wang Guangyi

Image and Power- Contemporary, 21st Century, Lithograph, Chinese, Edition

2007-2008

Wang Guangyi (b. 1956) is best known for his work that explores the Chinese Cultural Revolution through the lenses of propaganda. The Chinese artist knows how to marry a juxtaposing couple, politics with commercial ingenuity, which makes him an eminent figure of the "Political Pop" movement. Guangyi´s main work is “Great Criticism”, a series of paintings that explore commercial society and comment on the invasion operated by imported Western commodities on the traditional Chinese culture. His oeuvre blends together the aesthetics of revolutionary images and consumer logos and becomes an unmistakable commentary on the narratives of political, economic, and social policies as well as an ideological criticism of globalization. While it is true that Western influence is a reality in contemporary Chinese art, it is equally true that Guangyi´s style keeps an instinctive distance from Western art, whose motives are incorporated while "Chinese". “Becoming an artist was the only thing I wanted to do; it was my only hope—so I persevered.”—Wang Guangyi As an artist, he also felt himself to be entrusted with a mission: to bring his country on the international art scene - an ambition that soon made his name part of the history of contemporary Chinese art.