Wang Guangyi

signed in Chinese and Pinyin and dated 2005 on the reverse

Private Collection, Asia

Zhang Qunsheng ed., Chinese Artists of Today: Wang Guangyi: Art and People, Sichuan Fine Arts Publishing House, Chengdu, China, 2006, p. 212

This work is generally in good condition. There are minor accretions on the surface especially on the lower right corner. There are also handling marks around the corners. Please note that it was not examined under ultraviolet light.
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Wang Guangyi is considered to be a pioneer of the Pop Art movement in China. Through the juxtaposition of the Communist propaganda posters populated during the height of the Cultural Revolution period and the concept of the spending spree that stimulated China’s manifold economic growth, Wang has created the Great Criticism series that serves as a realistic portrayal of the contemporary Chinese society’s road progress and struggle with the past. In the Great Criticism: Art No from 2005, three “worker-peasant-soldiers”, two men and one woman, are seen standing in front of a black and red background, holding bayonets and carrying rifles on the back while solemnly gazing to the front. The artist has taken the style of woodblock print and paper-cutting to strategically illustrate the visual effect of the traditional Yan’an woodblock print rendered in a light and dark tone. The man on the right boldly holds up his exaggeratedly brawny left fist, next to which is the text “ART NO”. The work references to the dominant theme of consumerism existed within the contemporary art scene in the 1990’s and the millennium, in a way critiquing the process of art and mode of consumerism associated. This criticism is frequently found as the main theme in Wang Guangyi’s later works in mid-2000’s, and serves as his response to the growth of the art market after 2000.