Wang Guangyi

Born in China in 1957, the painter Wang Guangyi is one of the leading artists of 20th and 21st century China alongside Yue Minjun, Zeng Fanzhi and Fang Lijun. He obtained his degree from the Zhejiang Fine Arts School in Hangzhou in 1984.

Inspired by surrealism, he founded the « Political Pop Art » movement in the 1980s, which was inspired by the Pop Art movement that was flourishing in the United States but with a more critical side. He is particularly known for his « Great Criticism » series dating from the '90s, where he combined Maoist propaganda and the Cultural Revolution in one work by mingling symbols from the regime with logos from American brands such as BMW or Coca-Cola. In this series he denounced both these entities which claimed to be different but in the end manipulated people in the same ways.

His works are highly rated; his « Mao AO » triptych was estimated at 4.1 million dollars at Phillips de Pury & Company in London in 1988.