Milky Way Hero

The "dream of spaceflight" depicted in Gao Yu's Milky Way Hero (Lot 561) has infiltrated the visual history during which the Post-'80 grew to maturity. On wall calendars or posters, for instance, we often saw a chubby kid astronaut holding a bunch of flowers and sitting on the surface of the Moon. "The scene reflected the vision for the country's future dominant during the Mao era. It infiltrated our visual history via the Pop art at that time, then progressed to revolutionary propaganda posters. Besides, new year paintings always unfolded scenes of abundance and richness contrary to our actual living conditions at that time. Those paintings of spaceflight also reflected the model which we were expected to become. I find that many anti-Mao intellectuals share Mao's temperament, which leads to my critique of both the Left and the Right. If we trace the history carefully, we will notice that Mao profoundly formed the cultural character shared by several generations. As a result, I always keep cynicism at a distance. People may understand this work as an individual's expectation for a happy life. I would remove the figure and retain only the Milky Way if I redraw this painting. This is a result derived from a sheer aesthetic perspective." Such visual nostalgia for the popular culture dominant during their childhood provides them with a tool for "reality".