GREAT CRITICISM SERIES: FUJI 400

As one of the leading figures of Chinese contemporary art, Wang Guangyi rapidly established himself in China and overseas. During the mid-1990s, an influx of luxury goods became available as China's rapidly changing economic s y s tem transformed to accommodate the demands of the global marketplace. It was during this time that Wang began his Great Criticism series, in which he responds to the impact of a new visual regime: advertising images promoting newly available, high priced commodities. By juxtaposing classical figures of propaganda and the onslaught of luxury goods entering China, Wang creates a flat style of work reminiscent of American Pop.

In Great Criticism: FUJI 400 (Lot 175), the composition is made o f a proletariat worker and military figures pointing into the distance. The title suggests the work relates to products of contemporary life that is widely available and affordable to the public. By reproducing recognizable scenes from propaganda posters of the Cultural Revolution, Wang creates a complex conceptual tableau wherein both the past and present, communism and capitalism, and a profound ideological shift overtook the nation as global consumerism took root in China.