Carlysle Funk
Freshman Seminar
11/29/16

Wang Guangyi: 1990-2007 The Great Criticism series 

In the beginning Wang’s parents had a big influence on how he saw things. Wang’s dad worked for the railroad so he provided a way for Wang to travel and see different scenery (Reasoning With Idols: Wang Guangyi). Wang says. “During my childhood I grew up under the sunshine of Mao” (Reasoning With Idols: Wang Guangyi). He was very much obsessed and intrigued by Mao and started painting his head (Reasoning With Idols: Wang Guangyi). 
 Wang Guangyi painting “Great Criticism Series- Andy Warhol” actually was apart of the Chinese contemporary art that set records for the price it sold for (Chinese Contemporary Art sets Record Prices).  “He is also known as the leader of the New Art Movement” (Widewalls. “Wang Guangyi”). His most known piece is the Great Criticism in which he takes things from the Cultural Revolution and combines them with logos in advertisements (Widewalls. “Wang Guangyi”). Wang believed that this was two forms of brainwashing (Widewalls. “Wang Guangyi”). To the right you will see an example of his work and one of my personal favorite because he incorporated Disney in it. As you can see he takes a random brand with no specific connection and copies in his own way a serious picture from the Cultural Revolution. I think he is very brave and intelligent for doing this and specifically this way. He stated that these were ways to brainwash the public and he is right. The brands automatically attract people as it did me. Then after he has people looking at the actual picture they realize that suddenly there is a different, more serious meaning behind it. In the above picture the three men standing are actually from a whole other poster I would have never acknowledged if I had not seen Disney and had that draw me in.


In the above pictures you will see how they are both similar. That’s because that’s where Wang Guangyi got his idea for the people (ShanghART- Wang Guangyi). In the picture to the right it looks like there is a farmer, soldier, and maybe a railroad or a factory worker (ShanghART- Wang Guangyi). In the picture to the left I can still see the same three people just in a different way with the everyday well known BMW logo.
 To conclude, I personally think that Wang Guangyi was a genius for his 1990-2007 The Great Criticism series, paintings. I really enjoyed looking at all his paintings as art is something I am genially interested in.


Works Cited

Chiu, Caroline. "Chinese Contemporary Art Sets Record Prices." (n.d.): n. pag. Academic Search Complete [EBSCO]. Web. 29 Nov. 2016.
Cohen, Andrew. "Reasoning With Idols: Wang Guangyi."
"ShanghART- Wang Guanyi." ShanghART- Wang Guanyi. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Nov. 2016.
"Reasoning With Idols: Wang Guangyi." (2001): 77-79. Academic Search Complete [EBSCO]. Web. 29 Nov. 2016.
Widewalls. "Wang Guangyi." WideWalls. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Nov. 2016.