The development of contemporary art in China has undergone a challenging path, during which emerge a number of notable artists.
These pioneering artists have all had a major influence on today's avant-garde scene.
Wang Guangyi
Harbin-born Wang, 52, is the leader of "Political Pop" in Chinese contemporary art and spokesman for the New Art movement that erupted after 1989. Wang earned worldwide fame for his Great Criticism series of paintings, in which he used propaganda images from the "cultural revolution" (1966-1976) and contemporary brand names from Western advertising. Wang is one of China's hottest new artists and his massive 1988 oil painting Mao AO fetched $4.1 million at a London auction last December.
Geng Jianyi
His 1987 masterpiece Laughter has become a defining image of the New Art movement. A main focus of Geng's extensive collection is the issue of individual identity within the context of the collective and for all the diversity of his work - activist street art, oil paintings, installation art and ink drawings etc - he never ceases to explore the questions of the "self" in today's world. Geng demonstrates an intense concern about self-awareness and the various ways in which the individual is represented.
