Sculpture :
Location : Elmbridge and Alderbridge Way, Richmond
Media : Polished stainless steel
This potentially controversial, super-sized stainless steel sculpture is part of a Miss Mao series produced by the Gao Brothers. This sculpture features two iconic figures in shiny polished stainless steel, a diminutive Miss Mao delicately balancing on the head of Vladimir Lenin, the Russian revolutionary whose monumental ideas profoundly influenced Chinese political history. This sculpture can be "read" as a political narrative, as well as a reflection on the current nostalgic attitude toward Mao. The position and scale of the two figures simultaneously questions and ridicules their relative positions in an undeniable communist commentary. The Gao Brothers have consciously chosen to play the role of social critic and therefore walk a careful line in terms of politics. The Beijing authorities, after seeing works on display in the Gao Brother studio exhibition in 2008 demanded that they cover up the Miss Mao sculptures.
Both brothers were born in Jinan, Shandong province, Gao Zhen in 1956, and Gao Qiang in 1962 to a family tragically affected by the Cultural Revolution. Their father was executed in 1968 due to his "intellectual & bourgeois" tendencies. The Gao brothers now live and work in Beijing, where they have been collaborating since the mid-1980's, when they joined the 'New Wave' movement of modern art in China by producing influential photographic and performance-based work.
For more information visit the artwork page on www.vblearn.ca
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Miss Mao Trying to Poise Herself at the Top of Lenin's Head
Artist :Gao Brothers
ChinaLocation : Elmbridge and Alderbridge Way, Richmond
Media : Polished stainless steel
This potentially controversial, super-sized stainless steel sculpture is part of a Miss Mao series produced by the Gao Brothers. This sculpture features two iconic figures in shiny polished stainless steel, a diminutive Miss Mao delicately balancing on the head of Vladimir Lenin, the Russian revolutionary whose monumental ideas profoundly influenced Chinese political history. This sculpture can be "read" as a political narrative, as well as a reflection on the current nostalgic attitude toward Mao. The position and scale of the two figures simultaneously questions and ridicules their relative positions in an undeniable communist commentary. The Gao Brothers have consciously chosen to play the role of social critic and therefore walk a careful line in terms of politics. The Beijing authorities, after seeing works on display in the Gao Brother studio exhibition in 2008 demanded that they cover up the Miss Mao sculptures.
Both brothers were born in Jinan, Shandong province, Gao Zhen in 1956, and Gao Qiang in 1962 to a family tragically affected by the Cultural Revolution. Their father was executed in 1968 due to his "intellectual & bourgeois" tendencies. The Gao brothers now live and work in Beijing, where they have been collaborating since the mid-1980's, when they joined the 'New Wave' movement of modern art in China by producing influential photographic and performance-based work.
For more information visit the artwork page on www.vblearn.ca
prev | back | next
