Guangyi Wang (b. 1957) Great Criticism Series: Swatch, 2005 Oil on canvas 47-1/4 x 59 inches (120.0 x 149.9 cm) Signed and dated on the reverse: 2005 / Wang Guangyi PROVENANCE: The artist; Private collection, New York, acquired from the above; Christie's, London, June 21, 2007, lot 603; Private European collection, acquired from the above; Sotheby's, London, October 16, 2010, lot 200; Private collection, New York. NOTE: Guangyi Wang is widely known as a ‘Chinese Political Pop' artist and also leading figure of the new art movement that began in China after 1989. His celebrated ‘Great Criticism' series of painting and prints from the early 1990s are a blend of Cultural Revolution (1966 – 1976) era imagery and iconography with contemporary brand names and Western advertising. The Chinese figures in this series interact with famous symbols of Western consumerist society, representing a situation that is at once ideological, economic, social and cultural. The obvious ‘mash-up' of the ‘Great Criticism' series reveals his early preoccupation with the commercialization of contemporary Chinese culture and the influence of the global avant-garde—these works are also a critique of the cultural vacuity that characterizes the modern consumer age. Wang's art can be found in the permanent collections of major museums including the Essl Museum, Klosterneuburg; Today Art Museum, Beijing; M+ collection, Hong Kong; and the Bernardo Museum, Lisbon, among other international institutions. HID03101242017