Lot 23: FENG MENGBO

B. 1966
2005L01

2005L01

98 1/2 by 82 3/4 in. 250 by 210 cm

signed and dated 2005 on the reverse

acrylic and mixed media on canvas

NOTE

Feng Mengbo was among the first artists in the world to make use of the visual language of video games in his art. His graduation work Game Over comprised canvas paintings that emulated the video-game screen. Later he turned to the computer, and in 1997 his work A Family Album was one of two Chinese artworks to be included in Documenta X, the first edition of that exhibition to include any Chinese artists. Feng was again featured in the Documenta 11 (2002) with an online interactive war game Q3D. Feng's art is strongly informed by his childhood experience of the Cultural Revolution, which has left his childhood memories intertwined with imagery of Mao's revolution. The present work is a portrait of Mao, first painted by the artist using digital technology, then transferred onto canvas and brush-finished with acrylic putty.