Lot 194: WEI GUANGQING

B. 1962
RED WALL SERIES: DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THIRSTY BEFORE DIGGING A WELL

59 by 47 1/4 in. 150 by 120 cm

signed and dated 1993 on the reverse

oil on canvas

NOTE

In the 1980s Wei Guangqing was active as part of the 1985 New Wave. He was a graduate of the Zhejiang Art Academy in Hangzhou where a great deal of the more provocative art of that period originated. One of the original "Political Pop" artists of the Post-1989 period, Wei created this series of Red Wall oils based on the design of traditional textbooks, referring to the moral tenor of ideological politics. In this series, however, the text that usually comes beneath the illustrations in a textbook is plastered over with the image of a red brick wall. This work comes from the original series of Red Wall paintings, six of which were exhibited in the seminal China's New Art, Post-1989 show in 1993.