ZHU WEI (B. 1966)

Zhu Wei studied at the People's Liberation Army of Art, Beijing Film Academy, and the China Institute of Art. As one of the internationally-recognized pioneers of Chinese contemporary art, he often engages with his background in classical Chinese painting by using the fine brush (gongbi) technique in his whimsically painted, socio-political artworks. In Sunflowers (Lot 61), two life-sized figures, suited in a typical Zhongshan suit - also commonly known as the Mao jacket, stand at attention with shoulders back and arms at their sides and with their heads raised. The composition evokes a sense of satire of the totalitarian and compliance dogma of Mao's era and illuminates Zhu's droll reflection on social events, re-imagined as a traditional ink painting.