Pop art rolling in the money
Overhead, a lone helicopter buzzes while, below, the square seethes against the red sky. Against the silhouette of Tiananmen Gate a mass of people lunge forward, fists in the air. For Wu Shaoxiang, like so many others in Beijing, the events of June 4, 1989 were life-changing, the images impossible to forget.
One of the leading exponents of the avant-garde movement in Beijing up to that time, Wu's Red Memory exhibition at the Plum Blossoms gallery until May 31 presents a timely opportunity for Wu to share his memories as well as display his recent coin sculptures, including a new series of colourful badges of Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping.
One of many avant-garde artists forced to move after the crackdown, Wu's story is not unique, but it is a tale of triumph over the odds and the 42-year-old artist tells it simply.
His father targeted as a rightist, the young Wu was sent to the countryside in his native Jiangxi province, 'I was forced to leave school at 12 and sent to work as a rice farmer, then as a bricklayer. Later I got a better job transporting wood for a construction company.' In 1978, he found work in a pottery factory, where he learned about ceramics. His talent was noted and he was given a place at the Central Academy of Arts and Design in Beijing.
His sculptures broke new ground and his work was recognised in 1987 by the modern art magazine Fine Arts In China, which voted him one of the most influential figures of the Chinese avant-garde movement.
'At this time, my work involved female figures with a more sexual quality than before. This type of image was still forbidden in official galleries and magazines, so I got a huge response from students and young artists. At this time, I made my first exhibition in Beijing at the central academy, and every day there were more than 1,000 visitors to the exhibition.' After graduating, he took up a teaching position at the academy, and his writing on politics and art brought him further recognition. Inevitably, he became swept up in events as the democracy movement gathered momentum.
'During the hunger strike, I was there nearly every day helping the students. Nearly everyone I knew was involved. Some were hurt. Some were sent to jail.' Just days after the crackdown he received a letter from the authorities, prompting him to seek refuge elsewhere. He went to Austria, a country he had visited to install one of his sculptures two years earlier.