Materialist’s Art 2006

Wang Guangyi made this painting, called Materialist's Art, with what looks like screen printing and some hand-painted additions. I love how he uses a limited color palette, red, green, yellow, to create a punchy image. You get the sense that he embraces art-making as a process, a dialogue between the planned and the spontaneous. The texture is key; flat areas of bold color give the image a graphic feel and force you to really see the surface. There’s this overall patterning effect, using lines and numbers, that reminds me of Andy Warhol's pop art. Take a look at the determined expressions on the figures' faces. Their gestures are so dramatic and stylized; they are holding up books and weapons, pushing forward to the future. Wang’s art is like a conversation, borrowing from socialist propaganda but twisting it to make us think about consumerism and ideology. It’s a reminder that art is never really finished, just a moment in an ongoing conversation.