Wang Guangyi is an artist who embodies of all the pains and glories the 20th Century, especially in the conflicts and coexistence of socialism and capitalism. Wang was continually placed at the forefront of Chinese avant-garde art through out the '85 New Wave' movement. The term 'Political Pop' was first used to define Wang Guangyi's 'Great Criticism' series which he began in the early 1990s. Wang combines the western pop style of images together with the visual culture of China's Culture Revolution, and acutely points out the similar aesthetical characteristics between strength of socialism ideology and commercialized popular discourse.
