Hong Hao

Hong Hao was born in Beijing and graduated from the Printmaking Department at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1989. He has been heralded as an acutely critical observer both of the galloping development in Chinese society in recent years and of the ambiguous role of the contemporary artist in that society. He is particularly famous for "Selected Scriptures" which through printed drawings and texts draws an imaginary map of Chinese art's recent evolution and which satirizes the deferential attitude of Chinese artists towards the Western art world. His recent works stress the most provocative characteristic of contemporary Chinese society—the substitution of an historical ideal (Maoist philosophy or past Confucian dignity) for the crass appetite for unlimited material well being. Hong Hao has exhibited at most of the major exhibitions of Chinese art in the world including the Venice Biennale, and his works are in numerous public and private collections including the British Museum in London, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Shanghai Art Museum.