The Luo Brothers

I'm going to do a few blogs about contemporary Chinese artists.
This first one is about the Luo brothers. There are three of them: Luo Wei Dong, Luo Wei Bing, and Luo Wei Guo. (In China a person's last name/surname is first, so you can see they are related by the fact that the first word in their name is the same. The next two words in their name is what we would call our first name.)

They work with paper, lacquer, lacquer on wood panel, carved wood panels, and statues made of lacquered resin. (Lacquer can be a clear or colored varnish. It dries into a hard, durable surface that can be matte or glossy. It's traditionally made from the lacquer tree. In China they established the art of lacquerware, which is essentially layering lacquer over an object. Initially they layered it on top of coiled clay or bamboo, later over wood, and eventually over metals like bronze.)

The Luo Brothers make kitsch art that alludes to Chinese festivals, traditional crafts, and the symbolism of a fat baby representing prosperity. Their art is about the rapid changes China is undergoing, from the Maoist era to modern day. Tiananmen Square often shows up in their art. That is where Chairman Mao announced China to be the People's Republic in 1949, beginning an era of severe control and violent revolution. In the same image they'll depict pizza, coca-cola, lap tops, and a fat baby with painted finger-nails. This shows how, even though Mao died in 1976, the affects of his rule (and the images of propaganda) are still a large part of what China is today; Simultaneously China is developing, consuming more Western goods, and moving towards material prosperity.

"In the span of thirty years since the death of Mao China has gone from a drab, uniformly colourless society that went to bed by 9 pm to one that makes the eyes and ears ache with the 24 hour assault of colours, lights and noise."

The images posted are of their series 'The World's Most Famous Brands'