Red Wall 红墙

Creator(s)

Guang-Qing WEI 魏光庆

Preview

Date

1992

Format

Photograph

Materials

Oil on canvas.

Dimensions

146cm×114cm

Description

There are four oil paintings included in this series of artwork, titled “Red Wall (红墙)”. The oil painting imitates the format and style of woodcut illustration of Ming Dynasty to illustrate Confucian didacticism or knowledge. Yellow is painted in the background, and a red wall labeled “China” by white color occupies the major space of these paintings. On top of the red walls, the artist paints four scenes to illustrate Confucian didacticism, which consists of 1) To always be patriotic and loyal to the emperor (心存君国); 2) Staying close with the young bullies for long will hurt oneself (狎昵恶少，久必受其累); 3）Paying the tax on time (国课早完); 4）The more people to share with, the less profit each individual makes (分多润寡). The artist changed the original nature of pop art, which is a dissolution of meanings, by utilizing strong colors and the Chinese traditional woodcut in his artistic illustration. (Lu Peng, 90’s Art China, p153). See attached links for more photographs of this series of artwork. (Yifan Shang '25)