Wang Guangyi is one of the leading contemporary Chinese artists today. Painting in the style of Political Pop, he has taken this contemporary American art form and given it a new and unique Chinese voice, as he juxtaposes images and icons of the Cultural Revolution with major emblems of Western Consumerism. He poses ironic questions concerning the role of symbols in our life, whether they are authoritarian revolutionary images, or iconic Western consumer brands. Wang creates images that are emblematic of China's contemporary struggle, grappling with its past while figuring out its future. Is one set of symbols just being replaced by another? is one way of numbing the mind being replaced by another?

Great Criticism Series – Louis Vuitton

This painting is dominated by a huge, towering figure of a miner, one of the key emblematic "good citizens" of the Cultural Revolution when laborers were revered in propaganda. Painted from a low perspective, the miner is strong and imposing and almost god-like, a classic representation taken from ubiquitous Maoist posters. His power is emphasized through the twisting of his shoulder and right arm as he grips the shovel, which is enlarged by a nearer perspective. With a stoic and defiant expression the figure is looking out towards the future but a future of what – a society dominated by consumer brands such as Louis Vuitton? The painting is stenciled in repeating numbers, echoing Mao's plan to replace all names in China with numbers, and perhaps ironically commenting on the Western obsession with money.