Chinese Artist Gao Zhen Gets 3-Year Prison Sentence for Mao Sculptures
Gao Zhen, a 70-year-old New York-based dissident sculptor and elder member of the Gao Brothers collaborative duo, has received a three-year prison sentence from Sanhe City People’s Court in Hebei Province for sculptures depicting Mao Zedong in irreverent and provocative poses. Created between 2005 and 2009, the works portray the communist leader in acts of repentance, firing weapons at religious figures, and in grotesque formal distortions. Prosecution invoked Xi Jinping’s 2021 amendment criminalizing perceived defamation of state-designated heroes. Gao Zhen and his brother Gao Qiang have produced satirical figurative works interrogating Chinese Communist Party iconography, including the Miss Mao series (2006–2009); a 2010–2011 retrospective at the Kemper Museum of Art titled Grandeur and Catharsis documented their practice. Arrested during a family visit in August 2024, Zhen joins a lineage of Chinese artists including Ai Weiwei subject to state persecution for politically transgressive artistic expression.
Original article published on Hyperallergic — AI-generated summary. Visit the website to read the full article at the source. Image via Hyperallergic.
