The Satirist Who Brought You This Bodacious Panda Has a New Exhibition
Chinese artist Gao Yu is in love with philosophy and comics, and he invented a badass panda named GG.
Gao is actually an expert on comics from the May 4th movement and period of Japanese aggresion. Billingual comics like Shanghai Punch and the satirical Shanghai Comic, which can be argued as being one of the most influential comics in China, essentially introduced the art form to the country in the first half of the 20th century. The publications took shots at the failings and inegalities in the societies of their time.
Since then, the genre hasn't taken up much of a following and Gao is intent on bringing it back.
In the last decade, one of his notable projects revolves around GG. GG's most recent adventures see him transformed into the Monkey King as he battles with superheroes. He also has a girlfriend who he is perpetually dumping or getting dumped by. The ironic thing? Gao hates pandas as they've become a symbol of nationalism in China, and in his opinion, they should remain cute and cuddly.
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Gao's most recent exhibition is a super-sized 23 page comic which features the character Zhong Kui. Zhong is the ghost fighter in Chinese folklore, famous for having killed himelf by ramming his head against the Imperial Palace's gates. He had passed an imperial examination, but was disqualified by the emperor for a physical disfiguration. However, the emperor of the netherworld saw Zhong for what he was and made him a ghost hunter.
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Gao mixes this guy with a theme based on Jiang Jingguo's 1948 Fighting with Tigers anti-corruption campaign in Shanghai, for what proves to be an epic satire. In the paintings, Zhong gets teased, bullies the weak and fears the strong. He's a typical coward, who reminds this author of the hillariously pathetic Flashman character created by George MacDonald Fraser.
"The Accession of Zhong Kui" runs until October 7 at Joy Art Gallery in 798
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Photos courtesy of Hi Art
