Karl Marx's Worries
Wu Junyong
吴俊勇
Production date
2008
Object Detail
Media
oil on canvas
Measurements
40 x 40 cm
Notes
Wu Junyong sometimes describes himself as a ‘romantic revolutionary’, making art that takes the temperature of society like a thermometer. China today, he says, combines the worst aspects of feudalism and capitalism, and the role of the artist is to be a fearless social critic. However, Wu’s works take the form of surrealist allegories, as in this painting of a despairing Marx, his empty head filled with the symbols of socialism – the red flag, the hammer and sickle and the little red book. Is Wu Junyong suggesting that these trappings of revolution are as extinct as the shrouded corpse in the background?
Accession number
2009.056