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Zhou Lu 1973

Teaching
copyright Zhou Lu

Zhou Lu, born 1973, is a young Chinese printmaker who creates art prints in a rather unique style. He uses bald-headed characters that look like vicious, grown-up boys. He shows them in all kinds of outfits, roles and situations that deal with the craziness of today's Chinese society and China's past under the rule of Chairman Mao Zedong. Mr. Zhou Lu's art style is part of a contemporary Chinese art movement known as cynical realism.

The following text, including the glossary was written by Mr. Zhou Lu. We thank Mr. Zhou Lu for his friendly permission to reprint this text, which was slightly edited by artelino. This little essay and the descriptions of his own prints are in our view the best and most poignant explanation to understand an important trend in Chinese contemporary art.

Zhang Xiaogang and Fang Lijun

Zhou Lu 1973

Taking Off
copyright Zhou Lu

"When those somber and heavy faces in Zhang Xiaogang's oilpainting "Big Family" looked at us, we remembered the photostudio in our childhood. When the giggly faces in Fang Lijun's oilpaintings became a special mask of people in the 1960s, we remembered the famous novel "Sunlight Days" by Wang Shuo. When the cartoon babies went popular, please think about us who were born in the 1970s."

Those who were born in the 1970s passed through the period of revolutionary idealism, then through the realism period when we strived for money and for enjoyment, and now we are amidst the personality period and its fictitious network.

We experienced the slogan "Chairman Mao teaches us". Our experience is from tunnel and landmine war to karaoke, computer games and PK (a popular computer game). We were not always protagonist of every period. But we looked at it and felt it. Thus this history became part of our memory."

Mr. Zhou Lu Explains his Art Prints

Zhou Lu 1973

Grow Up
copyright Zhou Lu

"In my print Taking Off, a cartoon boy like Astro Boy, is flying from a statue of Chairman Mao, and goes to a new place. I want to show the end of a period and the beginning of a new period."

"The print Grow Up, shows a boy with a Mickey Mouse badge. That's a true experience of those of us born in the 1970s. We were proud of such a badge in our childhood. The hand on the right is a symbol of Chairman Mao. That means we grew up with his instructions."

"The print Dinner Table shows a new desire of money and enjoyment of our generation."

"Go for a walk with dogs shows an instance of joy and tranquility of new-rich."

"Waiting tells us an attitude of love - to be patient."

"Metamorphosis shows a change from common people to boss, a little embarrassing."

"Teaching shows a time transformation. Chairman Mao taught us before, and now a little boy teaches the machine dog."

"These are only a few ideas about my artworks. This series recorded about 30 years of our generation's experiences. The images of cartoon boys are a symbol of naivety. If we put such a naive character into every complicated historic period, we might see different results: humor, naivety, depravity, fantasy, irony ... "

"This is art of us, people born in the 1970s. We can understand Joseph Beuys, can joke like Zhou Xingchi, and like songs of Zhou Jielun. That is us who want to find a historic duty from our ideal, from the reality and from the fiction, and want to be different."

Zhou Lu in 2005/2006
(edited by artelino)

Glossary

Zhou Lu 1973

Go for a Walk with Dog
copyright Zhou Lu

• Zhang Xiaogang (born 1958): Famous Chinese contemporary artist. His oilpainting "Big family" reached new price heights at Sotheby's in New York. This surprised the auction world.
• Fang Lijun (born 1963): Famous Chinese contemporary artist.
• Wang Shuo (born 1963): Chinese famous novelist. He is a national best seller in China and has influenced a whole generation of Chinese writers.
• Tunnel War, Landmine War: Tactics that the Chinese army used during the Anti-Japanese War of Resistance.
• PK: Play Killer, a name of a computer game. In these years, a Chinese television station used this term to choose China's most popular singer of the year. It means that one player wins, and another loses and drops out of the competition. The term "PK" is wildly used.
• Zhou Xingchi: Very famous film star in these years. He is well-known for his inexplicable jokes.
• Zhou Jielun: Famous hip-hop singer.

Zhou Lu on the Internet

Zhou Lu Biography

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