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Edutainment > Summer - by Zhou Lu born 1973
The art print titled 'Summer' by Zhou Lu is one of One Hundred Chinese Master Prints selected by artelino
Summer
Coca Cola is a symbol of American culture worldwide. It is now summer time and the best season to drink a Coke. On the highway are colorful balloons in the bright sky. One can feel the thirst of this character bending down for a refreshing Coke. The bald-headed boy is literally on the fast lane towards Western culture.
Zhou Lu has created a large series showing one or more bald-headed boys in a scene that is typical for today's China. Zhou Lu, born 1973, experienced as a small boy the era of the Cultural Revolution. He remembers the daily military-type physical exercises at nursery school and school, the omnipresent Mao propaganda. Zhou Lu belongs to a generation that struggles to cope with and reconcile the experiences of two societies that could hardly be more different.
In one of his statements Zhou Lu writes:
"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."
Cynical Realism
The style of Mr. Zhou Lu reflects a current art movement in China that is described as 'cynical realism'. Cynical realism is a reaction to the political and economic development of China after circa 1990. Artists use the methods of irony and satire.
Mr. Zhou Lu uses bald-headed characters that look like grown-up boys. He shows them in all kinds of outfits, roles and situations that deal with today's Chinese society. Western attributes like "7Up" bottles are omnipresent and are mixed with symbols of the "old" People's Republic of China like statues of chairman Mao Zedong or red flags.
The compositions that we see on Mr. Zhou Lu's prints show a permanent conflict of collectivism and individualism. The values of the old communist society versus the ideal of Western society. This conflict dominates the images. The conflict is not resolved. The images are full of inner tensions. The faces are shown in a wide spectrum - from grimaces to vicious-looks that makes the viewer feel at unease.
Technique - Edition - Publication
Technique: Mixed Media
Edition: 50
Published: January 2007
Size
Width print: 22.4 inches = 57.0 cm
Height print: 27.6 inches = 70.0 cm
Width Image: 11.0 inches = 28.0 cm
Height Image: 15.6 inches = 39.5 cm
Exhibitions, Awards
2005 - The print "Summer" was shown at the 17th National Print Exhibition in Guizhou in China and was published in the official catalog on page 19.
Publications
- Zhou Lu, November 2007, ca. 120 pages, written in Chinese, ISBN 978-7-221-07908-4/J . 438.
- "17. National Print Exhibition of China" (official catalog), ISBN 7-221-07186-1/J.384, Official catalog of the 17th National Print Exhibition in China. written in Chinese, - page 19.
Biography of Zhou Lu
Zhou Lu was born in 1973 in Guiyang city, Guizhou province in the south of China. He graduated in 1997 from Tianjin Art College, Printmaking Department. From 2001 until 2002 he studied in Germany. He is currently vice professor at Guizhou Art College and vice secretary of Guizhou Printmaking Art Association.
artelino's Archive
Check our archive for sold copies of Chinese prints by Zhou Lu If this link should not work, go to Search Archive. Then select the artist Zhou Lu.
More Prints from this Series
The series comprehends by now an estimated number of circa 80 designs and we assume it will grow further in the future. Here a few more examples.
Further Reading
In artelino' s EDUTAINMNET section you find a number of articles about Zhou Lu.
Video about Zhou Lu
We produced a little video with a short introduction to the art of Zhou Lu.
Dieter Wanczura
(March 2009)
The images on this web site are the property of the artist(s) and or the artelino GmbH and/or a third company/institution. Reproduction, public display and any commercial use of these images, in whole or in part, require the expressed written consent of the artist(s) and/or the artelino GmbH. .
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