Artworks by the Luo Brothers - is it pop art or is it persuasion?

The Luo Brothers are three sibling artists from China, who create eye catching, almost sugary visuals that combine traditional Chinese icons and symbols with those which represent the capitalist world.   The work reflects their upbringing in traditional communist China and it's shifting into a society which included some global corporations from the outside world.    It has been described by some as "political pop art", due to it's tongue in cheek criticisms of capitalist companies being promoted in China, alongside visuals which are inspired by other political art movements such as sunrise stripes and posing of figures holding objects aloft, as seen in some Constructivist artworks from the Soviet era.  

The brothers' artwork draws on traditional Chinese art techniques such as laquer painting and ink on paper, as seen in Figure 2.  Famous Chinese icons such as Mao Zendong, koi fish, lanterns and lotus flowers appear alongside little figures holding cans of soft drinks made by the Coca-Cola company (Coke, 7Up and so on) and double-stacked burgers which, for anyone familiar with a Big Mac will recognise as a symbol of McDonalds.  

Figure 1

The sculpture of a chinese child bringing in a Big Mac while sitting on Coke cans is titled "Welcome!  Welcome! (Crawling Baby)", which could be a reference to both the young babies and the Western influences their generation has brought to China.  

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Bright sunrise motifs offset a mix of painted images and existing photographs of pizza.  Notice that none of the food featured is originally from China -the images of food seem to take the place of where the political slogans would be if the posters clearly displayed their true messages.   

Figure 5

Figure 6 

Figure 7

Figure 8

By mashing traditional oriental imagery with that of the West, the Luo Brothers suggest that they are either mocking the globalisation present in China in the late 20th and 21st century, or the willingness of China to hold on to traditions when a new era of international influences is the way forward.   

Perhaps the brothers' work is meant to be political irony - Mao would likely have been outraged by the abundance of global and capitalist brands which surround him in Figure .  By keeping their own views on their artwork to themselves, the brothers have created an ambiguity around their work which in itself causes a buzz.   I found this interesting because the images prompt the viewer into an opinion, but what that opinion is depends entirely on how that person might feel about the increasing saturation of global brands in China or the traditional communist values that China held before the cultural revolution.   This kind of subversive persuasion is fascinating to me because it is clear that the image was created to challenge a perception, but the perception itself can only be defined by the individual looking at it and the "set" aim is concealed by the brothers.   This is a kind of function in art which I have never thought about in that kind of way before, even though now I think about it much of art is subjective and therefore relies on this.

References

Adams, James, 2009.   Cartridge Save Website. "The Succinct Symbolism of the Luo Brothers' Art" [online article] Available at:  http://www.cartridgesave.co.uk/news/the-succinct-symbolism-of-luo-brothers-art/

[Accessed 7th December 2014]

Images

Fig. 1 Luo Brothers, 2007. Welcome! Welcome (Crawling Baby).  Fibreglass sculpture.  [online image] Available at:

http://www.artnet.com/artists/luo-brothers/welcome-welcome-crawling-baby-a-APOkR9SSAeSY9broSTshHQ2

[Accessed 7th December 2014]

Fig 2 Luo Brothers, 2007.  Welcome to the Famous Brands of the World.   Photographs, digital pigment print w. screen print varnish  [online image] Available at:

http://www.cartridgesave.co.uk/news/the-succinct-symbolism-of-luo-brothers-art/

[Accessed 7th December 2014]

Fig 3 Luo Brothers, 2000.  Untitled.  Photographs, digital pigment print w. screen print varnish  [online image] Available at:  http://www.cartridgesave.co.uk/news/the-succinct-symbolism-of-luo-brothers-art/

[Accessed 7th December 2014]

Fig 4 Luo Brothers, 2007.  Welcome to the Famous Brands of the World.   Photographs, digital pigment print w. screen print varnish  [online image] Available at:

http://www.cartridgesave.co.uk/news/the-succinct-symbolism-of-luo-brothers-art/

[Accessed 7th December 2014]

Fig 5 Luo Brothers, 2006.  Welcome to the Famous Brands of the World.  Laquer on wooden panel. [online image] Available at:

https://www.tumblr.com/search/Luo+Brothers

[Accessed 7th December 2014]

Fig. 6 Luo Brothers, 2008.  Untitled B (Fish Babies).  Photographs, digital pigment print w. screen print varnish  [online image] Available at:

http://www.artnet.com/artists/luo-brothers/untitled-b-fish-babies-a-5rQ8kLsb5ZrBySOqU0vysA2

[Accessed 7th December 2014]

Fig 7 Luo Brothers, 2008.  Untitled A (A Yellow Horse).  Photographs, digital pigment print w. screen print varnish  [online image] Available at: 

http://www.artnet.com/artists/luo-brothers/untitled-a-yellow-horse-a-j8T8H0dOxiXzFoclwLnk7g2

Fig 8 Luo Brothers, 2007.  Mao.  Laquer on wooden panel..  [online image] Available at:

http://pictify.com/436660/mao-by-the-luo-brothers-2006

[Accessed 7th December 2014]