The+Belief-Girl+Series--Wang+Guangyi



[]

Artist: Wang Guangyi Title: The Belief-Girl No.2 (Top Left),The Belief -Girl No. 4 (Top right), The Belief-Girl No. 5 Bottom left), The Belief Girl No. 6 (Bottom right) Medium: Oil on Canvas Country: China Date: 2006 Size: 25 x 19 1/2 inches (individual image)
 * Artwork Identification**

Wang Guangyi's works have engaged China's new and fast-growing consumer culture by using Maoist era revolutionary and heroic style characters that shine a trendy and nostalgic, yet eye opening light, on the aspirations and social communal values of socialism of the past. Using a directness that is starkly opposite to the veiled criticism that the Chinese are accustomed to, Wang is successful in his message of commonality between yesterday and today. Tapping into powerful visual qualities of propaganda signage, Wang re-assigns its context to draw connections between the deserted ideals of the Maoist period and the empty promises of happiness propagated by western consumerism.
 * Introduction**

The Belief-Girl series is a direct reflection and continuation of the concepts and well established style that Wang Guangyi began with in his "Great Criticism" series. Much like a great deal of Wang's later works, "The Belief-Girl" series reflects the need to reconnect with yesterday's social issues in a way that is relevant in China today. This series depict images of women derived from the Cultural Revolution era "art for the masses". Each image represents four types of ideal Revolutionary Chinese women in the [|Communist China] of Chairman Mao. Mao believed women and men should share equal status in a communist society. The propaganda posters during his time depicted women as farmers, workers, communist party members, and soldiers. Wang has painted "The Belief Girls" using a similar concept. They are the ideal women of Communist China absorbed in modern [|consumerism]. With expressions of determination, pride, and happiness these girls are rapidly immersing themselves in China's present day materialistic world. Wang is portraying the clash in socialist and consumerist ideologies in this work. The heroines of the communist society are now immersed in materialism. The artist has used stamps made by Chinese workers to stamp repetitive serial numbers all over these paintings. The use of these numbers may suggest that the artwork is a product that needs cataloguing, represents mass production, and lacks individuality. Wang, from the Northwest, believes his original style of painting to be an indication of his regional background. He tends to use dense, strong, pure colors and saturated tones in the bulk of his work. Implementing the use of minimal shades and flat and hard edged chunks of color, Wang has coined his own style among the art scene. Using simple and repeated motifs and themes, Wang's style lends itself to [|Russian Futurism]and [|Soviet poster art], as well as the obvious mimicking of [|Chinese propaganda posters]of the Cultural Revolution, with a Warhol-like tribute style. He achieves this by using comic hero style muscle definition and exaggeration in geometricized and simplified figures. He uses clean lines, bright colors, and a sense of motion that never fails to catch the eye.
 * Descriptive Analysis**

Wang Guangyi was born in 1957 in Harbin, China. As a child, he participated in the [|'Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution']movement, as a 'Little Red Guard' painting 'blackboard posters' and later painting some 'mass criticism posters' at school. Wang was classified as an intellectual youth and after graduating was sent to the countryside to be re-educated. It was during this time that he began working on many landscape paintings and drawings, as well as reading a lot in preparation for the art academy entrance exam. From 1980 - 1984 he studied oil painting at the Chinese Academy of Fine Arts, with a focus on classical art. In 1985, after graduating, he returned to Harbin and founded the 'Northern Art Group'. He began teaching and working on his Frozen Wastelands series. He then created works titled 'Red Rationality' and 'Black Rationality', as well as a very controversial piece titled 'Mao Zedong AO'. By 1990 his interests were mainly drawn to the conflicts between cultures, at which point he started working on his 'Great Criticism' series. Coca-Cola Great Criticism--WTO Great Criticism-Ferrari Great Criticism
 * Formal and Contextual Analysis**

In the "Great Criticism" series, Wang presented a tongue-in-cheek display of the rhetoric that Mao had invoked the Chinese to desert with his bashing of what was deemed 'negative traits of gluttonous societies', much like the United States and most of the west. These paintings were studded with the clashing ideologies of socialism and capitalist consumerism that has infected Chinese society today. He casted heroic characters from Cultural Revolution posters; workers, peasants, and youth leaders, as perpetuators of the new Chinese economy. These characters are riddled with a plague of over indulgence and an excess of capitalistic consumerism from the west. He showed how people were embracing these brand logos, as they once embraced communist party insignia, by splashing well known corporate logos all throughout the paintings.

The Belief 1-- The Belief 3-The Belief 5 Face the Believer-

In "The Belief" series, Wang portrays political images of power and puts them in a different realm, in order to reveal hidden dimensions. Leading the way in the campaign to overcome the restrictions that were imposed on artists during the Cultural Revolution, Wang objectifies iconic imagery and uses repetition of numbers and letters to 'de-mystify' this period in China's history. Focusing on cultural interests of today, like consumerism and materialism, Wang triggers thought and a yearning for a more definitive understanding and rationalization of these iconic images. Using this rational method, he has honed in on a revision of artistic traditions in China. He exposes underlying and unexplored meanings in some of China's most popular cultural cliches.

Other artists have followed suit in the deconstruction of institutional systems and structures, introducing an ironic attitude among Chinese avant-garde artists. Through much thought and creativity this has inspired art to be produced that allows for patriotic tendencies to be re-evaluated and represented with a new twist. This provocative approach has aided in putting China on the global cultural radar today.

Known widely today as China's most renowned Political Pop Artist, Wang has provoked controversy between art and government with his expose style and his portrayal of China's volatile socio-political environment. Wang has focused his inspiration on the flood of consumerism that has entered the Chinese market. To put a twist on the famous propaganda posters of the Cultural Revolution, Wang intertwines them with corporate logos to convey the excessiveness of modern day China's capitalistic society. The revealing of society's flaws highlights the failed promises of western marketing promises along with the failed promises of the Cultural Revolution under Mao. The force of the Pop Art style, along with the visual techniques used in traditional propaganda posters, creates a language clearly defining his message.

Wang's overall mission has always been clear: to tackle what had long been considered off limits by reigning in socialist propaganda and meshing it with social change. He seized a moment in time that opened up an opportunity for him to begin a mission of recovery efforts for the Chinese people. He sought to bring them out of an abyss of constant political campaigns and hurtful social injustices into a world where they have peace and reconciliation with the past. In turn, this is what spawned the genre of Political Pop Art. Wang believes in creating culturally relevant work that creates a dynamic talking point among the Chinese people and an international forum.

Printed Sources: Smith, Karen, //Nine Lives: The Updated Edition - The Birth of Avant-Garde in New China.// Hong Kong: Timezone 8 Ltd., p. 43-83
 * References**

Koppel-Yang, Martina, //Semiotic Warfare: The Chinese Avant-Garde 1979-1989 - A Semiotic Analysis.// Hong Kong: Timezone 8 Ltd., p. 25-26, 73-74, 152-161, 187-188, 203

Grosenick, Uta; and Schubbe, Caspartt, //China Artbook.// Germany: Dumant, 2007 p. 416-423

Jiehong, Jiang, //Burden or Legacy: From the Chinese Cultural Revolution to Contemporary Art.// Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2007 p. 16-17, 52-54, 68-69

Stallabrass, Julian, //Art Incorporated: The Story of Contemporary Art.// New York: Oxford University Press, 2004 p. 57-58

Fibicher, Bernhard; and Frehner, Matthias, //Mahjong: Contemporary Chinese Art from the Sigg Collection.// Germany: Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2006. p. 68-71, 178-179

Smith, Karen; Shanchen, Yan; and Merewether, Charles, //Wang Guangyi.// Hong Kong: Timezone 8 Ltd., 2002. p. 6-17, 18-23, 188-195

Schell, Orville, //Mandate of Heaven.// New York: Simon and Schuster, 1994 p. 289-292

Online Sources:

Davis, Reuben L. - **Self-Aware Chinese Art Begins to Break Down Walls**: The Harvard Crimson - October 03, 2008 []

Hong, Lu - **A Chinese Contemporary Art Portal, Art Dictionary** - Artzinechina, Inc. 2008 []

Spalding, David - **The Paintings of Wang Guangyi: Revolutionary Acts?** - ShanghART, 2009. []

Ikon, Ltd. Contemporary Art - Santa Monica, CA []

Chinese Contemporary - Beijing - London - New York []

ARTNET []

**Lesson #1**
**Title:** Consumerism within Society **Grade Level:** High School **Time:** Three Weeks

** Standards and Benchmarks ** This lesson meets the following National Arts Education Standards and Benchmarks. NA-VA.9-12.1 Understanding and applying media, techniques, and processes (1, 2). NA-VA.9-12.2 Using knowledge of structures and functions (1, 3). NA-VA.9-12.3 Choosing and evaluating a range of subject matter, symbols, and ideas (1, 2, 3). NA-VA.9-12.4 Understanding the visual arts in relation to history and cultures (1, 2, 3). NA-VA.9-12.5 Reflecting upon and assessing the characteristics and merits of their works and the work of others (1, 2, 3). NA-VA.9-12.6 Making connections between visual arts and other disciplines (2).

** Central Concepts **

**// Mao Zedong and the Cultural Revolution //** Mao Zedong, the Chinese Communist Party Chairman, led the Chinese communists to defeat nationalists, who later fled to Taiwan in 1949. The Cultural Revolution was the event when Mao attempted to reaffirm his beliefs in China. The country’s urban youths were organized into the Red Guards and were encouraged to essentially “attack all traditional values” by criticizing them in a public manner (1). Many people were insulted and physically injured by the Red Guards. The Cultural Revolution officially ended shortly after Mao passed away; however, China was left in a state of catastrophe. Wang Guangyi creates these artworks for people to reflect on the Cultural Revolution and the Maoist era and to link them with today’s society. He depicts characters from the Maoist period in situations relevant to China’s society today. “Wang re-assigns its context to draw connections between the deserted ideals of the Maoist period and the empty promises of happiness propagated by western consumerism”(7).

**// Consumerism //** Consumerism is defined as a modern movement for the protection of the consumer against useless, inferior, or dangerous products, misleading advertising, unfair pricing, etc., and the concept that an ever-expanding consumption of goods is advantageous to the economy (3). Guangyi used consumerism to portray people of high political power in a different context. He used materialism to create a different visual effect of the subject itself. The high powers of the Communist society are depicted with images of pop-culture and serial numbers made by the Chinese workers and how they are embracing these icons today. He is trying to create a link between the “commonality between yesterday and today”. Combining old worldviews with the effects of consumerism in today’s society is an interesting and common theme within art.

__ Lesson Activities __
Examining Wang Guangyi’s Works and Their Cultural Relevance 1 Class Period
 * Lesson Activity 1: **

· Discuss Mao Zedong, the Cultural Revolution, and Consumerism. o This will take place in the form of a discussion. o Ask the students what they know about Mao Zedong. o Ask the students what they know about the Cultural Revolution. o Ask the students what they know about Consumerism. o Define who Mao Zedong was. § Mao Zedong, the Chinese Communist Party Chairman, led the Chinese communists to defeat nationalists, who later fled to Taiwan in 1949. o Define the Cultural Revolution. § The Cultural Revolution was the event when Mao attempted to reaffirm his beliefs in China. The country’s urban youths were organized into the Red Guards and were encouraged to essentially “attack all traditional values” by criticizing them in a public manner. o Define Consumerism § Consumerism is defined as a modern movement for the protection of the consumer against useless, inferior, or dangerous products, misleading advertising, unfair pricing, etc., and the concept that an ever-expanding consumption of goods is advantageous to the economy. · Show 4 artworks by Wang Guangyi (prepared on a Power-Point).

o The Belief-Girl Series o Materialist’s Art o Chanel No. 5 o Great Castigation Series: Coca-Cola

· Students will answer the following questions, about the slides shown, in the form of a classroom discussion. o What do you see in these pieces: subject, colors, lines, style, objects, culture, time period, etc. o What is the underlying message of these works of art? Relate to the initial discussion about Mao Zedong, the Cultural Revolution, and consumerism. o Does the artist connect the subject with the context? Why or why not? o What materials and techniques were used to create these works of art? · Discuss as a class, through analysis, how Guangyi connects his artworks with consumerism and the Cultural Revolution.

KWL and Student Research 2 Class Periods  · The teacher will reserve the school Resource Room. · Show the students how to create a KWL. The teacher will first demonstrate how to create a KWL and then the students will apply the learned information and create one on their own. o Students will be paired in groups of 2 for this project. o Students will examine a country of their choice in order to determine how consumerism has affected the culture of its society. o Each student must complete the KWL about the country and its culture. o The students must choose 4 works of art from an artist residing in their chosen country. o Much like the initial lesson, the students will answer the following questions about each artwork: § What do you see in these pieces: subject, colors, line, style, objects, culture, time period, etc.? § What is the underlying message of these works of art? Relate to the initial discussion of Mao Zedong, the Cultural Revolution, and consumerism. § Does the artist connect the subject with the context? Why or why not? § What materials were used to create these artworks? · Students will briefly share their KWL findings with the class as a whole.
 * Lesson Activity 2: **

Consumerism within American Culture 5 Class Periods
 * Lesson Activity 3: **

· Students will create a painting that reflects Consumerism within the American culture (each student must complete 1 painting; therefore, each group will have 2 paintings total). o Critically think of how America has been affected by Consumerism (hope, promise, desire, behavior, identity, life style, celebration, etc.). o Create a 16”x20” painting that uses an appropriate art style, colors, and painting techniques to illustrate your views. o Use Photoshop to sketch your composition. Manipulate the image of your subject and then transfer the completed image to your canvas. o Each student must complete an artist statement that includes the details of their subject and why they chose to portray it in this manner. § Students that want extra time to work on this painting may do so by: working during study hall, working during lunch, and/or checking out the materials (from the teacher) to take home. The students checkig out the materials must return them the next day of class.
 * Scoring Rubric ||  Possible Points  ||  Points Earned  ||
 * Artist Statement || 10  ||   ||
 * Photoshop sketch with manipulated images || 10  ||   ||
 * 16”x20” painting illustrating components of artist statement || 20  ||   ||
 * Total ||  40  ||   ||

﻿ ** Lesson Activity 4: ** Creating a Power-Point for the Group Presentations 2 Class Periods

· The teacher will demonstrate how to effectively use Power-Point and its functions; adding images, transitions, sounds, drawing tools, and action buttons. · Students will continue working in pairs of 2 and will explore the various advanced functions of Power-Point in order to prepare their presentation. o Guidelines: each Power-Point presentation must contain the following elements: § 11 slides total § Slide 1: Title page: name of group members, date, class § Slide 2: Country: description of how consumerism has affected the country § Slide 3: Artist: description of why artist was chosen § Slides 4-7: Images: each slide includes 1 artwork and the answered questions § Slide 8: KWL: shows actual KWL (2: 1 from each student) § Slide 9-10: Images: completed paintings by students and their artist statements (2: 1 student per slide) § Slide 11: Credits: cite all sources referenced for this project § 4 effective transitions § 2 sound effects § 2 drawing tools (arrows or shapes) § 2 action buttons § Visually appealing design layout


 * Scoring Rubric ||  Possible Points  ||  Points Earned  ||
 * Title Page || 2  ||   ||
 * Country page || 5  ||   ||
 * Artist page || 5  ||   ||
 * 4 slides of images with required information || 12  ||   ||
 * KWL || 4  ||   ||
 * 2 slides of student artworks with artist statements || 12  ||   ||
 * Credits page || 5  ||   ||
 * Use of 4 transitions || 4  ||   ||
 * Use of 2 sound effects || 2  ||   ||
 * Use of 2 drawing tools || 2  ||   ||
 * Use of 2 action buttons || 2  ||   ||
 * Visually appealing design || 5  ||   ||
 * Total ||  60  ||   ||

﻿ **﻿ Lesson Activity 5:** Student Gallery on Classroom Facebook Page 1 Class Period

· The teacher will prepare a demonstration on how to effectively upload images to the Student Gallery in the Classroom Facebook page. · Students will upload pictures of their completed paintings to the Student Gallery in the Classroom Facebook page. · Students will upload their artist statements to the Student Gallery in the Classroom Facebook page.

Power-Point Presentation & Student Gallery Preview 3 Class Periods
 * Lesson Activity 6: **

· Students will present their Power-Point presentations to the class. · Students will show their paintings on the Student Gallery Classroom Facebook page. · Students will show the physical completed paintings to the class. o Each group will have 15 minutes to complete their presentation.


 * Scoring Rubric ||  Possible Points  ||  Points Earned  ||
 * Voice Clarity || 2  ||   ||
 * Eye Contact || 2  ||   ||
 * Accuracy of Information || 10  ||   ||
 * Successful image on Student Gallery Classroom Facebook page || 10  ||   ||
 * Total ||  24  ||   ||

﻿ **Lesson Activity 7:** Reflective Journal Homework

· Students will respond to their findings from this unit. o What have you learned about consumerism? How does it affect each country? The same way? Differently? (List at least 2 reasons as evidence) · Make a prediction of how you think the American culture will react to consumerism in the next 20 years. · Turn in your KWL with this journal. 
 * Scoring Rubric ||  Possible Points  ||  Points Earned  ||
 * Detailed response of what was learned about Consumerism || 10  ||   ||
 * Detailed response of how Consumerism affects each country with 2 evidentiary reasons || 10  ||   ||
 * Meaningful prediction of how culture will react to Consumerism over next 20 years. || 10  ||   ||
 * Realistic KWL || 10  ||   ||
 * Total ||  40  ||   ||

1. [] 2. [] 3. [] 4. [] 5. [] 6. [] 7. http://teachartwiki.wikispaces.com/The+Belief-Girl+Series--Wang+Guangyi 8. [|www.google.com/images]
 * References **

ArtE343/543 2010 (NIU ASSURE Model Instructional Plan) Title: Wang Guangyi Portfolio Name: Rick Reed

Students have a good understanding of the internet and finding information. The computer skills vary amongst the students. Some are familiar with the Web 2.0 tools. || Rick Reeds presentation was very interesting. He spoke loudly and clearly. Some of the things that I would change would be to actually walk around the class and helped the struggles, some students got confused on how to create their mini portfolio. Another thing that i would fix is to try and find out how to change the settings so that it wont start uploading everyones pictures from their computer and putting them on their online portfolios without their permission. This feature could cause an issue with privacy etc. Overall, Reeds lesson and presentation was very interesting and was fun to learn how to do.
 * **__ A __**** nalyze Learners ** ||
 * The learners comprise of mixture of 11 graduate and undergraduate students.
 * **__ S __**** tate Objectives ** ||
 * Given a presentation and handout on the Web 2.0 technology called Picasa and a brief introduction of Wang Guangyi, students will be able to successfully create a mini-portfolio online of his work and know about the style of art called Political Pop. ||
 * **__ S __**** elect Media, Materials, and Methods ** ||
 * __ Laptops, Internet Access, Sample Photos, Handout, Powerpoint Presentation, Google Account. __ ||
 * **__ U __**** tilize Media, Materials, and Methods ** ||
 * Instructor will present a Powerpoint overview of Picasa describing the setup, basic functions of the program, the purpose, usability, and potential art education applications. Prior to the demonstration students will have already downloaded and installed the program. Students will also have some photos in a folder they downloaded that they can use for the mini-portfolio. The instructor will then use the handout and walk the students through the process of creating a mini portfolio for the artist. The instructor will also walk around and give individual help to whoever needs it. ||
 * **__ R __**** equire Learner Participation (activities, tasks, steps…) ** ||
 * The learners will participate by already having downloaded the application and by setting up a Google account if they don’t have one already. Once this is installed and setup, students will follow along with the instructor and create a mini-portfolio by importing pictures from their computer into Picasa and then adding information about the paintings to the portfolio. They will then learn how to sync the album to the web (if they have the Google account) and then can edit the images if they wish. ||
 * **__ E __**** valuate & Revise (evaluation, critical reflection, and revision plan) ** ||
 * I thought the lesson went relatively ok and most students seemed to get it. One of the main areas that was annoying was that all the photos on our computers loaded. If you go to tools in Picasa and then folder manager you can select which folders you want Picasa to scan, if you don't want any scanned you can select all the folders and then you wont see them all load anymore. Relatively easy to use. I have revised this lesson by changing the handout so that you can turn off the folders that Picasa scans when loading. The lesson plan did not change based on the comments from Matt and what I noticed. The handout is attached here.[[file:PICASA.docx]] ||

matt cwynar's critique

Thanks Matt for your critique and words. I agree I should have walked around more to help. Sometimes I think it is better to handout the instructions and ask people to work on the project and then to give help to those who need it and then let those who figure it out just work on their own. If you look at my comments in my evaluation and revision I tell you how to fix that problem of all the photos loading at once. It also doesn't upload everything to the online portfolio unless you hit the sync to web button.

I'm glad Rick introduced a photo sharing tool that many of us are familiar with but unsure of how to start. He did a good job of incorporating the artist's work into his lesson and combining the two. I was not too thrilled with how Picasa automatically took all the photos from my computer and put them into the program. I am using my mom's computer so I'm sure I will have to explain the new program to her. I didn't like that we had to download the program onto our computer either. Other photosharing sites allow you to just use the site to upload. Coming from a design background, I prefer to use other programs such as Photoshop to alter the photos. To me, it is easier to use a program with more capabilities that I am more familiar with. I thought the tabs were kind of confusing to use for the first time but I'm sure I would get used to it. I will probably stick with what I know but learning about other programs to compare and contrast the capabilities is a good practice. --Sara Rigdon

Rick did a great job presenting his tool and integrating the presentation of the artist into the presentation of the tool. I think Picasa could be a very useful tool for organizing, sharing and displaying photos and images but I don't care for programs that need to be downloaded onto my computer especially when there are other sites out there that you don't need to download anything from. I know that Rick did find out how to select only some photo file folders from your library of photos (instead of all of the photos in the whole library); that would definately make the site alot less usefull. That is the only improvement I would have made to the presentation. - Beth Stepnoski