Great Criticism - Pop
- Artist: Wang Guangyi
- Date: 1992
- Medium: Oil paint on canvas
- Dimensions: support: 2000 × 3400 mm
- Museum: Tate Modern
- Collection record: Tate Modern website
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About this artwork
This is the “Great Criticism – Pop” by Wang Guangyi, a 1992 oil on canvas that spans two joined sheets. The artist grew up during China’s Cultural Revolution, a time when he painted propaganda posters. In the 1980s, as China opened to foreign investment, Wang began to merge the old socialist realist imagery with Western logos, a fusion he called “political pop.” Here you see three figures clutching Chairman Mao’s Little Red Book and ink pens as weapons, set against a red background punctuated by the words NO, Swatch, and POP. Around them, a flurry of barcodes—numbers that would appear on Chinese consumer goods—fills the surface, blurring the line between political message and consumer culture. Originally titled “Great Criticism – Swatch,” the work was exhibited at the 1993 Venice Biennale and has since been shown in shows like “Post Pop: East Meets West” in London and in Beijing. The painting is a stark snapshot of China’s transition from ideological certainty to a consumer‑driven reality.
See it in person
Great Criticism - Pop is in the collection of Tate Modern on Bankside, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
