Wang Jianuo

Wang Jianuo, born in Liaoning in 1989 and works in Beijing, is China’s most well-known urban artist. Wang’s pop-inspired artworks, (interlacing childhood cartoons, fashion labels, and seductive slogans together in mixed media graffiti inspired paintings), achieved wide-spread recognition from Boomers to Gen Z collectors new to the art world, but well versed in entrepreneurial consumer culture. Using free-hand painting, graffiti, stencils, cartoon icons, collaged ads, and news print, his child-like canvases both “happy and bright” as well as slightly ominous, hint at darker themes bubbling just below the surface. In Wang’s world, we are experiencing a massive shift to a new pop culture, one dominated by a younger generation’s “bling-bling” brand devotion, digital device addiction, and global consumption.