About the artwork
Once again, we see two renderings of Mao depicted in exaggerated, triumphant poses, with their arms outstretched and their feet placed upon the facade of Tiananmen. Ren sheds blandness for boldness, through his aesthetic which reinvigorates discipline with the joy of participation. Mao's comical stance mirrors various aerobic poses, a notion that is represented throughout the series, and he almost appears to be performing for an audience on a global stage
About the artist
Ren Sihong (born in 1967) graduated from the Fine Art Department of Hebei Normal College in 1991. From 1991 to 1993, he studied in the Teaching Assistant Program for the Oil Painting Class in Central Academy of Fine Arts. In 1993, his solo exhibition was held in the Central Academy's gallery. He now works as a professional painter. Ren's work can be classified as Political Pop, in which the great leader is presented in such a lighthearted and humorous way that the distance between the untouchable, glorified giant and our realistic experience vanishes. In the sculpture ensemble, Mao leads the children of the consumer society in carrying out the broadcast exercise. He turns the uniformity of the exercise movement into free and idle self-entertaining behavior which brings a post-ideological linguistic feature to politics and sports.