Jiang Shuo Sculpture

Sculpture Exhibit Continues an Artist's Look at China

For a young Jiang Shuo, China's Red Guard offered a chance to raise her station in life, but she's found far greater success depicting those soldiers in her sculpture.

The bronze figures, an exhibition of which opened Thursday at Hong Kong's Plum Blossoms Gallery, are intentionally both political and tongue-in-cheek. "The theme was so heavy that I felt it was important to balance the work with humor," she says. "To me, it was unbelievable that the people who were with me in the Red Guard are today's businessmen of China, chasing capitalism."

Ms. Jiang, 53 years old, painted propaganda posters as a member of the Red Guard in her youth, an attempt (which she now calls "nave") at restoring her own social standing after the Cultural Revolution ended her parents teaching careers.

Her new "Red Cat" series continues her commentary on capitalism, with figures clutching McDonald's fries, iPhones and digital cameras. One piece, "Red Cat 2," shows a pigtailed figure with its hands stuffed into pockets embossed with U.S. dollar and Euro symbols, while a cat stretches languidly by its side.

Ms. Jiang in 1978 joined the sculpture program at the newly reopened Central Academy of Arts and Design in Beijing, and in 1985 became the first woman in the school's history to earn a masters of fine art. She later became the youngest teacher in the program.

It was also there that she met her husband, fellow artist Wu Shaoxiang, through their professor, sculptor Zheng Ke. "He played matchmaker between us," she says. "It was the sweetest time in my life."

She and Mr. Wu left China after the Tiananmen Square protests, eventually finding refuge in Austria, where they stayed until they returned to Beijing to open a studio in 2006. Today Ms. Jiang splits her time between their studio in Klagenfurt, Austria, and their 6,500-square-foot Beijing space.

It's no accident that her Red Guard figures resemble Chairman Mao in stature, but with their generic eyeless faces she hopes they also remind viewers of how many Chinese blindly followed his lead. "People were political tools, like pieces on a chess board," she says

Jiang Shuo's exhibit opens today at Plum Blossom Gallery and is on view until Dec. 7. Plum Blossom: 1 Hollywood Rd., Central, Hong Kong. Tel +852-2521-2189.