VISITING CHINA

By the time of his visit, China was edging out of its totalitarian past. Mao’s death in 1976 had brought the Cultural Revolution to an end, and younger artists, who had never had access to any sort of art history, including their own, were beginning to see and be influenced by Western art. An avant-garde—the most famous members of which were the “Star” and “Scar Painting” groups—sprang up and enthusiastically appropriated previously unseen Western styles, such as surrealism or abstraction, and used them as instruments of social critique.

Warhol would have been completely ignorant of these nascent artistic movements. The only artist he met during his visit was Dr. Ku-Nien Chang, the master calligrapher and landscape painter, who professed not to know much about Western art but had seen a picture of Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe in a foreign magazine. Dr. Chang skillfully snaked his brush over a piece of paper, inscribed the result “long life,” and gave it to Warhol. Warhol drew a picture in return, a large dollar sign in magic marker, and wished Dr. Chang “good fortune.” Later, Makos teased Warhol for making such a crude gesture, and of always having money on his mind. “I have mind on my money,” Warhol quipped. “It’s different, kid.”

-Modern Painters
Sept 2008