Wang Guangyi (1956/7 – ), is a Chinese artist known for being the leader of the New Art Movement circles that erupted out of China after 1989 and for his Great Criticism series of paintings, using the images of propaganda from the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) and contemporary brand names from western advertising. As an example, Artinfo notes that one of Wang Guangyis’s Great Criticism paintings “responds to the recent influx of advertising by juxtaposing the Coca-Cola logo with an image of a Chinese soldier, appropriating the visual iconography of both the Chinese Cultural Revolution and American pop art.” Alongside Yue Minjun, Zeng Fanzhi and Fang Lijun, Wang Guangyi belongs to China’s hottest new artists. His massive Mao AO painting from 1988 was sold for £2,036,000 ($4.1 million) at a Phillips de Pury & Company auction in London in December 2007.” Wang Guangyi was born in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province in 1956 or 1957. In 1984 Wang Guangyi graduated from the oil painting department of Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts. He currently lives and works in Beijing, China.