Chinese Authorities Detain Outspoken Artist
By Camilla Alvarez-Chow
GAO BROTHERS, The Execution of Christ, 2009, painted fiberglass, dimensions variable. Courtesy Hua Gallery.
According to numerous sources, including The New York Times, Chinese artist Gao Zhen has been detained by authorities in China. In a September 2 email, his brother, Gao Qiang, wrote that Gao Zhen was being held on suspicion of slandering China’s heroes and martyrs. As part of a newly amended criminal code, defaming China’s national heroes is a punishable offense that can lead to lengthy prison sentences of up to three years.
Gao Zhen and Gao Qiang are widely known as the Gao Brothers, and they have worked together between Beijing and the United States since the 1980s. They have garnered international acclaim for artworks critiquing the Cultural Revolution (1966–77), as well as Mao Zedong.
Gao Zhen, who is 68, moved to the US two years ago and was visiting relatives in China with his wife and son. On August 26 around 30 police officers stormed the brothers’ art studio in Yanjiao, a town in Sanhe City, east of Beijing, where Gao Zhen was arrested. His wife was notified of his detainment the following day by the Sanhe City public security bureau.
The police also confiscated several of the brothers’ artworks, some dating back over a decade—including Mao’s Guilt, a bronze statue that depicts the former leader on his knees, and The Execution of Christ (both 2009), a statue of Jesus being confronted by a firing squad of seven Maos, inspired by Édouard Manet's Exécution de Maximilien (1868–69).
Over the last ten years the brothers have encountered numerous problems stemming from their politically charged works, yet “were able to come out the other side unscathed every time,” Gao Qiang said. His brother’s arrest showed that “now, the space for freedom in China has shrunk a lot compared to then.”
Camilla Alvarez-Chow is an editorial assistant at ArtAsiaPacific.
