Mon Kiosque, Tom Cruise

Wang Du was born in 1956 in the countryside of Wuhan in the Hubei Province. Following the end of the Cultural Revolution Wang Du entered the sculpture course at the newly reopened Guangzhou Art Academy. He founded the Salon of Artists of Southern China in 1986, and became one of the leaders of the June 1989 student uprising in Guangzhou. After having spent nine months in prison for his participation in this event Wang Du fled to France where he continues to live and work today. His work is concerned with the power of mass media and its relationship to reality. According to the artist, "we live a history shaped by the media, even if this version of historical events divorces us from reality." His sculptures are sourced from images found in printed media, most prominently from newspapers and magazines. He scours his collection of images for those that define the current times, mainly those pertaining to war, geographical conflict, advertising, glamour and lifestyle. By placing, or copying these images in a sculptural or artistic context, Wang Du undermines the mechanisms of the mass media and in effect allows himself to become a 'hypermedium' himself.