Artist Profiles

Gao Brothers

(www.gaobrothers.net) The Gao Brothers (Gao Zhen and Gao Qiang, born Jinan, Shangdong Province, in 1956 and 1962) began making work in the mid-1980s and are among the first generation of China’s avant-garde artists to create works together. They examine the perplexed spiritual state of the generations that grew up with a Communist education but came to embrace pro-democracy sentiments. Zhen graduated from Shandong Academy of Arts and Crafts and is currently a painter at the Jinan Painting Institute; Qiang graduated from Qufu Normal University and is now a painter at the Shandong College of Light Industry. The Gao Brothers have been cooperating on art projects since 1985. Exhibitions include (dual) solo shows at the Eastling Gallery, Shanghai and Beijing Normal University, as well as appearances at the China National Art Museum, Beijing. Major works include performance pieces "Cultural Tattoos" (2000) and " Mass in Tian An Men Square" (1995) and the recent sculptural in! stallation "Prediction" (1999). Gao Brothers carried out their first group hug performance, "The Utopia Of Hugging For Twenty Minutes" on September 10, 2000 by inviting one hundred and fifty volunteers, who were previously strangers to each other, to take part in the event. They asked all participants to choose a person at random for a hug of fifteen minutes duration. Afterwards, all participants huddled together for an additional five minutes.

Other Works By This Artist [ click to view larger images ]