TIAN MANGZI

Born in Shenyang in 1968, Tian Mangzi began to paint when he was 12 or 13 years old.

He studied ink and brush techniques under the guidance of Chinese masters who taught him to paint landscapes outdoors in nature.

At the age of 18, he entered the Shenyang Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts, graduating in 1990 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.

In 1992, he attended the classical Chinese paintings department of the Academy of Fine Arts of Xi’an and graduated with a Master’s degree in 1995.

From 1999-2002 he taught painting at the Shenyang Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts.

Since 2002, he has worked as a full-time artist.

HUANG MIN

Born in 1963 in Bengbu, Anhui Province.

In 1987 he graduates form Lu Xun Fine Arts Academy.

"Andy Warhol brought us the commercialization of Art. Pop Art is still popular and this movement based on mass culture, which has brought an inelegant, common and difficult to define influence on society, gives particularly sensitive artists in mind of the "opening-up" policy in China and the new economic shock new reasons to use the language of Pop Art.

Naturally I choose to use "pop language" and add "cultural symbols" with Chinese characteristics, such as New Year pictures, Five-pointed Stars, Tian'anmen Square, etc. in new contexts namely current popular images. I want to mix them together, juxtapose or exchange them, in a way which fully presents one of the most important characteristics in post-modern art, where art is not confined by a certain concept or form. Any form can be used because there are no differences between different forms. Besides, any combination of images can stimulate an audience's active thinking.

In the 50s and 60s, Pop Art completely broke through the barriers of image duplication and paintings made by hand. The culture of painting continues to greatly develop the visual arts. My works combine the past and the future, transcending historical time and space, making history a reality and vice versa."