Wang Du  (Chinese/French, 1956) 

Wang Du (Chinese, b.1956) is a Contemporary artist who creates three-dimensional painted objects and uses them to show how science, media, and technology are taking over humanity. He was born in China in Uhan's Hubei Province, and is the son of a factory worker. Even as a very young boy, he loved to paint, sketch, and draw. He went to work for the Chinese government's Cultural Revolution when he turned 16, working in a steel company and in the mines while privately honing his artistic skills. In 1976, when he was 20 years old, the artist had his first exhibition. He took the entrance exams to university after moving to Guangzhou. He passed on his second try and entered the Guangzhou Institute of Fine Arts in 1981. He left the university in 1985 without graduating, after becoming disillusioned with curriculum, which he felt was overly traditional.

Wang went on to found a collective called Southern, which consisted of artists and intellectuals from China's growing artistic community who came together to support each other's creative endeavors. They held performances and talks on a regular basis until a government official warned him to stop. Wang complied, but was arrested two years later and imprisoned for nine months when he spoke out against corruption.

After his release, the artist left for Paris, and married a French journalist. His new wife's connections helped his art career take off. He was greatly influenced by the work of artist Jeffrey Deitch (American, b.1952), which highlighted the impact that science and technology would have on humanity. Wang's first works consisted of modern, three-dimensional objects that highlighted the difficulties he faced adjusting to Western culture. Another of Wang's exhibits in 1997 mimicked Deitch's themes by exploring the ability of people in the future to transform their bodies at will via the use of science and technology.

Wang's art has been shown in solo and group shows since the mid-1990s. In 2004, Wang's most famous work, Défilé , was exhibited at a wide variety of galleries, including La Criée in Rennes and Palais de Tokyo in Paris. It was exhibited at the Vancouver Art Gallery in Canada in his first show outside of Europe. Défilé consisted of 13 large-scale military subjects. The images were copied from Chinese magazines and set up on a platform so that the whole structure resembled a military float. Another famous Wang piece is Tapis Volant. In this piece, Wang took the February 10, 2003 cover of Time magazine, which showed the picture of the exploding Columbia space shuttle, and copied it onto very large, flying carpet. Wang currently lives and works in Paris, France.