Red Gate Gallery

Wang Yuping

by Tally Beck

At the beginning of the new millennium, the first generation of the one-child-per-family policy came of age. Wang Yuping documented this unique phenomenon in his Who Can Play with Me? series. In the context of the rapidly developing Chinese urban youth culture, Wang presented us with highly confrontational and humorous paintings of these individualistic young people. Exercising his uncanny abilities as a colourist, he portrayed their awkwardness, individualism and socio-economic transformation. By placing us in intimate spaces with arresting, descriptive personal images, he continues his exploration of urban culture and social change.