21 Facts About Guo Jian

Guo Jian is part of a movement of contemporary Chinese artists whose work is characterised as Cynical Realism, which began in the 1990s in Beijing.

Guo Jian's perspective comes from his experiences as a propaganda poster painter in the PLA and propaganda officer in a transport company, then later from the outside looking back in as a student demonstrator during the Tiananmen Square protests in the spring of 1989.

Stylistically, Guo Jian's work falls within the Cynical Realism grouping that has been attached to many contemporary Chinese artists who draw from their experiences over the last four decades in China.

Guo Jian's art focuses on the use of the female celebrity as a model patriot, a tool to motivate, influence, manipulate and ultimately serve as Ulyssean Siren.

Guo Jian's work looks at the commonalities between the purity of the Chinese army's Entertainment Soldier performers and their Western counterparts.

The message, to boys from the provinces like Guo Jian, was that beautiful girls love a man in uniform.

Guo Jian had to denounce his own father, knowing he'd be killed too if he tried to defend him.

In 1978, Guo Jian was approached by the Minzu University of China, the national level university designated for ethnic minorities, but was told to wait one more year to enrol in the art department.

Guo Jian was given responsibility overseeing the armoury, and was promoted to squad leader.

In 1982 Guo Jian resigned from the army and returned to his home town and worked as a propaganda officer in a local transportation company.

In 1985 Guo Jian was one of just three students accepted into Minzu University of China art department in Beijing, out of 6000 applicants who sat the entrance exam from his province alone.

Guo Jian initially studied traditional Chinese painting, calligraphy, and ink wash painting focussing on figurative art and eventually graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Chinese painting and literature.

Guo Jian survived and graduated from university in July 1989, but his participation in the protest movement meant he was banned from being given employment through the formal job placement system for graduates at that time.

Guo Jian was part of the initial group of artists who moved to the outskirts of Beijing to Yuanmingyuan and formed the Yuanmingyuan artists' community.

Guo Jian's artwork gained the attention of curators and critics and his reputation grew.

In 2006, one of Australia's leading portrait artists, Chinese Australian Shen Jiawei, included a portrait of Guo Jian entitled 'Guo Jian and Elly' 1998, in a group exhibition at the Australian Portrait Gallery in Canberra.

Guo Jian returned to China in 2005 to explore production techniques options for developing his sculpture 'One World One Dream'.

Guo Jian resided in the Songzhuang Art Colony, in the eastern suburbs of Beijing.

In 2014 Guo Jian was interviewed on the Australian TV series "Two Men In China" about his art and his sculpture of Tiananmen Square.

Subsequently, in June, 2014 Guo Jian was interviewed by Tom Mitchell, Beijing correspondent for the Financial Times newspaper.

The day after the offending article in the globally distributed newspaper hit newsstands, Guo Jian was arrested by Chinese authorities at his studio and detained for several weeks.