Tang Haiguo

There are plenty of contemporary Chinese artists who mock the Cultural Revolution, now, from a safe distance of three decades, and command the attention of the international art community for their bravado. To us, it is just commercial, made to get that specific response from the West. But, then, we are acquainted with and have art by artists who made their own protests, back during and even before the Cultural Revolution, when it was actually dangerous to do so. Moreover, they did not do it for commercial purposes but, instead, because they were offended by what was happening when it was happening. Thus, at Leona Craig, we are always on the lookout for artists who take a different approach to contemporary art, in China. Tang Hai Guo is our latest find. His portraits fall into the figurative category, and he draws his inspiration from the expressionists, particularly, Egon Schiele.
Tang Hai Guo, a younger artist, was born in Hunan Province, in 1979. After graduating from Hunan Art Institute, in 2002, he continued his studies at the famed China Central Academy of Fine Arts, in Beijing, specializing in oil painting. He has developed a style that is truly his own, using bold colourful lines in his portraiture, making it bright, interesting, and great fun. He also makes paintings of animals, like dogs, in which the animals show real character: these aren’t your grandmother’s doggy pictures.
Tang currently lives in Guangdong Province. He is the standing director of the Hunan Art and Calligraphy Association, a member of the China and Overseas Arts and Calligraphy Communication Association, and a member of the Designers Association of Shenzhen.