Little Red Book

This sculpture depicts the 'little red book' - a handbook of quotations of Chairman Mao. However, the pages are blank. The book was a symbol of aggression during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), and some twenty years later the artist shows it resting on a fragrant bed of open blooms.

This ironic statement was created during the blooming of an art phenomenon called 'Kitsch art' in China in the mid-1990s. 'Kitsch art' has been described as 'showing sentimental items of questionable taste'. It was originally a trend in America in the 1980s.

Xu Yihui is one of its few Chinese exponents and a skilful practitioner. He made this sculpture in August 1994 in Jingdezhen (the centre for porcelain production). The work is influenced by the American artist Jeff Koons. It attempts to locate an overlap in revolutionary history and contemporary Kitsch culture, while gently satirising both stereotypes.