Mao Lizi (Zhang Zhunli)

Mao Lizi (Zhang Zhunli)

... was born in 1950. During the Cultural Revolution he joined a theater unit of the People's Liberation Army where he worked as a set designer. In 1979, he participated - secretly at first, under his pseudonym "Mao Lizi" - at the avant-garde art exhibition of the "Stars" group. When his superiors found out, he was told to leave his army job in order to avoid a military investigation and trial.

Mao Lizi became an independent artist, in 1981 he was awarded a youth art prize in China. Like other avantgarde artists in the mid-eighties, Mao Lize left China to spend a few years in France and in the United States. In 1989, he participated in the anniversary exhibitions "The Stars - Ten Years" in Hong Kong and Taiwan and a number of other international exhibition. Later he decided to return to China, Mao Lizi now works in his studio in the "798" cultural district of Beijing.