Piece Description

A surrealist allegory of late empire, this work collides American iconography with an oneiric, almost eschatological force. A distorted flying figure—part superhero, part cyborg—soars across a cerebral vortex, brain exposed, lips grotesquely sensuous, the body rendered in muscular abstraction. Beneath it, the American flag buckles and distorts, its stars scattered like failed states. The glowing McDonald’s arches—neon specters of late capitalism—hover ominously. Winged speaker megaphones torpedo through the air, echoing He Gong’s battle with omni-present ideological sounds of the Cultural Revolution, while the letters “BA” suggest a crumbling Babylon or Bank of America. The aesthetic geography is fractured and turbulent, a psychic storm mapped through textured pigment and cultural detritus. The painting’s affective register hovers between revelation and collapse—exposing the neural, national, and spiritual exhaustion of an era.

Artist: He Gong

He Gong (b. 1955, Chongqing, China) is a Chinese contemporary artist whose practice engages questions of migration, exile, memory, and cultural hybridity. He earned his MFA from the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts in 1985 before relocating to the United States in 1986. From 2005 to 2024, he served as Professor of Art at Sichuan University, shaping a generation of emerging artists. Dividing his time between Chengdu and Los Angeles, He Gong’s work reflects a sustained dialogue between Eastern and Western artistic traditions. His paintings, exhibited internationally at institutions such as the Venice Biennale and the Edinburgh Festival, trace personal and collective journeys across landscapes of displacement and return. His recent practice embraces a narrative turn, using the visual field as a stage for unfolding allegories of identity, longing, and transformation. Through luminous storytelling, He Gong invites viewers into a theatre of memory where myth and lived experience converge.

Acquisition Details

• Complimentary regional delivery within Whatcom County
• Professional art handling and installation available upon request
• Installment acquisitions available upon request