Yu Youhan, trailblazer of the Political Pop movement in China, has died. He was eighty years old.
A leading influence on the wider Chinese contemporary art scene, Yu’s abstract and political pop paintings interrogated China’s cultural identity and experimented with diverse styles informed by global practices. Yu’s resulting approach was a radical hybrid of East and West traditions. In 1989 he participated in the China / Avant-Garde exhibition (one of the most significant shows in the early development of Chinese art) with his abstract Circles series; in 1993 he was invited to represent China at the 45th Venice Biennale. The artist was also active as a teacher, beginning his career at the Shanghai Arts and Crafts College in 1973. He went on to teach the likes of Chen Zhen, Ding Yi, Feng Lianghong, Qin Yifeng, Wang Ziwei and Ji Wenyu.
