Mao Splash

The gallery's
opinion

The technique of lenticular holography used by Dominique Mulhem allows our eye to perceive very clearly the effects of three-dimensional planes. The proof is in the behaviour of visitors to the gallery who try to gauge the thickness of the work, as if it were a box, containing objects and scenery positioned one behind the other. Sometimes the children, deceived by the optical illusion, also reach out with their hands and try to grasp the elements represented in the foreground.

In this composition, Mao is represented by a moulded plastic figurine, like the toys or souvenirs mass-produced in Chinese factories. Before Mulhem, American Pop Art artists such as Andy Warhol or Roy Lichtenstein made him an object of consumption, putting the founder of the People’s Republic of China at the service of the capitalist product.

In Dominique Mulhem’s work, the figure representing Mao is threatened by sprays of paint. What will remain of the red of the Chinese communist icon?

The double frame, with a rod covered with a smoked mirror lacquer, contributes to sublimate this very beautiful piece.