Chinese Court Sentences Artist Gao Zhen to Three Years In Prison For Satirical Mao Sculptures

By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy. We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. New York-based artist Gao Zhen has been sentenced to three years in prison for making satirical sculptures of Mao Zedong. The ruling was delivered by the Sanhe City People’s Court in China’s Hebei Province following a closed, one-day trial in March Gao, a 70-year-old Chinese citizen and U.S. permanent resident, has been in detention in China since August 2024. He had been visiting the country with his wife, Zhao Yaliang, and their young son. “His arrest and trial should never have happened. We have had no choice but to wait in anguish . . . I am very sad that it’s going to be this long,” Zhao told the Guardian. Both she and her son have been unable to leave China since Gao’s arrest. Along with his younger brother Gao Qiang, Gao Zhen rose to prominence as the collaborative artist duo known as the Gao Brothers. Their work often critiques communism in China and the Cultural Revolution, with Mao Zedong expectedly serving as a recurring subject in their artistic endeavors. The court’s judgment found Gao guilty of slandering China’s “heroes and martyrs,” citing three of his works, including one of Mao kneeling in repentance, another of Mao with breasts and a Pinocchio-esque nose, and finally, a sculpture comprising a firing squad of Mao-like figures preparing to execute Jesus. Gao was charged under a 2018 law that banned the defamation of historical figures associated with the Chinese Communist Party. The works cited were made before the law’s creation, and this case represents one of its first retroactive applications. Gao has refused to plead guilty to the charges and plans to appeal the decision. If the sentence is upheld, he will have to serve one more year in addition to the two years he has already spent in prison. During his imprisonment, Gao has suffered from several health issues, including respiratory challenges, and knee and back problems. But according to his brother, Gao Qiang, he remains mentally sharp. “A body can be confined, but clarity of mind is harder to take away,” Gao Qiang told the Guardian. “Art should never be a crime scene waiting to be discovered.”