Zhao 🇸🇬 Print Release • Show News • Art For Sale

[Someones Brain]

I just read through this whole thread - and the more I read and thought about it the more I liked the idea of this project.

Imho the execution could be better (or are these just bad pics?), even though the "gun fire" canvas looks pretty good. I'd probably have bought this if I saw it earlier. 

I think Nuart summed it up very well, so there's no need to repeat it all. What I don't get though is that bitterness in the argumentation: 4 pages filled with almost the same arguments again and again? It's christmas season - let's just get along ...

[johnnyh]

Not sure what the idea is....take someone else's work copy it paint on top.

Write some social conscience crap and flog.

If that's a good idea for you...go ahead. You could also buy a straight fake of Yue Mins work for $60 andput both together to have two fakes. With both the sellers smiling at you

[highly framable]

thanks for the kind words one and all.

and thanks to you johnnyh, for getting the discussion going.

look at the first line of the this post zhao made way back when.

"Why pay more (for a Yue MinJun)? Fakes are far closer to the truth." - zhao

that has always been the intention of this series. pointing at the uncomfortable truth - the false struggles of pop artists.

zhao's busy thinking of the next way of presenting this, and he is doing this 72 times. (why? why not!)

[johnnyh]

Dec 4, 2013 13:48:26 GMT 1 highly framable said:

that has always been the intention of this series. pointing at the uncomfortable truth - the false struggles of pop artists.

zhao's busy thinking of the next way of presenting this, and he is doing this 72 times. (why? why not!)

Not sure there are false struggles for Pop artists. Like yor comments on Yue Min they are not actually true.

Sure Gentalmental sorry Zhoa is thinking really hard..must be a terrible burden for you which colour to paint over the top of his Yue Mins face. Oh The struggles

[highly framable]

thanks johnnyh.

btw, it's yue minjun (not yue min) and it's zhao (not zhoa).

and no we don't find it a burden creating these paintings. they're a joy to make.

personally, i see Unhappiness (a struggle) as someone suppressing glee (of wealth/power). and the pink is quite nice.
best,
L

[johnnyh]

Ha ha think I know his name and isn't Zhao spelt Gentalmental?
You can see unhappiness and struggles all you like all I see is a poor copy.

Suppose you would think that's nice as you did it Gental sorry but I think it's pretty awful.

Look forward to the next 70 odd!!!

[randomname]

Countless artists, including Banksy, have parodied other artists work. In this case, he's creating a different message in a different style, which makes it a clear parody. It's really no different than several Banksy pieces. Banksy just happens to be better at it.



Banksy just added a rocket launcher and made it into a stencil.



Banksy just added a baby bottle with a skull and crossbones and flipped the image.



Banksy just changed the label on the soup.

[Gentle Mental]

Dec 4, 2013 16:34:28 GMT 1 johnnyh said:

Ha ha think I know his name and isn't Zhao spelt Gentalmental?
You can see unhappiness and struggles all you like all I see is a poor copy.

Suppose you would think that's nice as you did it Gental sorry but I think it's pretty awful.

Look forward to the next 70 odd!!!

It's gentle. Not gental.

[highly framable]

[highly framable]

From November 30th on. Ai weiwei will place some flowers inside a basket of a bike park outside his 258 studio every morning till he gets his passport back.

(Btw, zhao's flowers were in that basket on day 5. )

Ai weiwei will also stop tweeting by end 2013.

Zhao had a dream and this image was in it. Ai likes it. So zhao made one and if all goes well should arrived by the 31st.

[highly framable]

[Coach]

I like this canvas.

[Wearology]

This canvas is great - simple , clean & poignant.
It's nice to see artists showing support for one another - plus a cause such as human rights.

[Coach]

Dec 28, 2013 18:02:43 GMT 1 Wearology said:

This canvas is great - simple , clean & poignant.
It's nice to see artists showing support for one another - plus a cause such as human rights.

Well that put my post to shame!!

I agree with Wear. Put it much better than I did!

Hope your had a great Xmas Wear.

[johnnyh]

Don't matter how many flowers he puts anywhere he cannot even apply for his passport till he pays his tax bill

[Gentle Mental]

Dec 28, 2013 19:27:56 GMT 1 johnnyh said:

Don't matter how many flowers he puts anywhere he cannot even apply for his passport till he pays his tax bill

never underestimate the power of flowers.

peace. happy new year.

[johnnyh]

Nor the power of the tax man!!

[Gentle Mental]

dear johnnyh

do you seriously think the charges are legit?

love

gm

[johnnyh]

Yes actually the charges are almost certainly legit. There is a big clampdown on tax avoidance in China.
His problem is that he obviously annoyed the government. In retaliation they looked into his tax paying. He has not been able to prove them wrong. His works sell for huge amounts of money so he is an easy target as they can monitor his revenue although much was kept offshore as it were.
Lots of people fiddle their taxes in China but they also keep a lower profile. So he is an easy target but yes I do believe he did not pay his taxes. He has shown nothing to disprove that and he has shy'd away from revealing how much he does earn which from all accounts is massive amounts. So the dissident thing suits him but it's out dated now as all on the blogs and wei chat. He tweaks with the west not with the Chinese.

[Gentle Mental]

And they let a tax evading criminal build their greatest showpiece since the Great Wall ?

A simple check would've revealed all and save everyone the trouble wouldn't it?

He has revealed everything and chose not to leave when he could. He has even paid half the ransom for the sake of safeguarding the people's system.

But his appealed was denied without a fair trial or even allowing him to testify.

This unfairness means the system is broken.

How could he win?

Would u pay if it were u fair?

U do drink a lot of china corp's milk don't you? Explains a lot. It is fast and easy money. But know it is tainted with blood of many.

[Gentle Mental]

Dec 29, 2013 11:09:54 GMT 1 johnnyh said:

Yes actually the charges are almost certainly legit. There is a big clampdown on tax avoidance in China.
His problem is that he obviously annoyed the government. In retaliation they looked into his tax paying. He has not been able to prove them wrong. His works sell for huge amounts of money so he is an easy target as they can monitor his revenue although much was kept offshore as it were.
Lots of people fiddle their taxes in China but they also keep a lower profile. So he is an easy target but yes I do believe he did not pay his taxes. He has shown nothing to disprove that and he has shy'd away from revealing how much he does earn which from all accounts is massive amounts. So the dissident thing suits him but it's out dated now as all on the blogs and wei chat. He tweaks with the west not with the Chinese.

"He tweaks with the west not with the Chinese."

Is revealing the deleted names of thousands of children, many under 7, who died under poorly, and corruptly built schools during the sichuan earthquake "tweaking with the west?"

Is exposing the fact that thousands of poor were evicted from Beijing during the Olympics so as to present a more civilized face to the world "tweaking with the west"?

Is placing international spotlight on the many who were detained and tortured without trial, "tweaking with the west?"

Is being detained for 81 days without trial or even any reason "tweaking with the west"?

It is for the good old China Corp and its subsidiaries/dogs.

[johnnyh]

See Gental that's where your wrong and kind of hints at my point.
When he was in close and working with the gov on commissions etc. no one cared about his taxes.
When he became a pain to the state that's when they started looking for a legal way to keep him in check and also in a way that the likes of the Americans etc could not complain about
That's why the looked at his taxes. Now to pay tax you have to have earned it. His company. He has denied his company is his company. Think he says owned by his wife.
If he has that tax bill they must have asked him to prove he did not earn that money. No where as far as I know has he done this. He has said they did not give him 3 days notice before the announcement etc.
You can call me China Corporate etc if you want but unlike you I am just putting correct logical information on the subject.
He has been done for not paying tax and with all the media and his blogs etc he has not provided 1 decent piece of info to disprove it. Eg this is how much my company earned in 201x this is how much tax they have charged me.
So you say it's false but based on what. We do know he sells expensive pieces and does massive shows and commissions. Therefore fairly safe to assume the Chinese taxman does as well.
Now yes they are using it against him but his problem is he has not paid his tax. Another major problem as I understand is that he has a lot of money stored offshore. They will not give him (back to first point) his passport till he pays his tax. If he pays his tax will he get his passport....no idea.

re your last bit answer has to be yes as I always where I have to pay my taxes

[Gentle Mental]

you are wrong. johnnyh. so wrong.

he paid more than half for an appeal. which they refuse to let him testify and prove his case.

the public donated a huge chunk, which he is returning to the donors (along with free art)

so in effect this whole episode is going to cost him the entire tax bill.


if the authorities really want the other half, why don't they go get it? it is because they don't want to bring this up any more. if someone's evading over a millino dollars in tax, you would put him in jail won't you?

they have no case. they just want him shut up. while he's "black out" from the local media, they can work they China Daily PR claim ai to be "tweaking to the west" propaganda to the masses by exposing corruption and violations of human rights.

Think for a moment. don't argue for the sake of arguing. know your accusations based on generalisations and propaganda are causing harm.

[.dappy]

... getting back to the art  ... am I allowed to say that I think it is a little bit rubbish in concept and execution!?!

(good cause though ... so that makes it alright?!? )

[johnnyh]

Sorry Gental your wrong he paid half as you say for an appeal but he lost the appeal.
So he still owes his tax bill.
He has presented no figures to prove ha case as he hides revenue offshore
He does not declare sales and earnings which he tries to hide. Eg by saying it's not his company that sells
His work and his name and exhibitions etc therefore he does not know what it makes.

Dappy yes your right very poor. But as always Gental tries to use the "Ai Wei Wei loves it" in an attempt to gain
Credibility

[Gentle Mental]

Dec 29, 2013 14:45:22 GMT 1 .dappy said:

... getting back to the art  ... am I allowed to say that I think it is a little bit rubbish in concept and execution!?!

(good cause though ... so that makes it alright?!? )

haha. of course you can!

the image is getting a lot of retweets and faves on Ai's thread.

and as a goodbye gift, zhao is sending free prints to all in China who follows Ai. inviting each to write a message of peaceful protest under the image.

(zhao does this a lot. giving prints and stencils by the hundreds to ai's followers... it's nuts.)

sooo sorry dappy to bring the mood of the thread down...



(i was trying my darnest to be nice. really. )

[Gentle Mental]

Dec 29, 2013 14:57:40 GMT 1 johnnyh said:

Sorry Gental your wrong he paid half as you say for an appeal but he lost the appeal.
So he still owes his tax bill.
He has presented no figures to prove ha case as he hides revenue offshore
He does not declare sales and earnings which he tries to hide. Eg by saying it's not his company that sells
His work and his name and exhibitions etc therefore he does not know what it makes.

Dappy yes your right very poor. But as always Gental tries to use the "Ai Wei Wei loves it" in an attempt to gain
Credibility

do you have prove on the offshore money hiding?

where did you get that info from?

you did not answer my questions but threw allegations like they are facts. much like the dogs you work for.

[Gentle Mental]

and ai weiwei loves it.

[johnnyh]

It's well proven just ask Canada Montreal and Tate who they paid.

What dogs do I work for??? Terrible expression

[Gentle Mental]

well proven? why don't the Chinese government bring that up and arrest him for tax evasion?