Middle-Aged Man (Zhongnian nanren)

Like many of the “New Generation” artists who graduated from Chinese art academies in the mid-1980s, Wang Huaxiang embraced a distinct visual language in post–Cultural Revolution China. In contrast to the heroic figures created by printmakers of earlier gen-erations, Wang portrayed this middle-aged man’s inner world by filling his silhouette with anxieties and mundane desires. The two interlocking figures on his hat suggest suppressed lust, while his torso is decorated with a constellation of never-ending tasks consuming his time and money: teaching, entertaining guests, traveling abroad, hiring housekeepers, and so on.