China Collage City

This is the first part of a series of posts demonstrating how contemporary Chinese artists are confronting issues of rapid urban transformation. This post's technique: Transformer style assemblages of buildings, urban areas, and people. These collages use the familiar images of China's new icons and personifies them. I guess the first question to pop into all of our minds is "Am I looking at Optimus Prime or Megatron?" I leave it to you decide--drop in a comment or two if you have any thoughts.

I am going to use a quote from Brian Holmes which I found in a recent issue of Urban China to preface the images. You can find the full article, which is really great, here.
There is only one possible world, only one possible dream: continuous buildings, endless highways, infinite urbanization, a city beyond the limits of the imagination. Huge urban blocks, surging arteries, expanding ring roads, metros, airports, refineries, power plants, bullet trains, a city that devours the countryside, scraping the mountains and the sky. A world city.

The Outlook Magazine - September Cover
CHI Peng - Why Should I Love You?

Chi Peng - Dan er~

Cao Fei aka China Tracy - RMB City