Feng Mengbo was born in Bejing, China 1966. The Cultural Revolution in China had just started in 1966 and did not end until 1976. Feng Mengbo’s childhood was heavily influenced by the Cultural Revolution. When the Cultural Revolution ended after Mao Zedong’s death on September 9th, 1976, there was no central authority. Feng graduated undergrad school during this era. He graduated “from the Design Department at the Beijing School of Arts and Crafts in 1985.” Because there was no central authority, there was a brief 13 year period was until the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. Feng completed his master’s degree at the Printmaking Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1992, studying under artist Xu Bing.” One year after completing his master’s degree, Feng got his first computer. It was then that Feng started to create his now famous “digital media” art.

1993 was revolutionary because the worldwide web (www) had just come out as the first form of “internet” on computers around the world. Feng’s unique take on his media artwork was soon noticed by people around the world. This was because Feng revolutionized the world of video game art by playing the latest video games. He would draw inspirations from these video games, by putting himself and his own touch on each video game platform he drew. Video games were a “virtual reality” to Feng. He wanted to put himself in each video game he played, as if he were the main character. Most of his artworks came from the video games “Street Fighter” by Capcom and “Super Mario Brothers” by Nintendo. Of course, he drew himself in other video games as well but the video games with the most red in them were his biggest influence. This was because of the Cultural Revolution (China was already the People’s Republic of China and it was Communist, so the color red played an important role in Feng’s childhood). Most of Feng’s inspirations for choosing video games like Street Fighter for artwork are because the Cultural Revolution had a big impact on his life. He incorporated violence and the color red into is digital artworks to set a secret communist tone while still portraying the fun manipulation video games have on reality.

Feng’s earlier works will be used in my Exhibition, the artwork featured above being the most important.

Works Cited

“Feng Mengbo Biography, Artworks & Exhibitions.” Ocula the best in contemporary art icon. Accessed April 26, 2023. https://ocula.com/artists/feng-mengbo/.