Wenda Gu is one of the leading contemporary Chinese artists of his generation. Known by some as "the hair artist" and remembered by others as the artist whose monumental installation was violently destroyed by a Russian artist at the infamous "Interpol" exhibition (Stockholm, 1996), he is part of the diaspora that has sent many Chinese artists to the West over the past twenty years. He has built his reputation on reinvigorating ancient Chinese symbols and practices—the seal, calligraphy, ink painting—with contemporary vision and meaning.
The artist William Pope.L, who teaches at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, has been producing some of the most original visual and performing art in America for many years. But it was not until the Acting Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts overturned the recommendations of the NEA's own advisory panel to support this publication and the exhibition it accompanies that Pope.L became the subject of feature articles in the nation's major newspapers.
