SoulPancake

[SEE. THINK. ACT.]

During China’s Cultural Revolution in the late 1960s Chairman Mao really excelled at being a jackass. He stomped on the intellectuals, and imprisoned or killed hundreds upon hundreds of people who got in the way of his cultural reform (read: cleansing). Even though Mao was actually busier raising up China’s industrial and agricultural efforts to greater socialist standards, he always found time to get angry at and imprison artists.

One such unlucky artist was Huang Yongyu, who painted this "winking owl" in 1973. Mao’s wife saw the owl and was extremely offended. Not surprisingly, Mao had the artist thrown in prison.

Why? No one is completely sure, but Mao was a dictator, so he could pretty much do whatever he wanted. Speculation was that Mao’s wife thought Huang was mocking her because she had cried once in public (a shameful act in China). But Huang's arrest over the painting, and subsequent forced relocation to the mountains of Northern China, made him a martyr for millions of Chinese. That owl became a symbol of protest and the unwavering Chinese tradition of art.

There are countless recreations of this painting—artists of all backgrounds have created their own version of the image that challenged art and the freedom of expression in China.

Now it’s your turn: Pull up the most inspiring, controversial work of art that you love and tell us about it. Now remix the media, not the message, and make it your own.

:: winks administered by Lindsay McComb and David Precht