Detail of Mao by Polke at the Museum of Modern Art, July 2007

Sigmar Polke. (German, born 1941). Mao. 1972. Synthetic polymer paint on cloth on cotton fabric, hung from loops around a wood pole, Overall 12' 3" x 10' 3 1/2" (373.5 x 314 cm) including pole. Kay Sage Tanguy Fund.

This bannerlike painting on a variety of printed fabrics suspended from a pole combines imagery drawn from political, consumer, and fashion sources. Working in Germany, Polke borrows idioms from American Pop art, including Andy Warhol's imagery and the benday dots used by Roy Lichtenstein. Here, Mao Zedong's portrait is juxtaposed with tabloid headlines, Chinese figures, and crowds. The competition between image and message visually reflects Polke's question: "Does meaning create relationships or do relationships create meaning?"

Text from: www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?object_id=78821