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Clarence Tsui

IN an age of syndicated, mass-produced comic strips where easily digested images and punchlines are all, aesthetics and angst take a back seat even in political cartoons. From Doonesbury to Suzie Wong, simplistic sarcasm reigns.

 As far as the newspapers' illustrated critiques of daily issues are concerned, memorable drawings are conspicuous only by their absence.

 If anyone's work best combines artistic excellence and incisive social commentary to great effect, it would be that of Liao Bingxiong's.

 A veteran cartoonist whose career began in the early 1930s - his work was published in Fortune magazine as early as 1936 - his masterpieces are technicoloured and highly ideological.

 Among his most valued work is Jinming (Prohibit Crying), a grand artistic statement he made in 1945 about the suppression of dissidence under the Kuomintang regime.

 In it, a monstrously large owl swoops down on a rooster, forcibly sealing its beak to prevent it from crowing.

 In the background, shackled people look on, arms raised, teeth bared in disgust at the violent clampdown.

 The metaphor - Liao's protest against the dictatorial tendencies of Chiang Kai-shek - was clear yet not excessive.

 It has distinct artistic style, harking back to the decorative surrealism of traditional Chinese folk art. Jinming can be seen as the Chinese equivalent of Guernica, Pablo Picasso's gloomy depiction of the tragedies of war.

 Liao, now 85, is among the most important political cartoonists and caricaturists - and perhaps commentators - in modern Chinese arts.

 That was reinforced this week by Oscar Ho Hing-kei, exhibition director of the Hong Kong Arts Centre where a major retrospective of Liao's work will run as the only visual arts show of the Hong Kong Arts Festival.

 Liao is arguably unique as a political cartoonist, in that he has witnessed and commented on the tumultuous decades that shaped China, from the war-stricken 30s and 40s through the post-war political upheavals, all the way to the reform years of the 80s.

 'There have been few artists who have followed political developments in modern China over such a long period and delivered critical artwork depicting its ups and downs,' said Mr Ho.

 The Arts Centre, with the Hong Kong Arts Festival Society and Guangdong Museum of Art, has organised 'The Art of Liao Bingxiong', in which a sizeable amount of his work will be seen in Hong Kong for the first time.

 Many may consider Liao's work political propaganda. Behind his brazen images lies his patriotism and an ardent sympathy for the cause of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) - from the early satirical comic strips about manipulative capitalists to his later work of the 40s and 50s, which referred to the political movements of the CCP and which he dubbed 'complying-with-the-mission' art.

 His youth was spent providing artistic ammunition for use against foreign intruders.

 Born in Guangzhou in 1915, Liao produced workdominated by the mounting Japanese aggression of the time. He was published in newspapers by the time he was 17. A cartoon serial named Life Philosophy followed in 1934, appearing in publications not only in his hometown but Hong Kong and Shanghai.

 There were exhibitions, and then throughout World War II Liao operated from Chongqing - the interim Chinese capital after the fall of Beijing and Nanking to the Japanese - producing cartoons as well as teaching art.

 After the war, he came to Hong Kong, joining the organisation of Mankind Art Society - a first of its kind here.

 When he returned to the mainland in 1950, he went back to working for the CCP's cause.

 Liao quickly fell foul of Mao Zedong and his party machine. 'He grew up poor and went through wars,' said Liao Ling-er, Liao's second daughter, 'but it was only after the liberation [by the CCP in 1949] that his life became increasingly difficult - simply because he was an intellectual. It was not about how difficult it was to survive as a political cartoonist - he simply was not in a position to draw.'  Labelled a 'rightist' in 1958, he was banished to a farm in Baiyunshan, the start of a two-decade-long hermitage from his art. Not until the Cultural Revolution was over did Liao resume his work - a watershed illustrated by his famous Self Caricature (1979), in which he mocked how insecure artists still felt even after the persecutions were over.

 Decades later, Liao realised how ineffective cartoons were at rectifying wrongs. 'He was really disillusioned,' said Ms Liao. 'He said if corrupt bureaucrats did not even fear the firing squad, a caricature would be the least thing they feared.'  That thought and old age has meant only a trickle of work from Liao in recent years. Yet his influence on Chinese and Hong Kong cartoonists is profound.

 The names that can be found in local publications every day, such as Zunzi and Malone, have all visited Liao in his Guangzhou home and remain in touch.

 'The enthusiasm we have towards the art, and the passion he has instilled in our work has consolidated the role [political] cartoons play in our society,' said Zunzi.

 Mr Ho, who is also curator of the exhibition, hopes people will realise cartoons are more than mindless entertainment about triads or Japanese basketball players.

 'Comics nowadays are either sci-fi or about fights,' he said. 'Youngsters these days simply do not realise people used to risk their lives to produce meaningful comic strips.' The Art of Liao Bingxiong. Until March 5, Pao Galleries, Hong Kong Arts Centre, daily from 10am to 8pm. Guided tour by Liao Ling-er, tomorrow at 7pm.



Liao Bingxiong risked his life to give his illustrations a purpose