Chen Zanxi (b. 1982) was born in Panzhihua, Sichuan Province, completing his undergraduate education at the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in 2005, and post-graduate study at the same institute in 2008. His work juxtaposes the icons of socialist and capitalist culture. Although young, Chen Zanxi is already concerned issues of China's past, exploring how it informs an anomalous present. Recent works have drawn from more operatic sources, emphasizing the theatricality of history, such as paintings based on revolutionary operas with its characters posed in a press release-ready tableau of emotion and drive.