Chinese Artist Gao Zhen Sentenced to Three Years Over Satirical Mao Sculptures

A court in Hebei Province has sentenced the Chinese artist Gao Zhen to three years in prison for sculptures that satirised Mao Zedong — works he made seventeen years before the law used to convict him even existed.

The People's Court of Sanhe City delivered the sentence on 25 August 2026, according to The Art Newspaper. Gao was convicted under China's Law on Protection of Heroes and Martyrs, a statute promulgated in 2018. The three sculptures at issue date to 2009.

One depicts Mao figures as a firing squad surrounding a Christ figure. Another shows Mao kneeling. A third renders Mao as a voluptuous woman with a long nose. Prosecutors presented the works as evidence during a one-day trial held in March, according to a statement posted by Gao's family. Hyperallergic reported that prosecutors cited works showing the Communist Party founder "repenting and aiming fire at Jesus."

Gao, who turned 70 in May, has already been held for two years since his detention in August 2024. He was arrested during a visit to China from the United States, where he is based in New York, Reuters reported. That time in custody will count toward his sentence if his pending appeal fails.

Gao and his wife Zhao Yaliang are both US legal residents, and their nine-year-old son is a US citizen. The family has been unable to leave China since Gao's arrest.

In 2024, authorities confiscated 118 works from Gao's studio. The scale of the seizure points to the breadth of what prosecutors examined beyond the three charged sculptures.

Gao and his younger brother Gao Qiang have worked together as the Gao Brothers since 1985, building a practice known for provocative political imagery. Gao Qiang was not charged.

The case has drawn international condemnation. The United Nations, Amnesty International and the Human Rights Foundation have all decried Gao's detention. Inside China, 181 cultural figures signed a petition in 2024 calling for his release.

The law under which Gao was convicted did not exist when he created the works in question. It was enacted in 2018 — more than a decade after the sculptures were made. How a statute can be applied retroactively to art produced years earlier is among the questions his appeal may need to address.