Po Po (born 1957) is a Burmese installation and performance artist. His work has been exhibited in Japan,

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

and

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

Life

Po Po was born in 1957 in Pathein,

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

. His formal name is Hla Oo. He is self-taught. Since 1987 Po Po has held many solo exhibitions, and his work has been shown at the in

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of T ...

, Japan, the Gwangju Biennale in Gwangju, South Korea, Fukuoka Triennale in

Fukuoka is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since anc ...

, Japan and in the

House of World Cultures The Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), in English House of the World's Cultures, in Berlin is Germany's Performing arts center, national center for the presentation and discussion of international contemporary arts, with a special focus on non-E ...

, Berlin. A May 2004 report described Po Po as one of the younger Myanmar artists who were creating impressive works in isolation and in conditions of penury. However, Po Po is one of the few "contemporary" Myanmar artists who have been able to travel for participating in the 's event in 1999, for instance. He was also able to take part in Saigon Open City in

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. In June 2010 he visited

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

to give a talk at the

Osage Art Foundation Osage Gallery ( zh, 奧沙畫廊) is a contemporary art gallery located in Hong Kong. Osage Gallery was founded in 2004, and has since established itself as a major interdisciplinary platform for Asian and international contemporary art. Osage has ...

Work

Po Po, and another self-taught artist

Aung Myint Aung Myint ( my, အောင်မြင့်, ; born 27 October 1946) is a Burmese painter and performance artist. He is considered a pioneer in experimental art, rejecting traditional romanticism and confronting social and critical issues thr ...

, are pioneers in the performance art field in Myanmar, with Po Po staging a 30-minute seminal performance in 1997. Po Po is widely regarded as Myanmar's first practitioner of this art form. Many of his works are playful, impulsive, ironic and sociable. Other works are provocative and shocking. His installation work "rice terrace" at the

Osage Gallery Osage Gallery ( zh, 奧沙畫廊) is a contemporary art gallery located in Hong Kong. Osage Gallery was founded in 2004, and has since established itself as a major interdisciplinary platform for Asian and international contemporary art. Osage has ...

in Singapore in May/June 2010 involved 1000

Styrofoam Styrofoam is a trademarked brand of closed-cell extruded polystyrene foam (XPS), commonly called "Blue Board", manufactured as foam continuous building insulation board used in walls, roofs, and foundations as thermal insulation and water barrie ...

boxes, each with about 100 grains of growing rice, with the boxes arranged on mud terraces in the gallery. He describes his computer-installation ''Scream of the Dead'', which features an open mass grave, as a metaphor for life in Myanmar and the world today. His work is thoughtful and full of depth. In his photography he employs elements of cubism, which he considers to be the "highest state of intellectual approach" to painting. A critic has said: "At best, his works reflect the lightness of being, joyfully, bearably so".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Po, Po Burmese performance artists Living people 1957 births Installation artists People from Ayeyarwady Region