Cao Fei is one of the main receivers of the art world’s favorite backhanded compliment – “she is the most important female artist in China.”

Wow what did she do to deserve such an honor?! Most important female artist! She must be thrilled!!!

Born in Guangzhou in southern China, Fei documents Chinese culture from factory life to virtual reality via video art. It all started with Fei’s father, Cao Chong’en, who was an artist in his own right and whose “statues of leaders from Mao to Deng Xiaoping appear throughout China.” He pretty much just sculpted whatever the Communist Party told him to sculpt, but he dreamt of a day when his offspring could create what they wished. But when that day came, his daughter founded a virtual reality city in Second Life, an online virtual world. Imagine how confused the poor man must have been.

I guess sculpting political figures in real life and building an avatar in a virtual world aren’t that different. I guess a few key differences are that 1) the avatar that she created is based on Fei herself and named China Tracy 2) she had to pay extra for China Tracy to have a vagina and 3) China Tracy met and fell in love with another avatar who was actually a 60 year old man living in San Francisco who had gone to jail in the '70s for hijacking a bank. So similar to Communist Party commissions…but different.

Fei also creates videos about the dreams and ambitions of workers in a lightbulb factory in her hometown and about the current generation’s rejection of Chinese traditions. Fei’s work centers on the balance between real life and virtual/dream life that has only increased with those darn millennials. She may have become a little too immersed in VR though. Fei explains, “I find the virtual world more interesting, I really mean that. I can walk around, overhear conversations, speak to anyone I like. I feel freer there.” At some point it seems like she’ll have to lay off the Kool-Aid but for now her art is really cool. Ominous…but really cool.