Hearing that an artist has made work out of panda feces, one can quickly think of a few possible suspects: panda-mad Rob Pruitt perhaps, or Chris Ofili, who has used elephant dung in past works. Even Piero Manzoni, who famously canned his own excrement, seems a possible culprit. However, it turns out that Chinese artist Zhao Bandi is, in fact, the man responsible, and that these new works are only the latest (and dirtiest) work stemming from his ongoing artistic fascination with pandas.
Although several years ago he mounted a pitched campaign against the public screening of the "Kung Fu Panda" movie in China, petitioning the central government’s bureau of broadcasting on the grounds that it was an insulting misappropriation of a precious Chinese cultural symbol, his own use of China’s beloved bear has brought a hail of criticism down on his own head. His "haute couture" panda works have drawn on a dizzying array of Chinese types — construction workers and stock brokers, hostesses and sex workers, beggars and gays — for inspiration and have created public furor and widespread animosity on the grounds that his work was insulted and injured China’s self-respect.

In spite of his seeming indifference to public opinion, he has recently embraced philanthropy and held a series of auctions of his work in aid of his favorite charity, which supports old people’s homes on the banks of the Yellow River.

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