[1] Based in Beijing and comprising some 13 male and female artists between the ages of 16 and 30, the collective was characterized by its plein air practice of painting in public parks, urban centers and rural settings.
A 1971 painting by Li Shan of two discarded soda bottles in a field is considered one of the first post-modern Chinese artworks, and is in the permanent collection of the Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art.
[1] While the majority of the collective's artwork featured apolitical subject matter, modern artistic commentaries stress the group's lack of support for the Cultural Revolution and independent, clandestine formation as evidence for its subversive nature.
[3][4] The Wuming focus on landscapes and everyday urban scenes despite the ongoing political turmoil of the time has been labeled "antirealist" by some art historians.
[5] During the exhibit, members of the Wuming staged a paint-in in New York's Central Park, painting in plein air style much as they had during the Cultural Revolution.