“WANG QINGSONG’S photographs are darkly humorous. Staged and absurd, they tend to consider the hollow promises of consumer culture in China. In “Bathhouse” (2000), for example, the artist sits in a pool surrounded by plastic fruit, Coca-Cola bottles and painted ladies, all of whom look terribly bored (pictured below). Later works are both grander and more subtle, such as “Yaochi Fiesta” (2005), a mythical scene of paradise in which scores of nude Chinese look uneasy, even ashamed. With legs crossed and mouths pursed, they appear chagrined by what was meant to be a delicious fantasy. Mr Wang, a Beijing-based artist, arranges these scenes in a warehouse-like film studio. Though often amusing, they are more than mere gags. Rather, they often feel like odd group portraits, with plenty of powerful reasons to keep looking beyond the first snigger.”
http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2011/01/wang_qingsongs_photographs.

While the Economist claims that Qingsong makes statements about rampant consumerism in China with his photography, I see something else.  His work reminds me of paintings from the Symbolist and Pre-Raphaelite eras.  Why?  The lush color schemes give me those connotations.