Fang Lijun
Wonderland - FANG LIJUN Ink painting
2022.07.16 - 10.16
On July 16, 2022, "Wonderland - FANG LIJUN Ink painting" was grandly opened at Xi'an Art Museum. A total of 308 works will be exhibited in this exhibition and will be on display until October 16, 2022. "Wonderland - FANG LIJUN Ink painting" is the second solo exhibition of the artist Fang Lijun at the Xi'an Art Museum after 11 years, and it is also Fang Lijun's first ink painting exhibition. Fang Lijun's ink portraits are both traditional and modern, both international and local. He subtly absorbs and nourishes his own historical experience and regional characteristics. It becomes one of its own texts for thinking about value judgments, thereby constructing a unique creative language and narrative context.
This exhibition presents a series of portraits of Fang Lijun. His artistic creation methodology has obvious personal characteristics. Although he borrows photos with a realistic nature, he never paints what his retinas see. Instead, he often paints those "mind images" that he has thought deeply about - this is actually a transformation of reality. Fang Lijun likes to use post-modern artistic rhetorical methods such as ridicule and metaphor, so he deliberately suspends the performance norms of realistic ink and wash, as well as the performance norms of traditional ink and wash. What he has to do is to create a set of expression methods that are consistent with his value pursuit or inner thinking.
Artist Fang Lijun is good at a variety of expression languages: ink painting, oil painting, printmaking, ceramic creation, but the core of his works has never changed, he is using his aesthetic concept to portray characters and express people's expressions in different ways. , mood and character, as well as their own social roles and social status. His figures, no matter the size of the head, no matter which friend he draws, all carry out Fang Lijun's passion for this person. Fang Lijun uses his head, expressions, eyes, and even his teeth to portray and express with this passion. Therefore, we can intuitively feel the tension of the shape of the knife and axe, and in addition to the power of this shaping, there is the flesh and soul of the characters.
This exhibition presents a series of portraits of Fang Lijun. His artistic creation methodology has obvious personal characteristics. Although he borrows photos with a realistic nature, he never paints what his retinas see. Instead, he often paints those "mind images" that he has thought deeply about - this is actually a transformation of reality. Fang Lijun likes to use post-modern artistic rhetorical methods such as ridicule and metaphor, so he deliberately suspends the performance norms of realistic ink and wash, as well as the performance norms of traditional ink and wash. What he has to do is to create a set of expression methods that are consistent with his value pursuit or inner thinking.
Artist Fang Lijun is good at a variety of expression languages: ink painting, oil painting, printmaking, ceramic creation, but the core of his works has never changed, he is using his aesthetic concept to portray characters and express people's expressions in different ways. , mood and character, as well as their own social roles and social status. His figures, no matter the size of the head, no matter which friend he draws, all carry out Fang Lijun's passion for this person. Fang Lijun uses his head, expressions, eyes, and even his teeth to portray and express with this passion. Therefore, we can intuitively feel the tension of the shape of the knife and axe, and in addition to the power of this shaping, there is the flesh and soul of the characters.
Fang Lijun
Fang Lijun (b. 1963, Handan, Hebei) graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Printmaking Department in 1989. In July of the same year, he resided in the Yuanmingyuan area, becoming a key advocate of the "Yuanmingyuan Artists' Village." In 1993, he established the Songzhuang studio, contributing to the formation of the "Songzhuang Artists' Village." In 2014, he founded the "Archive of Contemporary Art of China," systematically organizing the development of Chinese contemporary art. Since 2004, Fang Lijun has been appointed as a guest professor and graduate mentor at more than twenty institutions, including the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts, Jingdezhen Ceramic University, Xi’an Academy of Fine Arts, Wuhan University, and Hubei Academy of Fine Arts.
Fang Lijun’s solo exhibitions have been held in major art institutions worldwide, including the Ashmolean Museum Oxford, Ludwig Museum, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, The Japan Foundation, Civic Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art, and Musée Ariana, et cetera. Domestic retrospectives have been mounted at the Shanghai Art Museum, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Macau Museum of Art, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Hunan Provincial Museum, United Art Museum, Minsheng Art Museum, and He Art Museum, among other significant venues. Additionally, he has been consistently invited by mainstream international exhibitions, such as the Venice Biennale, Gwangju Biennale, São Paulo Art Biennial, and Shanghai Biennale.
Fang's works are permanently collected by international museums, in particular the Museum of Modern Art, Centre Pompidou, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Seattle Art Museum, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Queensland Art Gallery, Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, and Fukuoka Asian Art Museum. Within China, his works are held by the National Art Museum of China, Contemporary Academy of Fine Arts Art Museum, He Xiangning Art Museum, and Guangdong Museum of Art.
Furthermore, through his artistic career, Fang Lijun has published over 50 monographs, including Fang Lijun: Chronological Notes, Fang Lijun: Works Catalogue, Fang Lijun: Cliff in the Clouds, Fang Lijun: Forbidden Zone, Fang Lijun Prints, and Surviving Like a Stray Dog. In 1993, his work Series Two No. 2 appeared on the cover of The New York Times.
Fang Lijun’s solo exhibitions have been held in major art institutions worldwide, including the Ashmolean Museum Oxford, Ludwig Museum, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, The Japan Foundation, Civic Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art, and Musée Ariana, et cetera. Domestic retrospectives have been mounted at the Shanghai Art Museum, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Macau Museum of Art, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Hunan Provincial Museum, United Art Museum, Minsheng Art Museum, and He Art Museum, among other significant venues. Additionally, he has been consistently invited by mainstream international exhibitions, such as the Venice Biennale, Gwangju Biennale, São Paulo Art Biennial, and Shanghai Biennale.
Fang's works are permanently collected by international museums, in particular the Museum of Modern Art, Centre Pompidou, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Seattle Art Museum, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Queensland Art Gallery, Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, and Fukuoka Asian Art Museum. Within China, his works are held by the National Art Museum of China, Contemporary Academy of Fine Arts Art Museum, He Xiangning Art Museum, and Guangdong Museum of Art.
Furthermore, through his artistic career, Fang Lijun has published over 50 monographs, including Fang Lijun: Chronological Notes, Fang Lijun: Works Catalogue, Fang Lijun: Cliff in the Clouds, Fang Lijun: Forbidden Zone, Fang Lijun Prints, and Surviving Like a Stray Dog. In 1993, his work Series Two No. 2 appeared on the cover of The New York Times.
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