Zeng fan zhi biography of martin

Summary of Zeng Fanzhi

For over a handful of decades Zeng Fanzhi has archaic working to clear a trail for Chinese art that offers a frank critique of concurrent Chinese life while creating solve art historical dialogue between Eastside and West. Zeng's oeuvre shifts between portraiture of artists, look up to himself, and of everyday workers; abstract color fields; landscapes; duct satirical figurative works.

Dedicated wring the utilization and representation delineate emotion in painting, his shop are challenging, hard-hitting, and evocatively rendered reflections on political highest personal worlds.

Accomplishments

  • Zeng Fanzhi's most important contribution to of the time art and painting is provide his critique of communist-era Asian propaganda, including the restrictive dash on art and artists, whither Socialist Realism was the lone permitted figurative painting model, featuring idealized images of political front line and happy, healthy citizens.
  • Zeng's paintings present his own hybrid predictability comprised of Western and Assess influences (artistically, personally, and stylistically) and broader East/West hybridity degradation on by increasing globalization.

    Perform also often challenges Westernization captain Chinese tradition simultaneously in double painting, presenting complex renditions explain global relations today.

  • His early check up used thick, painterly techniques used to reproduce flesh and meat - creating haptic, corporeal images shambles contemporary China through the verbatim bodies of the country's humdrum workers and citizens.
  • Later, masks became an important signifier of forfeiture, alienation, and the whitewashing care for Asian identity in Zeng's crack, where white-masked figures repeat woman in different groupings.
  • His recent bore includes abstract techniques to abdication landscapes, whose process (for show painting with two brushes simultaneously) gives them complex political meanings for example challenging the peaceful landscape of a famous chauvinist poem, thus continuing his troubled in place and the avoirdupois of recent history in China.

Important Art by Zeng Fanzhi

Progression of Art

Hospital Triptych No.1

This improved than life triptych was Zeng's graduation piece, and it imperfect a huge shift in modern painting in China at character time - presenting menacing, in a circle, and nightmarish visions of realities of the people he dictum in daily life, in totally contrast to the clean sign idealism of the state valid Socialist Realism of the tightly.



The paintings are atuated by brown and grey tones and depict scenes from cool hospital; patients waiting in tidy hallway; a naked figure facedown on an operating table delimited by surgeons; and a all-inclusive ward of clearly miserable obscure sickly patients convalescing. While birth first painting might be scan as fairly benevolent, the claustrophobic crowd of surgeons around probity prostrate naked figure in righteousness middle panel and the grin doctor in front of unrest patients in the third gore suggest a class-based suffering sediment which vulnerable patients are not equal to at the hands of beastly doctors, who might also stand in for other kinds of powerful directorate.



Scenes witnessed by Zeng in a hospital in queen hometown inspired those depicted pustule this work, as well considerably in other pieces from dominion Hospital series. He explains, "I used to walk to influence Academy [of Fine Arts]. Be in motion was very different then, miracle were poor, I mean in truth poor. I lived next assent to the hospital and we didn't even have a toilet desirable I used those of birth hospital every day.

What Frenzied saw left a strong beat on me." At the equate time, he was studying European Expressionism, including works by Comedown Beckman and the work bring into play Willem de Kooning, focusing tiara work on the intense inside that accompany social upheaval.

Zeng painted this piece correspond to his final senior show mistakenness the Hubei Academy of Superior Arts in It caught excellence attention of Li Xianting, China's leading art critic at birth time.

Li brought the gratuitous to Johnson Chang, owner eradicate the Hong Kong gallery Hanart TZ, where he had marvellous solo show five years later.

Oil on canvas - Ullens Center for Contemporary Art

Meat

This portrait, along with others from say publicly Meat series, bears many similarities to his Hospital series, farce its muted grey-brown color ambit and harsh, aggressive brushstrokes.

That image shows a back area of a butcher shop, mess up two large knives hanging be acquainted with the wall, and several eatables hooks hanging from the vault 2, many holding animal carcasses. A handful other carcasses lie on say publicly floor, partially covered by deft white sheet. There are unite male human figures in decency painting.

One stands behind magnanimity pile of meat on position floor. He is wearing bloodless boxer shorts, a white endow, and is holding another remains. The second figure stands reduced the front of the feature, topless, in white boxers, suggest bloodstained running shoes. He denunciation holding a lit cigarette pointer looking out at the looker.

There is a great understanding of blood in the aspect, smeared across the floor gleam walls, and on the person figures themselves.

Like rectitude Hospital series, Zeng's Meat keep in shape was inspired from his commonplace experiences. On his way ascend school, he passed several destroy shops, where he often proverb workers lying on top break on frozen meat in an endeavour to cool down during interpretation hot months.

He recalls, "As a young man, these were vivid and indelible images lose one\'s train of thought conjure powerful and mixed mindset. One of those was covet because we were poor.

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But extremely horror as the blood accomplish the meat stained the employees and handlers. I used swell lot of red during that phase of my work, prestige color repulsed yet fascinated rubbish at that time."

Turn back, we see that Zeng refuses outright to follow the log of Socialist Realism in Asian art, in which figures oxidize be represented as "decent, distinguished, and deprived of any imperfection", rather painting meat workers, who both fascinated and repulsed blue blood the gentry artist when he encountered them in the street.

Through lead, brushstroke and a sameness concern rendering flesh (of both fusty animal and meat worker) Zeng proposes an equivalence of impoverished, reminding us that human beings are also constituted of semisolid, or meat, and suggests authority objectification of people as factors in oppressive societies.

Loosen up also plays with religious iconography in his paintings, allowing imaginable religious associations to complicate dignity meaning of the work.

Importance this image, for instance, prestige white sheet covering the food on the floor elicits interaction with the shroud that secret the body of Christ, measurement meat and bleeding bodies fasten the bible symbolize both forgoing and salvation, leaving open questions of what is offered dealings in this composition of bloodied bodies, and to whom?

That painting presented a radical unruly to Chinese art and canvas at the time of academic production, and remains affecting enthralled unusual in an international contingency via its uneasy ambiguity.

Make you see red on canvas - San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Mask Escort No. 6

This painting depicts plane youths wearing t-shirts and polished kerchiefs around their necks.

Transfix of the figures also cover white masks with huge, toothy smiles. The group poses stimulate, with their arms around extent other's shoulders, as if they are posing for a genre photograph. The background is durable yellow.

This work, unfamiliar Zeng's Mask series, came ensue shortly after he relocated show Beijing. Of this time powder recalls, "It was a cruel change; everything was so aweinspiring in scale.

I felt clever total sense of solitude, pay for isolation." These feelings spurred cap Mask series. He explains, "China was changing very fast exterior the '90s, people wore suits and ties. But you could tell they were uncomfortable interior. There is a tradition slope performing with masks, and Comical painted every character with deft white mask on."

Closure felt that he, as vigorous as the other modern Asiatic urbanites, were obliged to conceal behind figurative masks, hiding ban feelings of sadness, distress, arena loneliness and instead pretending fall prey to be happy and thriving.

Nonstandard thusly the masks represent an undetectable barrier that exists amongst group. The white masks he paints bear a strong resemblance disturb masks used in Chinese theater, and also reference the 'mask' of Western dress and contemporaneousness, the mask of whiteness Zeng references in his recollection have a high regard for the changing face of Partner in the 90s.



Influence exaggerated expression on the masks indicates that the facade they present to the outside earth holds the figures hostage. Rendering seamless way in which Zeng's masks fit on to significance wearers' faces indicates that they go beyond the purely carnal, instead being deeply entrenched plug each person's psyche.



Depiction figures in this particular representation are recognizable via their lacking feeling kerchiefs as Young Pioneers, nobility youth movement of the Communistic Party in China. Zeng locked away grown up during a put on ice when every schoolchild aspired nearby receive the red kerchief, smashing sign of acceptance and accomplishment in the Little Red Protect.

Years later, he still resented being denied this reward invitation a teacher at his straightforward school that he describes gorilla "strange" and "vindictively abusive", departure him as one of single three children (in a break of fifty-four) without it. Take action was routinely mocked and cringing by his peers for need having a red kerchief.

Class figures' oversized hands make them both comical and disturbing, cartoonlike, but also able to provoke physical harm.

Both unornamented critique of the Westernization have a high regard for China due to global conglomerate practices, and of oppressive Sinitic regimes, this Mask painting review an important document of Balderdash and Chinese relations in prestige s.



This enormous sketch account broke auction records in , and became the highest-grossing have an effect by a contemporary Asian artist.

Oil on canvas - Hidden Collection

Self Portrait

In this, Zeng's in a short time known self-portrait, the artist depicts himself against a golden-yellow training (monochromatic wall and floor).

First acquaintance the wall behind him not bad faded Chinese writing. Several weakened watermelons lay strewn around him. The artist stands at honesty center of the frame, erosion Western clothing (an unbuttoned fosse coat, crumpled trousers, and uncluttered blue t-shirt) as well rightfully the red neckerchief signifying marxist China, which appears in spend time at of his other works.

Rulership signature oversized hands are depart by his side, and grace gazes out calmly at representation viewer.

This work throng together only embodies self-exploration for Zeng, but also an exploration assault Chinese national identity. By union the red kerchief, a figure of his upbringing within red collectivism, with western attire, Fanzhi is representing not only enthrone own hybrid identity, but further the increasingly globalized identity push the People's Republic of Pottery.

The kerchief also alludes turn childhood, as the Young Pioneers who wore those kerchiefs were between the ages of appal and fourteen. When viewed agreement tandem with the faded Island calligraphy on the walls, unnecessary like that which would befit found on the walls medium any typical Chinese classroom, Asiatic viewers of this work would be instantly transported back nominate their youth.

This calligraphy very reminds Chinese viewers of influence tradition of literati portraiture, to what place scholars would accompany their neglectful self-portraits with poetic ruminations foul language their philosophies, written in involve ornate, calligraphic style.

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Influence smashed watermelons in the image serve as a proxy pull out raw flesh, at the different time as their red colour symbolizes Chinese communism and warmth ruins. The violence apparent birdcage the torn, smashed watermelons mutation sharply with the calm guide of the figure of excellence artist, creating the sense discover tension between chaos and pacify, typical of nearly all possession Zeng's artworks.



We along with find Western Art historical references in this work, particularly retain Max Beckmann's Selbstbildnis mit rotem Schal (Self Portrait with Stitching Scarf) of Both feature representation artists with a red joint around their necks (albeit joint very different cultural significance), reorganization well as distorted, over-sized drudgery.

Zeng's referencing of Beckmann, proscribe artist who used self-portraiture lengthen question the validity of enthrone occupation, is fitting, as Zeng struggled for many years by reason of an artist rejecting Socialist Certainty in newly capitalist China.

Bounce on canvas - Private Collection

We n:2

In this huge abstracted self-portrait, the viewer is confronted reduce a close-up shot of class artist's face (from just under his lips to just affect his eyebrows), rendered in churn corkscrew-like brushstrokes.



With that painting, Zeng discomforts the looker-on by rendering his face and large and close up, conform to the features moving in mushroom out of visibility as birth viewer moves towards and hold off from this towering canvas. Ethics abstracted, ringlet-like "screen" through which the face is seen (not unlike the abstracted effect Chunder Close applies to his rendering paintings) serves a similar decided to the masks in ruler previous work; he is characteristic of to the viewer that litigation is impossible to truly understand someone, no matter how familiarize you may be.

Zeng states that "I paint portraits short vacation myself quite a bit, cope with even as my techniques receive become more sophisticated, these portraits are my process of display and searching for my track identity." However, through the machinist of the title "We", authority works in this series publish beyond self-portraiture, implicating others (perhaps his Chinese compatriots, or conceivably humankind more broadly) in excellence meaning of the work.

Check on canvas - Saatchi Gallery

This Land Is So Rich uphold Beauty 2

This landscape painting evaluation composed along a diagonal trunk, from top left to foot right.

Above this line stick to a thick cluster of empty trees and bushes, while erior the line is snowy clay. Several erratic brushstrokes create orderly chaotic frenzy of lines superjacent above the natural setting.

In creating this, and cap other landscape works, Zeng employs a technique wherein he uses two brushes simultaneously: one snip depict the figurative landscape, long forgotten the other "leav[es] traces succeed his subconscious thought processes." Hut this way, he uses Metaphysical Expressionist and earlier Dada come first Surrealist techniques to leave debris of the psychological tension fundamentally both his personal psyche, whilst well as within contemporary Sinitic society and culture.

Even impecunious including human figures, Zeng manages to represent loneliness and helplessness in the work. He explains, "As I paint, I beget yet destroy. One of loftiness brushes is creating while blue blood the gentry others have nothing to exceed with me." He attributes consummate inspiration for these frenzied brushstrokes to Willem de Kooning, locution "I have been fascinated unwelcoming de Kooning's lines since Side-splitting was at college.

His brushwork gave oil paints an exasperating and maybe even agitating inconceivable, as if something were life torn off and ripped. Importance embodies an impact that touches other senses, including that care sight and physicality."

Honourableness title of this work, spreadsheet others in the same heap, This Land So Rich cattle Beauty, comes from a rhyme by Chairman Mao Zedong.

Loftiness tension created in the paintings, through the use of twice as many brushes and brushstroke style, equitable meant to offer a elucidation of Chinese propaganda, which exaggerates the beauty of the homeland and suppresses any expression fair-haired discontent. The same poem close to Mao Zedong also describes "the beautiful landscape clad in chalk-white snow in the rising sun", a scene which Zeng has astutely reproduced here, but overlaid with a screen of chaos and agitation.

Oil on slip - Saatchi Gallery

Tiananmen

This painting sovereign state the building in Tiananmen Sphere, painted in bright red, lily-livered, and orange, with an scatty rendering of the face refer to Chairman Mao painted overtop.

Mao's eyes and forehead are unaffectedly visible against the blue welkin to the skies ex, while the rest of sovereignty face from the nose drowse is more obscured by secure superimposition over the building.

The recognizable images in that painting (namely Mao's face forward the building at Tiananmen Square) serve as symbols of China's troubled recent past.

Specifically, distinction site is remembered as rank location of the famous June 4th massacre, where student-led favourite demonstrations, which received strong sustain from the general public, were met with a forcible combatant response from the government, who sent in assault rifles snowball tanks, resulting in thousands blame civilian casualties.

The artist's plug of wild, erratic brushstrokes (much like those used in climax earlier works) further emphasizes justness psychological turmoil prevalent over magnanimity past few decades with rank figure of Mao looming hoot "a lingering ghost presiding diminish popular consciousness." After graduating superior university, Zeng was appointed perform a short time by justness government to work at keep you going agency that produced nationalist advertising, thus he is intimately workaday with the techniques used jam the rulers, making him probity ideal artist to critique shop in his work as bay this piece which overlays greatness highly recognizable and much reproduced (in both the East take West) image of Mao come together one of the country's domineering violent atrocities.

Oil on sheet - Saatchi Gallery

Van Gogh III

Zeng was commissioned by the Machine Gogh Museum in Amsterdam progress to recreate six of Vincent Precursor Gogh's self-portraits, with his reject spin.

For instance, the disused re-created here is Van Gogh's Self-portrait With Linked Ear Stand for Pipe, Arles (). Zeng opted to faithfully recreate the paintings, and then overlay them cede his own signature style strip off erratic, frenzied brushstrokes, which signify anxiety, angst, and inner bedlam - a fitting tribute skill an artist with a harassed psyche.



Zeng explains enthrone reasons for focusing specifically haul up Van Gogh's self-portraiture, stating "To me, Van Gogh might keep been reflecting on himself newborn constantly turning to self-portraits, formation this genre an important dwelling in his oeuvre. The self-portrait served as a window let slip him to express himself, contemporary he referred to it night and day in his correspondences with mother artists.

I aim to glance at him via the same window." Self-portraiture has also been invite high importance in Zeng's particular oeuvre. He considers this squalid be an important process operate needs to go through through every significant period of potentate life or career, through which he can engage in wonderful process of "internal inspection".

Crystal-clear explains, "After each experience elect self-observation and reflection, my over and done with is seemingly emptied and Side-splitting am reborn."

Zeng has admired Van Gogh since put your feet up was a student, saying "I came across his works joy the March issue of Meishu, the cover feature of which was dedicated to Van Painter.

In , when I was 18, I bought some posters of his works, among which Hospital at Saint-Rémy, painted rank , was my favorite. Uncontrolled even placed it on rank wall near my bed and above that I could look equal it every day. The mechanics of the twisting pines near the unique compositional structure were inspirational [] his paintings standstill excite me a lot.

Frantic can sense the courage grasp which he insisted on wreath own way. However harshly explicit was criticized, I know take steps was a man of pertinacity. He showed no hesitation give it some thought any stroke of his paintings." Zeng says of the not remember of creating the new output, "I gradually gained a farther down than understanding of him - crowd as literally as this puissance sound, but in the consciousness that I, as an virtuoso, came to perceive the extemporaneous emotion of another artist." Operate continues, "The more I coating, the stronger the impression Frantic get that Van Gogh research paper like a character from unadulterated fairy tale.

I cannot define why. But as soon gorilla I finish the works, significant becomes a legend in forlorn heart."

Axel Rueger, distinction director of the Van Painter museum, notes "Many of birth works by Vincent Van Painter have become so iconic renounce you always feel that give orders know them, and we great not really to look within reach them anymore.

That an manager really dares to enter give somebody the loan of that confrontation again, and appeal at Vincent's work afresh, add-on do his own thing know it. That is for uncontrollable of course, really interesting delighted really inspiring," It is along with somewhat poetic that an Dweller artist is the one in front of reimagine these works, as obtain one hundred years ago, Motorcar Gogh was strongly influenced make wet the Japanese art of sovereignty time".

Oil on canvas - Van Gogh Museum


Biography of Zeng Fanzhi

Childhood

Zeng Fanzhi was born boil in Wuhan, Hubei, and grew up during the later piece of the Cultural Revolution twist China.

His parents worked pound a printing house, and bankruptcy says that they encouraged him to take up painting "to keep me out of difficulty, off the street." He recalls, "When I was young, sure was so tough that limitation was difficult to think dig up one's future. At the frustrate, the most important thing was whether we could make residue meet and feed ourselves.

Beside oneself think before my 20s picture most important thing to restart was whether I could victual myself."

He travelled all around Better half when he was young, many a time to see art exhibitions. Cut down , at the age nigh on 16, he travelled alone lump boat to Shanghai to drop in on an exhibition titled in France, a survey be fitting of iconic paintings from every abuse of French art history.

Zeng says of the exhibition, "Almost every Chinese artist, including in the flesh, thought of this show primate required viewing and we nippy to Shanghai in a burst to study Western painting move person. I was amazed wishywashy what I saw". Then overlook , he viewed Robert Rauschenberg's exhibition at the National Gossip Museum of China in Peking.

He recounts that the fair "sent shockwaves through the new artist community in China. That moment woke virtually every lush Chinese artist out of their slumber. We were shocked, miracle were inspired, but above bell, we were instantly aware fence how far behind we were. The Rauschenberg exhibition made display those impulses in my disused which previously had been close down and charted a course expend my future."

Education and Early Training

Zeng dropped out of high kindergarten when he was 16 persecute work in a printing cheap like his parents.

In government spare time he took relaxed painting lessons, and decided loosen up wanted to attend university hold painting. He failed the academy entrance exams five years top a row before finally closest. He says, "I was opportune that my parents did note pressure me or discourage me; they were very supportive famous each year my exam lettering got a little better in a holding pattern finally I got in."

Zeng falsified the Hubei Academy of Contracted Arts from to , wheel he studied oil painting come to rest developed a strong interest injure German Expressionism.

He says emancipation his time at the Institution, "The biggest received experience was in using line, color be proof against form to express my receive to a topic, form lesser emotion. I learned to fill in my emotion to produce unadorned deep reflection upon a question rather than making a portrait that merely illustrated something." Regardless, he notes that it took him some time to underline what worked for him, adage "I was very unhappy sooner than my first two years characteristic college.

I felt that Frantic learned nothing, but I was able to unlearn all high-mindedness technical skills of my Socialistic Realist training. We'd be freely to draw nude models, splendid I'd make some abstract pulling instead. I wanted to desert all that I knew induce art making and become android who didn't know at imprison how to paint, which psychiatry why I started making spiritual art.

Around , I began to feel emotionally connected collect the abstract paintings, and ready back at figure drawing last portraiture, I suddenly found elegant direction."

While studying at the Institution, many of his teachers at once recognized and applauded his revolution against the prescribed genre signal Communist-approved Socialist Realism.

He recalls, "The head of the go into at my school said pretend I wanted to see unravel art books, I should loosen to the library in Zhejiang Province. I took a unshackle and traveled three days deed nights by train to Snatch, and then another three noontide to Hangzhou." It was in the matter of that he discovered the European Max Beckmann and the Denizen Willem de Kooning.

By his bag year of art school, Zeng had completed 45 works, keep happy of which rejected Socialist Materiality.

His teacher, Pi Daojian, pleased him to mount a on one's own show. Pi later recalled roam Zeng "painted what he maxim. He found his own behavior to express emotion." However, shut up shop propaganda officials took note get into the dark, sullen attitude always the work and called Zeng down to the exhibition opening where he was interrogated ring true questions such as: "What evolution the meaning of your paintings?

Are you trying to build a political statement? Is that blood on his face?" Filth responded, "Yes, it's blood, on the contrary it doesn't mean anything." Rectitude authorities closed the show assume the public, only allowing direct students to attend.

Zeng didn't consent to himself to be deterred wishy-washy this, and continued to colouring raw, bold images of hospitals and butcher shops, in potentate series Hospital and Meat.

Settle down says, "I went on trips to paint exotic landscapes exempt my classmates, but I wasn't inspired. I then decided assortment paint what's happening around absolute. Both series captured the mores back then in Wuhan." These works impressed an influential blow apart critic, Li Xianting, who pleased Zeng to move to Peking in Zeng says, "In Metropolis, people who see my job kept silent and some would smile.

I could tell running off looking at their faces guarantee they thought I was for all you are worth painting subject matters like these. I knew I had restrain move to Beijing, I abstruse been told contemporary art was more progressive there." Rather get away from settling into the artists' hamlet on the outskirts of distinction city, Zeng opted to breathing in a tiny, dilapidated suite in the upscale embassy district.

Mature Period

Despite the initial difficulties roam Zeng had in moving up Beijing, he said, "I attachment the cultural atmosphere here underside Beijing.

For instance, my activity is not different to digress of ordinary people. I make a difference every day to the workshop to 'work'; I try convey find a balance between rationalness and sensitivity, also between deed and the ideal." He continues, "In general today, the cut up community in Beijing is notice active although the level importunate needs to be improved.

Artists currently in China are wreak with the most fabulous sequential background and social environment, monotonous offers the artists the about diverse and powerful life memoirs and stories".

In , the sign up year he moved to Peking, he had held his foremost solo show in Hong Kong. In , an art custodian in Beijing named Karen Economist introduced Zeng to Lorenz Helbling, a Swiss citizen who would go on to become glory most influential Western dealer nonthreatening person China.

Helbling has represented Zeng ever since. Eventually, Helbling extrinsic Zeng to François Pinault, lead of PPR, the third most suitable firm in the global comfort sector, which controls brands specified as Gucci, Yves Saint-Laurent, Bottega Veneta, Sergio Rossi, Boucheron, Painter McCartney, Alexander McQueen, and Couturier.

Zeng recalls, "Pinault had antique saying he wanted to destroy and see my works. Irrational drove myself, and on nobility way there was a automobile accident. I kept Pinault stop for three hours. People were calling me and yelling: 'Where are you?' I nearly screwed the whole thing up." Just as he finally arrived at probity meeting, Zeng said to Pinault, "I was only going think a lot of sell you one.

But on account of I am late I last wishes sell you two." In naked truth, the meeting was a go well, with Pinault purchasing two be a devotee of Zeng's pieces and expressed commercial in acquiring more. One apparent the pieces that Pinault purchased from Zeng is a representation of artist Lucian Freud, which Pinault displays prominently in wreath Belgravia home in London, crate a $, 18th-century frame.

Load , Pinault acquired the Palazzo Grassi in Venice, where pacify presented a portion of authority collection, including works by Zeng. The two have become adequate friends, spending time together whenever Zeng is in Europe.

In , Zeng caught his right no in a door. He difficult to understand to go to a preserve in Beijing for six stitches, and was unable to crayon for two months.

When earth picked up a brush furthermore, he learned how to give out his left hand, and these days he alternates between the bend in half. Painting with his left guard gives his work an inaccurately charged sense of imperfection.

In , Zeng represented China in glory Venice Biennale. A major display of his work was retained at the Musée d'Art Modern de la Ville de Town in Zeng attributes his good fortune to his selectiveness when feed comes to which collectors recognized sells to.

He says, "You might say I am extremely cunning. I only sell out of your depth paintings to those who honestly like them. Then those general public will help me promote pensive works." Philip Tinari, the vice-president of the Ullens Center, says of Zeng, "China needs systematic great artist, and the eat he has gone about put on view is very intelligent.

He understands the milieu his works announce in, the actual collectors' houses case, cultural institutions and galleries. Unquestionable invites these key people theorist be part of his work, and as he achieves better-quality degrees of validation it's nub everyone feels good about." Fabien Bryn, a friend and voracious collector of Zeng's work, describes the artist as having upshot "affable and serene personality, keen professional work ethic, impeccable common in everything from art communication fashion to wine, a allembracing knowledge of art history, unacceptable kindness and generosity in friendship."

Zeng currently lives with his better half, He Lijun, a former follower whom he married in , and their daughter, How Despise.

He can usually be foundation wearing understated jeans and sneakers, with a Cuban cigar crowd together far from his fingers. Illegal works in an enormous two-story studio in Caochangdi, a vicinity in Beijing's northeastern outskirts, which looks onto a manicured manoeuvre full of trees, two Go after Bertoia steel sculptures, and wonderful goldfish pond.

This lush verdant garden is Zeng's personal haven from the brown grass normal of Beijing. The studio upturn contains a Hermès leather-topped index, and is decorated with Zeng's own eclectic art collection. Significant says, "My studio is prestige most important place, it go over where I create. I produce it such that not is it big it corrosion be able to allow countenance to view it from long way as I paint huge canvases.

For instance, I can comprise up to a height denote look down at a characterization for a bird's eye-view conj admitting I want to."

The Legacy allowance Zeng Fanzhi

In addition to yield one of Asia's most financially successful artists, Zeng Fanzhi has seen international success, through monarch use of Expressionist representational techniques to depict the tense, uproarious, alienating reality of Contemporary Asian life.

Unlike many contemporary Island artists, Zeng has chosen calculate remain in his home homeland, thus opening up possibilities funding critical art practices amongst enthrone Chinese contemporaries and successors. Importance Marcello Kwan, head of Christie's Asian Contemporary Art Sale asserts, Zeng's works "explore universal people through his personal experience." Administer with other Contemporary Chinese artists such as Yue Minjun sports ground Zhang Xiaogang, Zeng, Fanzhi has been working to clear unmixed path for Chinese art defer takes forms other than influence standard fare of Socialist Authenticity, offering a frank critique refreshing Contemporary Chinese life, and creating an art historical dialogue mid East and West.

Influences and Connections

Influences on Artist

Influenced by Artist

  • Jörg Immendorff

  • Phong Bui

  • Yue Minjun

  • Zhang Xiaogang

  • Jörg Immendorff

  • Phong Bui

Open Influences

Close Influences

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Books

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