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 was born in 1963 in Handan, Hebei, China. He graduated from the Printmaking Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1989. On July 1st of the same year, Fang Lijun moved to Yuanmingyuan, the Old Summer Palace, and later the Yunamingyuan Artists' Village was gradually formed. In 1993, Fang Lijun established his studio in Songzhuang. The Songzhuang Artists' Village has steadily developed for the last two decades. In 2014, Fang Lijun established the Archive of Chinese Contemporary Art.
Fang Lijun has held exhibitions in major art institutions and galleries, including Ashmolean Museum Oxford, Ludwig Museum Koblenz, Staatliche Kunsthalle, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, the Japan Foundation, Ariana Museum in Geneva, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Turin, Macaw Museum of Art, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Shanghai Art Museum, Hunan Museum, Beijing Minsheng Art Museum, Hubei Art Museum, United Art Museum and the etc. His participation includes the Venice Biennale, Sǎo Paulo Biennial, Kwangju Art Biennial, and Shanghai Biennial. His works are collected by The Museum of Modern Art (USA), Seattle Art Museum(USA), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (USA), Centre de G. Pompidou (France), Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst (Germany), Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam(Holland), The National Gallery of Australia (Australia), Fukuoka Asian Art Museum (Japan), Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo(Japan), Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art(Japan), National Art Museum of China(China), Shanghai Art Museum (China), Guangdong Art Museum (China), He Xiangning Art Museum (China), Hunan Museum（China）, CAFA Art Museum(China). He is one of the Chinese contemporary artists with the most extensive collection by major art institutions worldwide.
He has published more than 50 personal albums and related publications, including Fang Lijun: Chronicles, Fang Lijun: Criticism, Fang Lijun: Works of Art, FANG LIJUN, Fang Lijun: The Precipice Over the Clouds, Fang Lijun: Espaces Interdits Forbidden Areas, Fang Lijun: Woodcuts, Live Like A Wild Dog, Etc. Fang Lijun has been invited as a visiting professor and graduate supervisor at more than 20 universities and colleges, including the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts, Jingdezhen Ceramic University, Xi 'an Academy of Fine Arts, etc. In 1993, his painting "Series 2, No. 2" appeared on the cover of the New York Times Magazine.
Fang Lijun has held exhibitions in major art institutions and galleries, including Ashmolean Museum Oxford, Ludwig Museum Koblenz, Staatliche Kunsthalle, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, the Japan Foundation, Ariana Museum in Geneva, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Turin, Macaw Museum of Art, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Shanghai Art Museum, Hunan Museum, Beijing Minsheng Art Museum, Hubei Art Museum, United Art Museum and the etc. His participation includes the Venice Biennale, Sǎo Paulo Biennial, Kwangju Art Biennial, and Shanghai Biennial. His works are collected by The Museum of Modern Art (USA), Seattle Art Museum(USA), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (USA), Centre de G. Pompidou (France), Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst (Germany), Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam(Holland), The National Gallery of Australia (Australia), Fukuoka Asian Art Museum (Japan), Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo(Japan), Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art(Japan), National Art Museum of China(China), Shanghai Art Museum (China), Guangdong Art Museum (China), He Xiangning Art Museum (China), Hunan Museum（China）, CAFA Art Museum(China). He is one of the Chinese contemporary artists with the most extensive collection by major art institutions worldwide.
He has published more than 50 personal albums and related publications, including Fang Lijun: Chronicles, Fang Lijun: Criticism, Fang Lijun: Works of Art, FANG LIJUN, Fang Lijun: The Precipice Over the Clouds, Fang Lijun: Espaces Interdits Forbidden Areas, Fang Lijun: Woodcuts, Live Like A Wild Dog, Etc. Fang Lijun has been invited as a visiting professor and graduate supervisor at more than 20 universities and colleges, including the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts, Jingdezhen Ceramic University, Xi 'an Academy of Fine Arts, etc. In 1993, his painting "Series 2, No. 2" appeared on the cover of the New York Times Magazine.
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