"Fang Lijun: Portraits and Porcelain" will be exhibited at the Ashmolean Museum of Art & Archaeology Oxford from October 14, 2023 onwards

Gallery Dynamic

2023.10.12

EXHIBITION TITLE Fang Lijun: Portraits and Porcelain ARTIST Fang Lijun CURATOR Prof. Shelagh Vainker Curator of Chinese Art, Ashmolean Museum Associate Professor in Chinese Art, Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Oxford EXHIBITION ADVISOR Dr. Lei Ying OPENING 2023.10.14 DURATION 2023.10.15 - 2024.04.14 VENUE Ashmolean Museum of Art & Archaeology Oxford Beaumont Street, Oxford OX1 2PH, United Kingdom EXHIBITION SUPPORT BY CLOUDS INTELLIGENCE TRIUMPH GALLERY BRAND SUPPORT BY LUZHOU LAOJIAO · GUOJIAO 1573 “Fang Lijun (b. 1963) is a leading contemporary artist who became famous as a part of China's ‘Cynical Realism’ movement in the early 1990s, and who has exhibited extensively in Europe and worldwide. For the Ashmolean exhibition, we are extremely grateful to the artist and his studio for their support and for their willingness to lend so many of his works to the exhibition. These range from early works made in the 1980s to recent objects from 2023 and show the artist working across media including pencil drawings, oil paintings, ink drawings, woodblock prints as well as works in porcelain. Together they allow us to present a survey of the artist's career focussing on the recurring subject of the human head and its range of expressive possibilities. ” Dr. Alexander Sturgis Director Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology University of Oxford Artist Fang Lijun (b.1963) will present his first solo exhibition in Museum in the UK, *Fang Lijun: Portraits and Porcelain, in Ashmolean Museum Oxford. The exhibiton will open to the public from Oct 15th, 2023 to Apr 14th, 2023. The exhibition will present a private view on Oct 14th, 2023. ARTIST* Fang Lijun was born in 1963, Handan, Hebei. He graduated from the Printmaking Department of China Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1993. on July 1st of the same year, Fang Lijun moved to Yunamingyuan, 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 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 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 56 personal catalogues 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 in 23 universities, including 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. CURATOR Prof. Shelagh Vainker, Curator of Chinese Art, Ashmolean Museum。Shelagh Vainker was previously Curator of Chinese Ceramics and Textiles at the British Museum. Other appointments include President of the Oriental Ceramic Society 2012–15, and J.S. Lee Memorial Senior Fellow 2012–13 (Beijing). She has published widely on Chinese art including books on ceramics and silk, articles on many aspects of the material culture of the Northern Song dynasty (960–1127) and a series of collection and exhibition catalogues on modern Chinese painting. Shelagh Vainker is responsible for three galleries in the Ashmolean: the permanent galleries China 3000BC – AD800 and China From AD800, and the Khoan and Michael Sullivan Gallery for Chinese Painting which shows two paintings exhibitions each year. She is literary executor of the estate of Professor Michael Sullivan.

Artists

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.

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