Zeng Fanzhi Solo-Exhibition
ShanghART/Gallery/PressRelease
ShanghART Gallery & H-Space is proud to present a solo-exhibition with new works by Zeng Fanzhi (b. 1964).
Zeng Fanzhi delivers an art that feels new, not in its premises, but in its intense, yet refined vitality, and constant renewal. His new paintings are at the same time expressively figurative and abstract, held in cool shades of dark colors, and they represent both a tension of human solitude and exceptional beauty. Zeng Fanzhi is continuously engaged in exploring adequate and innovative ways in expressing his visual representations.
His latest paintings signify a shift in his focus from a formal concern with the representation of existential trauma, to an interest in how we imagine ourselves interacting with nature. Within these large-scale images there is a notion of fragility and vulnerability; like an attempt to create a terrain of uncertainty that inhabits both characters and landscape depicted.
The grand scale of the paintings lends them a certain suggestive and sublime appearance, and when viewed, the paintings constantly seem to evolve and create new particular impressions. The grand scale images stand both as reflections of a social reality that are made up of multiple signifying systems, of which the landscape is one.
Zeng Fanzhi’s paintings appear simultaneously chaotic as well as controlled, intentional as well as unintentional, and his distinctive strokes signify the importance to process. Forcible intertwined curved lines may rest on a beautifully and calm background, and abstract and figurative elements appear side by side. The images therefore often carry references not to one but to many different realities. It is an energetic and reflective gesture that just serves to underscore Zeng Fanzhi’s status as one of China’s most innovative and skillful painters who’s acclaimed recognition and impact on the international art scene is rapidly expanding.
Zeng Fanzhi was born in 1964 in Wuhan where he also studied oil painting at the Art Academy. Today he lives and works in Beijing. Exhibitions include Contemporary China, PKM Gallery, Seoul, Korea (2006), Scapes 1989-2004, He Xiangning Art Museum, Shenzhen, China (2004), I/We – The Painting of Zeng Fanzhi, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China (2003), Left Hand, Right Hand, 798 Art Space, Beijing, China (2003), and The first Triennial of Chinese Arts, Guangzhou Art Museum, Guangzhou, China (2002).
1 comment:
Darn. I guess Zeng Fanzhi is popular with you as well. After reading your detailed and insightful description of his artwork, it definitely will be an interesting and challenging experience for me to write about his works, but I will do my best.
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