Fang Lijun

Fang Lijun (; born 1963) is a Chinese artist based in Beijing. He was born into a wealthy family with a high social status. In the 1990s, there was a cultural movement in China referred to as Cynical Realism of which Fang Lijun was a member. Living in China during this critical time In these paintings, bald headed young men are in different motions: yawning, smiling, swimming, etc. Some of the figures are described as confusion or considered "dumbfounded by modern society". This painting is a composition of a bald headed crowd with sky and clouds in a gray scale. The most important detail in this picture is the large head with an anonymous finger pointing to the sky. This figure is turning so only his left face is shown. He is looking at his finger with a very distinct smirk on his face.

Other paintings

The Working Class Must Exercise Leadership in Everything, 1970: This painting has similar figures to the 1991.6.1 . There is a crowd with a large figure of Chairman Mao. However, instead of having a gray scale, this painting is painted in bright colors to represent a new hope that leads to empowerment and happiness. In this painting, Chairman Mao is considered a bright leader who will bring joy and peace to the country. People in the crowd have a happy and confident look under the direction or plan of Chairman Mao. The Chairman is drawn bigger than the other figures. The artist intentionally puts more focused details on the Chairman character to emphasise his role as a big brother or father that is pointing or leading people to a better place.

30th Mary: This painting is still under the Cynical Realists and bald head figures . In this painting, the background and the children are painted in bright colours . Besides, figures are located in the spiral pattern in which children are flying back to heaven. There are two different critical approaches to this picture. One approach is that this painting reveals a new hope for the young generation that can change the future of China. People have hopes on the youths that they can restructure or remodel the society so that everybody can have a voice and everybody lives in freedom. The other approach describes death as a relief from this life. Because life is too stressful or too complicated, death becomes the best solution to escape from this world to go to a more peaceful place such as heaven.

"China/Avant-Garde" exhibition

This exhibition took place in February 1989. It was first denied access by the government. Some of the artists decided to move the artist's villages to begin to make a "department art". an art dealer from Berlin, and asked him about showing young artists from Asia, especially China, with his support in the museum. In 2003, Lauter presented loans from Fang Lijun, Yue Minjun and Yang Shaobin in his second re-presenting of the collection in a temporary exhibition on the subject of "SelfSpace" with 19th century portrait sculptures by Maillol and Rodin, light boxes by Jeff Wall and works by Alex Katz. Especially the work "SARS" (later named "Untitled") by Fang Lijun, a large-format woodcut, attracted attention. Lauter wrote in his introductory text: "Opposed to the pictures by Katz is a work composed of seven printed scroll paintings in the size 400 x 854 cm by the Chinese artist Fang Lijun. In addition to a rising tendency towards "de-individualisation" of people, his work labeled "SARS" also addresses the "glowing" danger of the virus for the crowds in China" Unfortunately, Lauter‘s purchase request was not fulfilled in Mannheim at the time. Today versions of the work are in the collections of the MoMA and the Centre Pompidou Paris.

Exhibitions 1996: Human Images in an Uncertain Age, The Japan Foundation Asia Center, Tokyo . 1999: d'APERTutto, 48th Venice Biennale, Venice 2001: Asian Fine Art, Berlin . 2002: Between Beijing and Dali, Woodcuts and Paintings 1989-2002, Ludwig Forum Fur InternationaleKunst Aachen . 2003: Die Neue Kunsthalle II: natürlich – körperlich – sinnlich / The New Kunsthalle II: natural - physical - sensual, Kunsthalle Mannheim November 24, 2003 – March 7, 2004. Booklet: Rolf Lauter. 2004: Leben Ist Jetzt, Alexander Ochs Galleries Berlin, Beijing, Berlin, Germany . 2005: National Galerie/China Art Museum, Beijing, China . 2006: Kupferstichkabinett Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Germany . 2016: Chinese Whispers, Museum of Fine Arts Bern, Bern, Switzerland

He has shown work internationally in exhibitions including The Next Ones at Alexander Ochs , Beijing, New Work, New Acquisitions at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and Alors, la Chine? at the Pompidou Centre in Paris.