Fang Lijun

Artville artist of the day: Fang Lijun

Title: 8.2014 Spring Summer
Year: 2014
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 140 x 180 cm. (55.1 x 70.9 in.)

Fang Lijun (Chinese, b.1963) is a painter and printmaker associated with the Cynical Realist movement, and best known for his hyper-realistic paintings that criticize contemporary cultural values in China. Born in Handan, Hebei province, Fang studied printmaking at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, where he was trained in the Socialist Realist style promoted during the Cultural Revolution. As part of the Cynical Realist movement, Fang rejected the political subject matter of Socialist Realism, but his work has retained the technical skill and realistic style of his training. He incorporates imagery from pop culture, folk art, and traditional Chinese painting, and his work often features bald, aggressive-looking figures. His painting 30th Mary (2006) is characteristic of his humor and cynicism; the work depicts bald figures wearing colorful school uniforms, floating in a tunnel of clouds, in a composition that evokes European religious paintings. Fang has also worked in the traditional practice of woodblock printing, putting together several scrolls to create large-scale prints. In all of his work, he examines the role of individual creativity in the oppressive cultural environment of modern China. He has held solo exhibitions at at the China Art Museum in Beijing, the Today Art Museum in Beijing, and the Staatliche Museen in Berlin. He lives and works in Beijing.
Courtesy: www.artnet.com
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