Fang Lijun

signed in Chinese, titled, and dated 2005.11.11

Alexander Ochs Galleries, Berlin

Germany, Berlin, Alexander Ochs Galleries, The Sacred and The Profane, 2006

Chinese Artists of Today: Fang Lijun, Hebei Education Press, Shijiazhuang, China, 2006, p.388
Fang Lijun, Culture And Art Publishing House, Beijing, China, 2010, p. 395
Live Like a Wild Dog: 1963-2008, Archival Documentation of Fang Lijun, Vision Art, Taipei, Taiwan, 2009, p. 312

This work is generally in good condition. Two horizontal marks are found near the upper edge, but they do not affect the overall appearance of the work. Please note that it was not examined under ultraviolet light.
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2005.11.11
Fang Lijun

When mentioning Fang Lijun, the most common image that comes to mind is that of the artist’s skinhead figures. From the late 1980s onwards, Fang sketched the skinheads, often accentuating the faces that are so filled with ennui, giving them elusive body movements, placing them in absurd, unrealistic spaces. The critic Li Xianting has named the iconic bald characters “Bald Pop” figures, and has nominated Fang Lijun as representative of his definition of “Cynical Realism”. In comparison to most artists of the “1985 Art Movement”, Fang seems to be rather more solitary and free, willing, it seems, to take this in his stride almost self-deprecatingly, using the skinhead image as the best way to redeem and rescue himself. This mentality is not difficult to pinpoint. Borne of a willingness to portray helplessness, a boredom of sorts, his psychology came after being marginalised in a heavily urbanised, rapid, and market-orientated world Fang soon found himself in after the cultural reform. His participation at the Venice Biennale in 1993 was to become the pinnacle of his artistic career, and to hail this skinhead image as a victory at the international exhibition is not an exaggeration in the slightest.

Following the skinhead image, Fang had plans to explore himself through a new series of artistic symbols, such as water, the sun, and flowers. Throughout the nineties, the symbols Fang turned to were relatively strong, and each time he turned to a new one, he would take them into consideration cautiously. One such case is his exploration of water. During an interview

Fang remarked, “I chose water because it is neither good nor bad, people cannot leave it; it gives people a sense of proximity as well as distance. We are aware of water’s existence; however we are in turn often unaware of the presence of air, despite the fact that both of these are part of nature. And so I suppose water is particularly good, as our relationship to it is relatively ambiguous.”¹ When it came to his choice of fresh flowers, he explains, “We have grown to be exposed to only good things, as if the bad things are deliberately hidden. But the biggest shock to me was what lay beneath the beautiful things. I did not have any particular motives behind the flower piece; I only wanted to push the object to its extreme.”¹

During the early part of the twenty-first century, most of Fang Lijun’s works featured clear blue skies, along with cascading clouds that acted as central themes. Children also began appearing in the pieces, even new born infants would speckle the works, at times emerging behind clusters of flowers; at times floating mid-air; at times cradled firmly by a pair of large hands. The children are continuations of the artist’s skinhead figures, reflecting the artist’s readiness to step forth from his personal history, to resonate with audiences at an even broader national level. The vagaries of the sky, along with the wanton intervention of the large hands, seem to be figurative representations of the artist’s thoughts on survival conditions of the epoch. But the works are also indications of times further ahead, as the hazy skies, mysterious vortexes, both so filled with uncertainty, act as prophecies of the future.

When his daughter was born in 2005, Fang Lijun’s creative sublimation was elevated to a newer and higher plane. He faced life head-on, singing endlessly of its praises. His works eliminated all signs of negativity, radiating only the good, as his hazy scenes gave way to landscapes of quietude. His colour choices shift from excessive and frantic tones, to serene and muted hues, displaying meticulous and delicate brushwork. Due to extended periods of flight travel brought on by long-term exhibitions, Fang Lijun immersed himself in the clouds, as if he himself was also floating in the delicate sea of mist that was to become an important theme of that year. 2005 was to become a hugely vital year for the artist; for his renewed ponderings over the nature of life, and also the pursuit of his ideals and desires became central to his ethos.

The clever use of light in 2005.11.11 (Lot 713) allows the piece moments of visual trickery. The three children, with their backs turned to the audience, veiled by the clouds, with the child on the right pointing to a distant sun, its soft and warm rays interspersing onto both the young figures and the clouds, is a scene that revitalises life, as if in one fell swoop the day could be replenished with hope. This work reflects the creative mind of the artist, and is such a bold affirmation of life. So uninhibited is this optimism for life; so difficult is this to be found in his previous works. 2005.11.11 is a key piece that grasps the psyche of the artist, and it is one that must not be overlooked.

1 Pi Li, “An Interview with Fang Lijun,” He Xiangning Art Musem Compilation, in Image is Power: The Art of Wang Guangyi, Zhang Xiaogang and Fang Lijun, Hunan Fine Arts Publishing House, 2002