Zeng Fanzhi

(i) signed in Chinese, titled 16 and dated 96 on the reverse, framed
(ii) signed in Chinese and titled 24 on the reverse, framed
(iii) signed in Chinese, titled 15 and dated 96 on the reverse, framed

Schoeni Art Gallery, Hong Kong

China, Hong Kong, Schoeni Art Gallery, 8+8-1: Selected Paintings By 15 Contemporary Artists, 1997, p. 23

This work is generally in good condition. Having examined the works under ultraviolet light, there appears to be no evidence of restoration.
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Please note that Class One Series No. 15, 16 and 24 will be featured in Zeng Fanzhi's upcoming catalogue raisonné, published by Zeng Fanzhi Studios

Looking Back on Childhood
Zeng Fanzhi

With a repertoire of countless exhibitions under his belt, as well as an extensive oeuvre that spans more than two decades and various styles, Zeng Fanzhi is an artist who has rightfully earned his place at the forefront of the Contemporary Asian Art world. Zeng’s works have recently been shown at a major retrospective exhibition held at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris from 2013 to 2014; he has also in the past participated in group exhibitions at establishments such as the Gagosian Gallery and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, all of which are stellar institutions that serve as testaments to the artist’s capabilities. On offer in the present sale is Class One Series (Lot 1060), works that will doubtlessly bring to mind Zeng’s title as “The Mask Artist”, a name which has become synonymous with the artist’s name for over a decade. A body of work that began from the mid-nineties onwards, the Mask Series has grown alongside the artist, and has served as a vehicle through which Zeng has explored the ever-changing cityscape surrounding him. Class One Series hails from the beginnings of Zeng’s artistic career; but most importantly, is a defining example of the creation of the Mask Series itself, featuring many of the key symbols that were to become vital for many years to come.

 

At the heart of Class One Series is Zeng’s childhood, one that was wrought with difficulties and trauma—remnants of which the artist still grappled with in his adult life. Born in 1964 in Wuhan, Zeng Fanzhi came of age during the Cultural Revolution, and bore witness to his country’s urban and social upheaval and eventual development. Life in Wuhan instilled in the humble young Zeng many lasting images that would resurface during his career: the scenes of grubby hospital corridors, the shopfront of the local butcher’s with bloody hanging meats, and an overwhelming sense of crowdedness. But none of these memories are as strident as Zeng’s memories of being continually refused a simple article of uniform: a red scarf, a recurring symbol in the artist’s many artworks. 

To grow up in a China under Mao was to subscribe to a sense of community in all aspects of life. For a young boy growing up in this environment, the height of acceptance in society was to be part of the Young Pioneers—a youth organisation for children—admittance into which included the procurement of a red scarf. That Zeng was repeatedly denied this scarf all his life, first as a child, then as a teenager, left him with a deep sense of rejection and shame, which was further exacerbated by constant bullying from other children: “I felt there was a problem with me…It left me emotionally scarred, though it is hard to say by precisely what emotion. Just something I couldn’t put my finger on but that haunted me.”¹

 

Class One Series depicts three of such Young Pioneers, each donning the elusive red scarf. Each child stares unwaveringly at his audience; one even pulls a mocking face. Not without irony, these faces portray what art critic Karen Smith has described as “quite disturbing, shocking, with a blatant mocking attitude towards the viewer…mean and sneering.”² Perhaps as a way to express suppressed emotions he harboured since being a small, shy child, the present Class One Series acts as emancipation for Zeng, turning his childhood trauma into ironic, deliberately provocative, but undeniably humorous works.

In his explanation for the series, Zeng attributes a narrative to the works, explaining that they tell the tale of an incident involving third year students from Class One, Tong Yi Street Primary School, which occurred in the summer of 1970. “The little red soldiers, Zhi Zhi, Yong Yong and Chao Chao responded to the call from the school to join in the social activities after close. Once, during a story telling meeting Zhi Zhi discovered that his classmate little Lilai’s father, Jin Yinbao, was a historic counter-revolutionary who was under surveillance and that he propagandised thoughts on the exploited class to little Lilai. Zhi Zhi remembered that under no circumstances should we forget the class struggles and with the help of members of the Workers Propaganda Team, he fought the enemy tit for tat in a life or death situation until the bad person was finally arrested.”³ Zeng adds that the paintings “depict the heroic images of little red soldier Zhi Zhi.”⁴

Perhaps to be taken with a pinch of salt, this story underscores—albeit in a heightened, intentionally ironic manner—the naiveté with which the arduous Young Pioneer would glimpse his world, seeing it as a place rife with injustice and wrongdoing. In a way, perhaps Zeng seeks to experience this vicariously through his paintings, never having been awarded the proper uniform to authenticate his ascendance to a Young Pioneer.

There is also an element of adult foresight and witty cynicism in the depictions of the children in Class One Series. Having first befriended Lilai, Zhi Zhi had to mask his own feelings in order to achieve his eventual goal of exposing “the enemy”. It is thus fitting that the children are portrayed behind masks, props which would become the centre of Zeng’s appropriately named Mask Series. Unlike the later works however, these rare early works still featured masks with emotions in comparison to their stoic successors, such as the work in the centre, whose open mouth seems to be frozen mid-shout. Having moved to Beijing, Zeng came to regard the city as a sea of falseness and circumspection where it was hard to trust anyone, a feeling he translated metaphorically into masked figurines.  

Also evident in Class One Series is Zeng’s usage of red skin, a remnant of the artist’s early Meat and Hospital series, where a deep red colour was used to paint skin, likening humans to meat. In the present work, this usage carries even stronger meaning when considering its proximity to the red neck tie. Another significant use of colour is the light brown background featured in the works, a colour commonly found in Zeng’s works from the nineties, but which would almost completely disappear at the turn of the century. Rare too, is the greyish tinge to the masks, as well as the strings with which the masks are secured onto their wearers’ faces. Before transitioning to fully white masks, Zeng gave the illusion that his veiled figures could straightforwardly remove their disguises at will; afterwards however, their masquerading was moulded to their very existence, as shown by impassive blank faces that were no longer simply detachable masks. However, the present works still exude an air of impenetrability, as can be seen by the dissected irises of the mask wearers. By the start of the millennium, these criss-crossed eyes would altogether disappear, replaced instead by blank, hollow irises.

Class One Series is a work that is rich in history: not only of the one it reflects, namely of China’s past; but it is also an important piece of the artist’s personal life, not to mention a key to appreciating Zeng’s development as an artist. Painted at the beginning of Zeng’s career, Class One Series radiates the young artist’s zeal, and considering its subject, is a painting that is close to the artist’s heart, presented to its audience in an ironic, humorous manner. It is a piece of art that contains all the elements of Zeng’s future style, one that would eventually propel him to unmatched success and critical acclaim.

1 i/we: The Painting of Zeng Fanzhi, Hubei Fine Arts Publishing House, China, 2003, pp. 48-49

2 i/we: The Painting of Zeng Fanzhi, Hubei Fine Arts Publishing House, China, 2003, p.49

3 8+8-1: Selected Paintings By 15 Contemporary Artists, Schoeni Art Gallery, 1997, p.20

4 Refer to 3