Fang Lijun: Facial recognition e-catalogue by Vermilion Art

FANG LIJUN 方力钧 Facial Recognition First solo exhibition in Australia 21 Feb - 18 Apr 2019

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Fang Lijun

About the exhibition Vermilion Art is privileged to present Fang Lijun: Facial recognition, the first solo exhibition by Fang Lijun in Australia, a contemporary Chinese artist who enjoys an almost rock star status in China and internationally.

The set of striking mostly large woodblock prints on show were made between 2013 and 2018. The grinning and grimacing bald heads, a recurring theme is his work, point to the artist's concerns for ordinary people struggling to keep hold of an individual identity in contemporary societies, both East and West. ​ Fang Lijun graduated from the printmaking department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) in Beijing. To make these works on show he has revived an ancient Asian method of woodblock printing, a complicated and exacting process of carving a ‘negative’ image into a panel, coating the surface in ink and color, and impressing the image onto silk. In doing so he is not only able to create large works with bold visual impact but to bring socialist visual culture into the modern era.

About the artist Fang Lijun (b.1963) currently lives and works in Beijing, China. He has exhibited internationally, including at the Venice Biennale and São Paulo Biennial. His work can be found in collections such as the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai; and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Arts, San Francisco, among others.

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Fang Lijun: Facial Recognition John McDonald Feb 2019 A shaven head sends a message but it’s an ambiguous one. The shaven heads of prisoners or monks tell us they belong to an order of humanity removed from the social mainstream. The shaven head of a soldier, a footballer, or indeed a football hooligan, is a badge of aggressive intent. When a businessman shaves his head it denotes a decisive, commanding personality - or at least tries to give that impression.

In Fang Lijun’s work the shaven head is virtually a universal condition. It’s both trademark and self-portrait. But when we are confronted with an entire crowd of baldheaded figures – men, women and children – we’re obliged to see it as a way of stripping away differences, reminding us that we’re all citizens of the same planet, subject to the same overarching forces of history. We may be richer or poorer, eastern or western, but what we have in common overrides those things that divide us.

That’s the positive, humanistic interpretation. When he first came to prominence in the early 1990s, as an exponent of so-called Cynical Realism, Fang seemed a more rebellious figure. The bald-headed clones in his paintings were perpetually leering or yawning, as if the spectacle of China becoming a prosperous consumer society was so ridiculous they could only laugh, or so boring they could barely keep their eyes open. Either way, Fang’s skinheads expressed a scarcely veiled contempt for the glorious new order unfolding around them.

This was a way for Fang, a member of the generation that saw hopes of political change dashed in 1989, to express his feelings about a country that had embraced the free market while keeping a close rein on personal freedoms. For older people in China that sort of public excitement was nothing new. Under Chairman Mao the masses were continually exhorted to keep “making revolution” while everyday life remained grey and impoverished.

Painting a yawn or a sneer could hardly be classified as a political gesture but it wasn’t difficult to decode such an image. Nowadays, like most Chinese artists, Fang shrewdly disavows overtly political interpretations of his work, and it may be that over time his shaven headed figure has taken on a broader range of meanings.

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Since graduating from Beijing’s Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1989 Fang has continued to experiment with woodblock prints, a medium he pursues with incredible vigour, using an electronic cutting tool rather the traditional small knives and gouges. Some of these works have been on a monumental scale, extending for seven or eight metres across multiple panels. Such pieces have been exhibited, and often acquired, by institutions such the Museum of Modern Art, New York and the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

With the exception of the pig, in homage to the Lunar New Year, the vividly-coloured prints being shown at Vermilion concentrate on faces. There are 10 obvious selfportraits but the other prints are also dominated by shaven-headed figures that bear a superficial resemblance to the artist. One portrays a man with tears streaming down his face, in others we see groups of faces smiling and laughing. Even if the laughter is tinged with hysteria, by Fang’s standards these are remarkably festive pictures.

In the largest work in the show, simply titled 2016, a crowd of bald-headed men tilt their heads and stare skywards. Mouths hang slightly open in anticipation – but of what? They might be watching New Year fireworks or a political rally, perhaps a soccer match on a big screen. Whatever they are looking at, they are completely engaged.

Standing in front of this work we absorb the image of these eager spectators and try to imagine the object of their fascination. We do exactly what the men in the print are doing, and this is Fang’s point: today we are all watchers, all eager consumers of spectacle. It’s not clear whether this is a subsititute for action or a necessary prelude.

Either way it’s an activity that sucks up much of our lives. No longer yawning, no longer smirking, Fang’s characters - and his audience - are now all attention.

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2016 2016 woodblock print on silk edition of 12 244 x 366 cm

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Previous page: 2016 2016 woodblock print on silk edition of 12 244 x 366 cm 2013-2015 2015 woodblock print on paper edition of 36 122 x 81 cm

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2013-2016 2016 woodblock print on silk edition of 28 122 x 163 cm

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2017 2017 woodblock print on silk edition of 28 122 x 163 cm

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2018 2018 woodblock print on silk edition of 28 163 x 122 cm

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2016 2016 woodblock print on silk edition of 100 80 x 60 cm

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2017 2017 woodblock print on paper edition of 68 80 x 60 cm

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2017 2017 woodblock print on silk edition of 68 60 x 80 cm

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2017 2017 woodblock print on silk edition of 68 80 x 60 cm

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2017 2017 woodblock print on paper edition of 68 60 x 80 cm

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2017 2017 woodblock print on paper edition of 68 17.7 x 35 cm

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2017 2017 woodblock print on paper edition of 99 12.5 x 17.5 cm

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2017 2017 woodblock print on paper edition of 99 17.5 x 12.5 cm

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2017 2017 woodblock print on paper edition of 99 17.5 x 12.5 cm

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2017 2017 woodblock print on paper edition of 99 17.5 x 12.5 cm

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Fang Lijun Curriculum Vitae 1963 Born in Handan, Hebei Province 1989 Graduated from the China Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, and becoming a professional painter after graduation Selective solo exhibitions 2018 Zhou Chunya and Fang Lijun’s Joint Solo Exhibition, K Gallery, Chengdu, China 2017 Art History of Fang Lijun, Beijing Minsheng Art Museum, Beijing, China This All Too Human World, Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong The Manuscript of Fang Lijun 2012-2017, Meilun Art Gallery, Changsha, China 2016 Alternative Survival: Research Exhibition of Fang Lijun’s Manuscripts, United Art Museum, Wuhan, China Fang Lijun Documentary Exhibition---Wuhan University, Wanlin Art Museum, Wuhan, China Fang Lijun: Forbidden Areas, Ariana Museum, Geneva, Switzerland Re-sensing: The work of Fang Lijun, Hubei Art Museum, Wuhan, China 2015 Fang Lijun: Into University Documenta, Luxun Academy of Fine Arts, North China University of Science and Technology, China 2014 Great success - Fang Lijun exhibition, Yibo Gallery, Shanghai, China FANG LIJUN: The New Body of Work by Mr. Fang Lijun 1963, ART & PUBLIC – CABINET P.H, Geneva, Switzerland Fang Lijun: Into University Documenta, Anhui Normal University, Nanjing University, China 2013 Fang Lijun - A Cautionary Vision, Palazzo Marcello, Venice, Italy Fang Lijun 2013, Springs Center of Art, Beijing, China Fang Lijun, Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong Pigment: Fang Lijun solo exhibition, Huayu Resort & SPA Yalong Bay Sanya, Sanya, China Fang Lijun: Into University Documenta, Hunan Normal University, Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute, China 2012 The Breakthrough: A Solo Exhibition by Fang Lijun, CP Foundation, Jakarta, Indonesia Fang Lijun: Documenta, Museum of Contemporary Arts, Singapore The Precipice Over The Clouds, the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Turin, Italy Fang Lijun: Into University Documenta, Xinjiang Normal University, Qinghai University for Nationalities, Beifang University of Nationalities, China 2011 Fang Lijun: From Symbol to Analysis, Xi'an Art Museum, Xi’an, China Fang Lijun: Into University Documenta, Southwest Jiaotong University, Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology, Fine Arts Campus, Art Museum of Jilin, Guangxi Art Institute Art Museum, China 2010 Fang Lijun, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China Fang Lijun Documenta Into University, Art Museum of Shanxi University, Taiyuan, China 2009 Endlessness of life: 25 Years Retrospect of Fang Lijun: Living Like A Wild Dog 1963-2008 Fang Lijun's Archive, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taiwan Fang Lijun, Sea and Sky, KunsthalleBielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany Fang Lijun: Thread of Time, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China 2008 Fang Lijun, The Galerie Rudolfnum, Prague, Czech Republic Fang Lijun, Arario New York, New York, U.S.A.

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2007 Fang Lijun, Hunan Provincial Museum, Changsha, China Fang Lijun Solo Exhibition, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China Fang Lijun Print Exhibition, dARTex (The Danish Art Exchange), Beijing, China 2006 Fang Lijun– Holzschnitteund Zeichnungen, S M B KupferstichkabinettStaatliche Museum zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany LIFE IS NOW, CP Foundation, Jakarta, Indonesia Fang Lijun: Today!,Today Art Museum, Beijing, China 2002 Fang Lijun, Hong Kong Art Center, Hong Kong 1998 Fang Lijun, Stedeljik Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands 1996 Fang Lijun, Human Images in an Uncertain Age, the Japan Foundation, Tokyo, Japan Selective group exhibitions 2018 An Exhibition of Chinese Contemporary Art, UCCA, Beijing, China 2017 Unbounded, La Casa del Mantegna, Mantua, Italy Escape by Crafty Scheme, OCAT Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China Fusion-Contemporary oil Painting Language Research Exhibition, Today Art Museum, China 2016 M+SIGG COLLECTION: FOUR DECADES OF CHINESE CONTEMPORARY ART, Artistree, Hong Kong Zao Hua—Chinese Contemporary Art Exhibition”, Salamanca Arts Centre, Hobart, Australia Models: The Visual Experience and Cultural Identity of Chinese Modernity, Ellion Art Gallery, Beijing, China 2015 The Civil Power: Beijing Minsheng Art Museum Opening Exhibition, Beijing Minsheng Art Museum, Beijing, China Art Historical Flashbacks: Another Path in Chinese Contemporary Art, Elion Art Gallery, Beijing, China The Garden of forking paths: Tracks and Intersections of 15 Artists, Shanghai Gallery of Art, Shanghai, China 2014 Se- Context: 1984, Group Exhibition, 378 Art Lab, Beijing, China China New Expression- Exhibition 1980-2014, China Art Museum Shanghai, China 2013 Re-Link: Invitational Exhibition of Contemporary Ink and Wash Painting 2000-2012, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China Dust and Glory , a joint exhibition of Fang Lijun and Yin Zhaoyang, at ART ONE Foyer, Hong Kong Portrait of The Times- 30 Years of Chinese Contemporary Art, Power Station of Art, Shanghai, China ​S t. Moritz Art Masters, St. Moritz, Switzerland Ink Art: Past as Present in Contemporary China, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, U.S.A. 2012 Go Figure! Contemporary Chinese Portraiture, National Portrait Gallery, Canberra; Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation, Sydney, Australia 2011 Pure Views: New Painting from China, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, San Francisco, U.S.A. Future Pass Collateral Event of the 54th Venice Biennial, Abbey of San Gregorio, Palazzo MangilliValmarana, Venice, Italy Image· History· Existence - Taikang Life 15th Anniversary Art Collection Exhibition, National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China A New Horizon - Contemporary Chinese Art 1949 to 2009, National Gallery of Australia, Sydney, Australia

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2010 Pure Views-New Paintings From China, Louise Blouin Foundation, London, U.K. 2009 The Chinese Pavilion at the 53rd International Art Exhibition Venice Biennale See a World in Grain of Sand, Giardini, Arsenale, Venice, Italy Open Vision- Exhibition of Contemporary Chinese Art, Collection of Modern and Contemporary Art of the National Gallery in Prague, Czekh Repubic A Gift To Marco Polo, Island of San Servolo, Venice, Italy The Face of the Chinese Avant-Garde, Ethan Cohen Fine Arts, New York, U.S.A. 2008 Beijing- Athens, Contemporary Art from China, Greek Athens national contemporary art center, Athens, Greece Facing China, Akureyri Art Museum, Akureyri, Iceland Half-Life of a Dream: Contemporary Chinese Art from the Logan Collection, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), San Francisco, U.S.A. Museum für Asiatische Kuns Exhibition, Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Berlin, Germany AVANT-GARDE CHINA Twenty Years of Chinese Contemporary Art, The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan Cina XXl secolo, Arte fra identità e trasformazione, the Palazzo delle Esposizionz, Rome, Italy 2008 Kunadu Biennale, Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei, Taiwan The revolution continues: new art from China, Saatchi Gallery, London, England 2007 Chinese: Contemporary Sotsart, The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia China-Facing Reality, Musueum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Wien, Austria Inferno in Paradise: 10 Years Alexander Ochs Galleries Berlin| Beijing, Alexander Ochs Galleries Berlin| Beijing, Berlin, Germany Red Hot, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, U.S.A. 2006 Hange, Taipei Museum, Taipei CHINA COUP, The Red Mansion Foundation, London, U.K. BSOLUTE IMAGES CHINESE CONTEMPORARY ART, Arario, Cheonan, Korea 2005 New Work/ New Acquisitions, MOMA, New York, U.S.A. Mahjong, Bern Museum, Switzerland derszenen-Child’s play, Wasserschlos GroB Luthen/ Spreewarld, Berlin, Germany 2004 CHINA, THE BODY EVERYWHERE?, Museum of Contemporary Art, Marseilles, France Dreaming of the Dragon’s Nation: Contemporary Art Exhibition from China, Ministry of Culture of People's Republic of China & Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism of the Republic of Ireland, Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin, Ireland CHINA NOW, Tang Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand 2003 From China with Art, National Gallery, Jakarta, Indonesia Alors, la Chine, Pompidou Center, Paris, France Chinese Printmaking Today, British Library& Muban Foundation, British Library, London, U.K. 2001 China Art Now!, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore Bienal de Artes, Visuais do Mercosul, Porto Alegre, Brazil Dream, Red Mansion, London, U.K. In Holz Geschnitten-Dürer, Gauguin, Penck und die Anderen, Museum Bochum, Germany 2000 Visage: Painting and The Human Face in 20th- Century Art, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, Japan Portrait of China Contemporaries, Espace Culture Francois Mitterand, France

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1999 The 5th Asian Art Show, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan APERTO, The 48th Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy New Modernism for a new Millennium, Limm Gallery, San Francisco, U.S.A. 1998 Inside Out: New Chinese Art, Asia Society, New York, U.S.A. 5000+10, Chinese Contemporary, Bilbao, Spain China!, Haus der Kulturen de Welt, Berlin, Germany Black & White, Chinese Contemporary, London, U.K. 1997 China!, Kunst Museum, Bonn, Germany The 2nd Kwangju Biennial, Kwangju, Korea Die anderen Modernen, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany Chinese Walls, Gasunie’s Kunstkomitee, Groningen, The Netherlands 1994 Chinese Contemporary Art at San Paulo, 22nd International Biennale of San Paulo, Brazil 1993 China’s New Art, Post’89, Hong Kong Arts Center, Hong Kong Passagio ad Oriente, 45th Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy Mao Goes Pop, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia 1992 Fang Lijun and Liu Wei Oil Painting Exhibition, Beijing Art Museum, Beijing, China New Art from China / Post-Mao Product, Toured the Art Gallery of New South Sales, Sydney; Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane; City of Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, Ballarat; Canberra School of Art Gallery, Canberra, Australia China Avant-Garde, Toured Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany; Kunsthal Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; The Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, U.K.; Kunsthallen Brandts Klcedefabrik, Odense, Denmark 1989 China Avant-Garde Art Exhibition, China Art Gallery, Beijing, China 1984 Sixth National Art Exhibition, Guangzhou, China ​

Public collections (selective) The Museum of Modern Art (USA), Centre de G. Pompidou (France), The National Gallery of Australia (Australia), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (USA), Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst (Germany), CP Foundation (Indonesia), Fukuoka Asian Art Museum (Japan), Shanghai Art Museum (China), Guangdong Art Museum (China), He Xiangning Art Museum (China) Works in collections (selective) MoMA https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/111?locale=en Centre Pompidou https://www.centrepompidou.fr/cpv/resource/c5pgoX/rB9dAn San Francisco Museum of Modern Art https://sfmoma.org/artwork/98.312/ GOMA http://collection.qagoma.qld.gov.au/qag/imu.php?request=display&port=45001&id=1ead&flag=ecatal ogue&offset=0&count=default&view=details AGNSW https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/327.1993/ National Portrait Gallery https://www.portrait.gov.au/content/fang-lijun

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Fang Lijun’s work exhibited at Centre de Pompidou, Paris, 2003

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Fang Lijun’s work in “New Work/New Acquisitions” at MoMA, New York, 2005

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