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Fang Lijun - born 1963

Born in 1964, Fang Lijun belongs along with Zhang Xiaogang to the generation of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. He was born in Hadan in the Province of Hebei in northeastern China on the Yellow Sea, surrounded by Beijing and Tianjin and has always shared in the latest news and innovations from the capital. His later artistic conflicts with oil paintings, woodcuts and the thousands year old Chinese traditions as well as his early childhood led Fang Lijun to developing his own idiosyncratic style, cynical realism, which is connected with western Pop art. Like the paintings of Zhang Xiaogang, Fang Lijun's works draw record bids today at internationally renowned auction houses.

Unfortunately example works from Fang Lijun cannot be displayed here on this website for copyright reasons. We are, however, currently working to contact the artist to obtain permission to do so.

Just a few years ago Fang Lijun emerged onto the worldwide art market. Like Zhang Xiaogang, Fang Lijun has since become a millionaire thanks to the increasing and enormous demand for his works. Collectors of contemporary Chinese art aren't taking any chances of missing one of the bald headed figure paintings.

International Attention

Fang Lijun actually first studied porcelan painting and woodcut techniques before switching to more creative artistic studies. When he studied printmaking at the renowned Central Academy of Fine Art in Beijing he had access to international publications and he thereby familiarized himself with Western art history and contemporary art criticism. After getting his degree in 1989 he traveled to the Netherlands, Norway and the USA. Interest in his work has been steadily rising since 1990 and he has participated twice in the Biannual in Venice, Italy, where he had his international breakthrough in 1993.

Between Tradition and the Present

Hardly any other artist can better and more cleary document the conflict between the Chinese tradition with the intercultural present than Fang Lijun. This was already seen in technique. On the one hand Lijun applied traditional woodcut techniques. But on the other hand he also dedicated himself likewise to oil painting in western, industrial, prefabricated colors in their brightly artificial quality. This strange use of colors can be seen in his large format prints, which have been feed from their traditional binds and opened to the European Expressionism.

Fang Lijun's art mirrors a continual change of lines of sight. Praise and criticism can be hardly distinguished from one another. The transitions are fluid and the themes like motifs wander between worlds, as well as between woodcut and oil painting.

Artistic Language

Fang Lijun survived the 1989 massacre at Tiananme Square in Beijing as a 26 year old student. The powerless minority, and especially the individual and the passiveness of the masses became major themes in his works. A stereotype of a society of bald headed united people is a constant reoccurence. The western model also isn't a solution either, his works point out. The individual sinks in the masses and leads also to a struggle for survival in the swirl of deep waters or it joins with the powerless, scaredly looking at the ominous sky.

Water, sky and the mass of people are the elements that give individual people a place for existance. They accept it or they threaten it. In this framework, it is possible for the individual to exist.

Today Fang Lijun lives and works in Beijing and Dali (Taiwan).

Exhibitions

Unfortunately only some exhibition dates before 2004 are available.

Individual Exhibitions

• 1995 - Gallery Bellefroid Paris, France, "Fang Lijun". Gallery Serieuse Zaken Amsterdam, Holland, "Fang Lijun".
• 1996 - The Japan Foundation Tokyo, Japan "Fang Lijun, Human Images in an Uncertain Age".
• 1998 - Stedeljik Museum Amsterdam, Holland, "Fang Lijun". Max Protetch Gallery New York, USA, "Fang Lijun".
• 2000 - Soobin Art Gallery, Singapore, "Fang Lijun".
• 2002 - Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst Aachen, Germany, "Fang Lijun, Between Beijing & Dali, Woodcuts & Paintings 1989 - 2002". Prüss & Ochs Gallery Berlin, Germany, "Fang Lijun, New Woodcuts & Paintings".
• 2006 - Copper engraved Cabinet, Berlin, Woodcuts Fang Lijun.

Group Exhibitios

• 1984 - 6th National Art Exhibition, Guangzhou, China.
• 1989 - China Art Gallery Beijing, China, "China Avant-Garde Art Exhibition".
• 1991 - Private Exhibition, Beijing, China, "Fang Lijun and Liu Wei".
• 1992 - Art Gallery of New South Sales Sydney; Queensland Art Gallery Brisbane; City of Ballaart Fine Art Gallery Ballarat; Canberra School of Art Gallery Canberra, Australien, "New Art from China/Post-Mao Product" . Beijing Art Museum, China, "Fang Lijun and Liu Wei - Oil Painting Exhibition"
• 1993 - Hong Kong Arts Center, Hong Kong, "China's New Art, Post-89". Museum of Contemporary Art Sydney, Australia, "Mao Goes Pop". 45. Biannual in Venice Italy, "Passagio ad Oriente". Marlborough Fine Art London, England, "New Art from China : Post-89". Haus der Kulturen der Welt Berlin, Germany; Kunsthal Rotterdam, Holland; Museum of Modern Art Oxford, England; Kunsthallen Brandts Klaedefabrik Odense, Dänemark, "China Avant-Garde".
• 1994 - Kunsthalle Basel, Basel, Switzerland "Welt-Moral". 22nd International Biannual of Sao Paulo, Brazil. "Chinese Contemporary Art". Hanart T Z Gallery Taipei, Taiwan. Fukuoka Art Museum Fukuoka, Japan and Setagaya Art Museum Tokio, Japan, "4th Asian Art Show".
• 1995 - The Japan Foundation Tokyo, Japan, "Visions of Happiness - Ten Asian Contemporary Artists". Museum Ludwig Köln, Germany, "Unser Jahrhundert" (Our Century). 1. Kwangju-Biennale, Südkorea. Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Holland, "Avantguardes Artistiques Xinesses". Centre d'Art Santa Monica Barcelona, Spanien, "Couplet 4".
• 1996 - Ludwig Forum Aachen, Germany, "Begegnungen mit China" (Encounters with China). Marstall Theater München, Germany, "Beijing/NoNoSoapOpera". City Museum of Contemporary Art Hiroshima, Japan, "New Collection of Commissioned Works on the Theme Hiroshima" (Neue Sammlung von Auftragsarbeiten zum Thema Hiroshima). Kunstmuseum Bonn, Germany, "China!". Haus der Kunst München, Germany, "Experimentelle Druckgraphik".
• 1997 - Haus der Kulturen der Welt Berlin, Germany "Die anderen Modernen".
• 1998 - Asia Society New York, USA, "Inside Out: New Chinese Art" (Innen ausserhalb: Neue chinesische Kunst). Haus der Kulturen der Welt Berlin, Germany "China!". Chinese Contemporary Bilbao, Spanien, "5000+10". Forbidden City Beijing, China "It's me" (Ich bin es).
• 1999 - Dong Yu Museum of Fine Arts Shenyang, China "Open Channels" (Offene Kanäle). 48. Biennale von Venedig, Italien, "Aperto". Limn Gallery San Francisco, USA, "New Modernism for a New Millennium". 5. Asien-Kunstausstellung - Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan. Kunst Zürich, Switzerland, and die Prüss & Ochs Galerie, Berlin, Germany.
• 2001 - Museum Bochum, Germany, "... in Holz geschnitten - Dürer, Gauguin, Penck und die Anderen". Yi Bo Gallery Shanghai, China, "Painting Genius: Academic". Städtische Galerie Bremen, Germany "Song Zhuang". Erdongquiang Printing Center Shanghai, China, "Shanghai International Printing Exhibition". National Art Museum Beijing; Art Museum Shanghai Shanghai; Modern Art Museum Chengdu; Art Museum Guangzhou Guangzhou, "Towards a new image" (Zu einem neuen Bild). Bienal de Artes Visuais do Mercosul Porto Alegre, Brasilien. Singapore Art Museum, Singapur, "China Art Now!" (Chinesische Kunst jetzt!). Chengdu Biennale 2001 - Chengdu Museum of Modern Art, China. Kunstforum Berlin, Germany, vertreten von der Galerie Prüss & Ochs. Art Cologne in Köln, Germany, vertreten von der Galerie Prüss & Ochs. The National Museum of Western Art Tokyo, Japan, "Visage: Painting and The Human Face in 20th-Century Art" (Antlitz: Malerei und das menschliche Gesicht in der Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts). Kunming Yunan, China, "Between, Upriver Residence". Shanghai Art Museum, China "The Collection of Shanghai Art Museum ". Espace Culture Francois Mitterand Paris, Frankreich "Portrait of China Contemporaries". China Arts Museum Beijing, China "20th Century Chinese Oil Painting Exhibition". Gasunie's Kunstkomitee Groningen, Holland, "Chinese Walls" (Chinesische Mauern). Shanghai Biennale, China. Art Basel, Switzerland, vertreten von Max Protetch New York, USA. Art Cologne, Köln, vertreten von der Galerie Prüss & Ochs, Berlin, Germany.
• 2002 - Guangzhou Triannual Guandong Museum of Art PR China, Chang Sha, Provinz Hunan, China, "Works on Paper". He Xiangning Art Gallery Shenzhen, China, "Image is the Power: Wang Guangyi, Zhang Xiaogang, Fang Lijun". Shanghai Contemporary: Albrecht, Ochs & Wei Shanghai, China, "Fang Lijun & Jörg Immendorff". National Galerie Berlin, Germany, "Künstler helfen alten und neuen Meistern" (Auction), Kunstforum Berlin, Germany, vertreten von der Galerie Prüss & Ochs.
• 2003 - Shanghai Yibo Gallery Shanghai, China, "New Painting" (Neue Gemälde). China Art Museum Beijing, China, "Open Times". Pompidou Center Paris, France "Alors, La Chine". National Gallery Jakarta, Indonesien, "From China with Art". Neuffer am Park Pirmasens, Germany, "Rest der Welt". CP - Biennale Jakarta, Indonesien. Neue Kunsthalle Mannheim, Germany, "Die Wirklichkeit des Individuums".
• 2005-2007 - Kunstmuseum Bern, Switzerland, und Hamburger Kunsthalle, Germany, "mahjong - Chinesische Gegenwartskunst aus der Sammlung Sigg".

Collections

• Asia Society, New York, USA.
• The Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney , Australia.
• Dong Yu Museum of Fine Arts, Shenyang , China.
• Flick Collection, Gstaad / Switzerland and Berlin / Germany.
• Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, USA.
• Fukuoka Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan.
• Henie-Onstad Kunstsenter, Oslo, Norway.
• Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art, Japan.
• Sammlung Rolf & Erika Hoffmann, Berlin, Germany.
• Collection Kent & Vicki Logan, San Francisco, USA.
• Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen , Germany.
• Peter & Irene Ludwig Stiftung, Museum Ludwig, Köln , Germany.
• Modern Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan.
• Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan.
• National Gallery of Australia, Sidney, Australia.
• Okinawa Modern Art Museum, Okinawa, Japan.
• Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, USA.
• Queensland Art Museum, South Brisbane, Australia.
• San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, USA.
• Seattle Art Museum, USA.
• Shanghai Art Museum, China.
• Dr. Uli Sigg Collection, Mauensee, Switzerland.
• Singapore Art Museum, Singapore.
• Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Holland.
• Upriver Museum, Chengdu, China.
• Guy Ullens, Brussels, Belgium.

Bibliography

Mahjong - Chinese Contemporary Art from the Sigg Collection. Exhibitions catalogue of the Kunstmuseum Bern and Hamburger Kunsthalle. Published by Fibicher Bernhard and Matthias Frehner, 2005.

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