Fang Lijun - born 1963

Cynical Realism - more articles
Communication
copyright Zhou Lu, born 1973

Fang Lijun belongs to the generation born during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Together with other Chinese artists he developed a style called "cynical realism". Today Fang Lijun's art works are bought for record prices at internationally renowned auction houses.

For copyright reasons we cannot show you any art works by Fang Lijun on this web site. Instead we display art prints by Mr. Zhou Lu, born 1973. Also Zhou Lu's artworks represent the style of "cynical realism".

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Record Prices for Fang Lijun Art Works

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 are not taking any chances of missing one of the bald headed figure paintings.

Breakthrough at the Venice Biennale

Chinese Art Prints
Sitting in Lotus
copyright Zhou Lu, born 1973

Fang Lijun actually first studied porcelain painting and woodcut techniques before switching to paintings and other art forms. 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 Biennale in Venice, Italy, where he had his international breakthrough in 1993.

The Message of Fang Lijun

Chinese Prints - Intro
Dream of Hawaii
copyright Zhou Lu, born 1973

Fang Lijun survived the 1989 massacre at Tiananme Square in Beijing as a 26 year old student. The powerless 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 reoccurrence. But the western model is not a solution either, his works point out. The individual drowns in the masses and leads also to a struggle for survival in the swirl of deep waters or it joins with the powerless, scarily looking at the ominous sky.

Water, sky and the mass of people are the elements that give individual people a place for existence. In this framework, it is possible for the individual to exist.

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

rp. March 2007
updated by Dieter Wanczura in April 2009

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