EXHIBITED:

Different from the works that focus on ideas and icons, Zeng Fangzhi has always resorted to his artistic emotion to express his feelings through artistic images. And as his emotions change, the artistic images in his paintings also vary.

In 1964, Zeng Fanzhi was born in Wuhan, Hubei Province; in 1991, he graduated from the Oil Painting Department, Hubei Institute of Fine Arts; in 1993, in order to better pursue art, Zeng Fanzhi left Wuhan for Beijing, the art center of China; now he is a professional artist. He has taken part in important exhibitions including "Exhibition of Works by Zeng Fanzhi" held at the Museum of Fine Arts at the Hubei Institute of Fine Arts in 1990; "Biennale Exhibition of Fine Arts (Oil Paintings) in China in the 1990s" held in Guangzhou; "New Art Exhibition in China Post-1989"; "From State Ideology-New Art in China" held at the International Avant- Garde Culture Center of Hamburg, Germany; "Zeng Fanzhi: Masks" held at the Barcelona Modern Art Museum in Spain and at Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong; "Future" at the Macao Contemporary Art Center in 2000; "Behind the Mask" held at The ShanghArt Gallery in 2001; "Paris-Beijing" at the Pierre Cardin Center, France; "First Tri-annual of Guangzhou" held at the Guangzhou Museum of Fine Arts; "I/We", held at the Shanghai Art Museum in 2003, and a private exhibition "Tai Ping You Xiang" held at The Beijing Space, ShanghArt Gallery. His works are collected by Swiss, German, Hong Kong, and domestic collectors.

As a little boy, Zeng Fanzhi was not good at his lessons, except for drawing. And he was regarded by his teachers as a poor student. At middle school, he once was driven out of school by his teacher; he never wore a red neck towel, but spenet all his time playing with airplane models... In the early 1980s, he painted all his unrealized dreams in his childhood and made a notebook using these paintings. "After my relatives see them, they'll say you've realized all your dreams, wearing this and that." The regrets of his childhood have become a good thing for his artistic creation.

By far, the artistic creation by Zeng Fanzhi can be divided into four stages: "1980s-Hospital" series in 1994 is the first stage. From 1994 to the end of the 1990s, he created the "Masks" series. Coming to Beijing alone, he was faced with a strange city and a new environment. Beijing has brought him a wider and broader artistic platform, as well as many new problems. And it is under this background that the "Masks" series was created. This series is criticism against the hypocrisy and boredom between men and man in cities. Subsequently is his "Human Portrait" series. As a matter of fact, this series has penetrated throughout each and every stage in his artistic creation. And the human portraits vary at each stage. At present, when he paints human characters, he also adds in some of his private emotions, presenting different mental status. And the fourth stage is the scrambling stage, wherein Zeng Fanzhi enjoys more freedom and created larger paintings, requiring him to be more careful about the details and structure of the paintings. At this stage, he uses a more subjective structure and strangely colored lines, reflecting his efforts to surpass his own established style.

It is not hard to find that Zeng Fanzhi is an innovative artist in contemporary art in China, in terms of both his creative experience and his pursuit of art. During one interview, Zeng Fanzhi says: "Sometimes, change is indeed subconscious. I never announce to the world that I'm going to change myself. Actually, I've been painting with my own thoughts, which do not allow me to repeat what I've done before. "

"Blue Sky" was created in 2006. At the time, Zeng Fanzhi shifted his preference from bright colors to black and white, gray and blue. The slope covered by weeds relects the deep and mysterious blue sky, highlighting the white in the center of the painting, as if to tell us that the sky will gradually fade out, the blue sky will be replaced by emerald and the day by night; the time and the sky, at this moment, in this place can never be seen and sought elsewhere or some other time. The weeds grow rampantly; they are vigorous, waving and stretching in the cool breeze; even if there is no sunshine, they'll not hesitate, because they'll wait, for the coming of the morrow. The whole work extends the sky between black and blue, continues the narrative of time and provides the contrast of white, together with the dynamism of several dark gray weeds; All these have enhanced the hierarchy of the front and back, and the far and near of the work.

Looking at the details of the work, we'll notice this is a very typical work of Zeng Fanzhi. The artist allows his painting brush to low freely on the painting canvas of 170 x 250 cm. The brush floats together with his moods and emotions. At that moment, Zeng Fanzhi's feelings are gathered at the tip of the brush and kept on the painting cloth. This unique painting language of his makes the creation of the weeds accidental and random. "I have always been trying, sometimes drawing circles, sometimes scrambling around or using the skill with regular changes. I've tried all creation methods. I don't have any predeined target, but usually a local effect inspires me and then I seek to expand it." Says Zeng Fanzhi. What he pursues is this unpredictable and uncontrollable, random contrast between colors and between lines. During this process, the emotions of the artist and his command of the lines will also produce miraculous effects.

Critic Huang Du comments on the paintings after "I/WE" series: "The core of Zeng Fanzhi's paintings lies in the movement of the brush, which denies narrative or painting language, yet has its own logic in terms of the painting rhythm." He describes the artist's creation method as such: first he finishes the clear image in the painting, then he puts two oil painting brushes in his right hand and moves them at the same time: the brush between the index inger, the middle inger, and the thumb masters the rational experience of custom and logic, while the brush between his middle inger and the ring inger masters the accidental effect of freedom and non- logic, creating the wrestling between the concrete image and the abstract image. Such penetrating study of the use of brush in painting is rarely seen among contemporary artists in China.

From Zeng Fanzhi's works, we feel the influence of Western masters over him. From the primary learning stage, the classic paintings of the medieval age in Europe have influenced him; and with his later obsession with expressionism, he's also influenced by some of the expressionist skills. For a long time, he's been paying much attention to Western art while largely ignoring Chinese paintings. But in recent years, he gradually realizes the meaning of ancient Chinese water-ink paintings. After a careful study of rational Western Art, he's gradually learning from the taste and realm of Chinese paintings. The essence of the ancient Chinese paintings, through a spiritual communication, has comprehensive influence over his works. During creation, he sometimes uses opera to take him into the setting and sometimes listens to violin to arouse the ine and subtle emotions in him, and inally he expresses his feelings and emotions on the painting cloth. "My creation relies on the inspiration at the instant, constantly pursuing an unexpected beauty. When I have inspirations, I sketch them out in a small piece of paper irst and then I slowly reine and improve them in my studio." Says Zeng. He believes that the artist must keep a distance with his work during the creation so that there will always be happy surprises and excitement, rather than the streamline repetitions that can hardly touch the audience.

Today, Zeng Fanzhi lives a carefree life in Beijing, getting up at 8 or 9 in the morning, drives his car to the studio, and goes to bed at 12 at night. He lives a regular life, accepts interviews, and takes part in fashion parties and charity auctions; but his passion for art never wanes. To painting, Zeng Fanzhi has always devoted himself and perseveringly pursued art. Painting is an expression, through colors and lines, of the love and care for man; it is an emotional thing. "I have no choice, because I just love painting." Zeng Fanzhi said, "My works are the expression methods that I'm good at and they are the best way of expressing my life. This has been so ever since I started painting: I draw and paint as I like."