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Detail Fang Lijun, 2004.6.01. | | |
Opening Reception: Saturday May 15, 2004, 6.00-10.00 pm
An introductory talk will be given by Phd. Stephanie Tasch.
The artist will be present.
Please confirm your participation by mail.
Exhibition: May 17 - July 3, 2004
Opening Hours: Tue - Fri, 12.00 pm - 6.00 pm, Sat. 11.00 am - 6.00 pm
Fang Lijun, China's young star painter, is by no means unknown in Germany. His paintings were first seen here in 1993 at the exhibition CHINA AVANTGARDE at the House of World Cultures, and in 2002 one of the artists first large solo exhibitions, curated by Alexander Ochs, was shown in Aachen's Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst. Fang is represented in the Sammlung Peter & Irene Ludwig, the Sammlung Rolf und Erika Hoffmann, and recently the collection of New York's MoMA.
In May, ALEXANDER OCHS GALLERIES (formerly Prüss & Ochs / Asian Fine Arts) will be showing a second solo exhibition of this artist in the gallery's new space, located at Sophienstraße 16. The gallery will be presenting new paintings and woodcuts of this artist on three floors, including the work Spring 2004, which Fang Lijun painted as a commentary for the next World Cup. In the company of artists like Rosemarie Trockel, Georg Baselitz, and Jeff Koons, Fang Lijun is participating in the FIFA Project and has been invited as an 'artistic representative of Asia' for the World Cup's cultural program.
FANG LIJUN works with an 'inner ' gaze, a gaze directed at himself and thus on Chinese society. In so doing, this artist, born in 1963, reflects the transformations of China so precisely that one might call his work seismographic. Still termed a 'cynical realist', the hard edge of earlier works has given way to a more gentle irony. As the artist's themes have shifted, so have his colors. In his last painting cycle, LIFE IS NOW, an almost brilliant colorfulness has taken hold.
The cast of his paintings has become more 'grown up', more 'self-confident'. Along with human figures, as always bald and thus de-individualized, Fang Lijun's visual language is made up of flowers, the sky, water, and mountains. All the same, the artist rejects any conclusions or more far-reaching categorizations that might be drawn from this. He also refuses the idea that he 'speaks' for his generation. The artist responds to every attempt at definition with indeterminacy 'Indeterminacy is, when you pull the branches from your eyes and find mountains. Moving forward, you will see more trees, birds, a river behind the forest, grass on the shores […] All that is but detail. That is indeterminacy.'
WE ARE MOVING (TWO HOUSES FURTHER DOWN!)
ALEXANDER OCHS GALLERIES BERLIN | BEIJING
SOPHIENSTR. 16
10178 BERLIN
www.alexanderochs-galleries.de
info@alexanderochs-galleries.de |
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