Fang Lijun
2006.1.1., 2006
Oil on canvas
250 × 360 cm
Fang Lijun – the pioneer of the ‘Cynical Realist’ movement, started working on a series of “Bald Heads” in the late 1980s and these figures remain the ageless motif in his work.
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In this work, unlike his earlier paintings, utopian cloud-carpeted backdrops become more fantastic and artificial, and the characters completely abandon their affinity to realism and transform into existential metaphors. The men’s expressions are beaten, plastic visages, their mouths welded shut, reflecting the opportunities and rewards offered up in recent years of China’s economic ascendancy.
