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Lot Essay
Zeng Fanzhi's portraits capture the zeitgeist of China in an age of transition. Figures wear masks that freeze their faces into grimacing smiles, standing against indeterminate backgrounds. There is a pervading sense of isolation and emotional distance, reflecting the artist's feeling that people in the modern age are increasingly unable to connect with one another.
Portrait 07-8-1 depicts the modern Chinese urbanite, confident and sophisticated in his stylish western suit. His demeanour is calm and almost defiant with its direct gaze, hands tucked into pockets has he stands in a classic contrapposto pose. Yet cool as he may be, the figure lacks the character that distinguishes Zeng's portraits of real sitters. This man is an archetype and a symbol, closer to a model from a magazine than a true individual.
With large eyes and exaggerated features, the figure's face echoes the masks that appear in so many of the artist's other works from the 90s to 2000s. Zeng derived inspiration from expressionist artists such as Max Beckmann and Egon Schiele, who were more interested in the possibilities offered by exaggeration than in realistic depictions of life. Here, the large eyes and head give the figure cartoonish proportions, enhancing his facial expression and drawing the viewer's focus.
To further emphasise the feeling of alienation, Zeng Fanzhi uses a blurring technique over the figure's face, achieved by scraping a palette knife upward over still-wet oil paint. According to Zeng, "On one hand, I use the palette knife to differentiate these works from past styles, while on the other hand I want to eliminate the things that are strongly expressive. Using the knife I scrape away the brushstrokes that excite me, removing them so that calm is maintained, and that those things are hidden inside." The smeared paint intentionally obscures the face of the figure via distortion and disfiguration, acting as a subtle mask through which we can only glimpse the expressive intentions of the artist.
By situating the figure in Portrait 07-8-1 against an unpainted background, Zeng references modern and classical European painting traditions that used a similar technique to focus attention on portrait subjects. In paintings by Diego Velasquez and Edouard Manet, figures isolated in space gain greater clarity and focus, allowing the viewer to focus on the solidity of the subject and the painterly qualities of the work.
Here, Zeng has picked out the details of the black suit using primary colours, which echo the red and blue tones that highlight the figure's face. From the neck down, the torso – cut off at the knees like an unfinished sketch or a fragment of a Greco-Roman sculpture – feels solid against the raw canvas, in contrast to the face which dissolves upward like streams of smoke or a barely-present afterimage.
In his own words, Zeng has described his own feelings of internal disassociation as a motivating force driving his creation. "Before coming to Beijing I had been living in an alley since I was born, where people were stricken by different diseases, and there were various deformities. I can never forget the feelings for them. However, I dress up now wearing suits and ties. I have something deep in my heart. It moves me and can never be wiped out. I will surely express and release it. It is in fact an incontrollable feeling, and it is this feeling that gives birth to these paintings."
Rather than trying to capture a specific person or likeness, Zeng depicts the increasing isolation and detachment between people's outer appearance and internal feelings – a portrait of the mood and spirit of the times.
Portrait 07-8-1 depicts the modern Chinese urbanite, confident and sophisticated in his stylish western suit. His demeanour is calm and almost defiant with its direct gaze, hands tucked into pockets has he stands in a classic contrapposto pose. Yet cool as he may be, the figure lacks the character that distinguishes Zeng's portraits of real sitters. This man is an archetype and a symbol, closer to a model from a magazine than a true individual.
With large eyes and exaggerated features, the figure's face echoes the masks that appear in so many of the artist's other works from the 90s to 2000s. Zeng derived inspiration from expressionist artists such as Max Beckmann and Egon Schiele, who were more interested in the possibilities offered by exaggeration than in realistic depictions of life. Here, the large eyes and head give the figure cartoonish proportions, enhancing his facial expression and drawing the viewer's focus.
To further emphasise the feeling of alienation, Zeng Fanzhi uses a blurring technique over the figure's face, achieved by scraping a palette knife upward over still-wet oil paint. According to Zeng, "On one hand, I use the palette knife to differentiate these works from past styles, while on the other hand I want to eliminate the things that are strongly expressive. Using the knife I scrape away the brushstrokes that excite me, removing them so that calm is maintained, and that those things are hidden inside." The smeared paint intentionally obscures the face of the figure via distortion and disfiguration, acting as a subtle mask through which we can only glimpse the expressive intentions of the artist.
By situating the figure in Portrait 07-8-1 against an unpainted background, Zeng references modern and classical European painting traditions that used a similar technique to focus attention on portrait subjects. In paintings by Diego Velasquez and Edouard Manet, figures isolated in space gain greater clarity and focus, allowing the viewer to focus on the solidity of the subject and the painterly qualities of the work.
Here, Zeng has picked out the details of the black suit using primary colours, which echo the red and blue tones that highlight the figure's face. From the neck down, the torso – cut off at the knees like an unfinished sketch or a fragment of a Greco-Roman sculpture – feels solid against the raw canvas, in contrast to the face which dissolves upward like streams of smoke or a barely-present afterimage.
In his own words, Zeng has described his own feelings of internal disassociation as a motivating force driving his creation. "Before coming to Beijing I had been living in an alley since I was born, where people were stricken by different diseases, and there were various deformities. I can never forget the feelings for them. However, I dress up now wearing suits and ties. I have something deep in my heart. It moves me and can never be wiped out. I will surely express and release it. It is in fact an incontrollable feeling, and it is this feeling that gives birth to these paintings."
Rather than trying to capture a specific person or likeness, Zeng depicts the increasing isolation and detachment between people's outer appearance and internal feelings – a portrait of the mood and spirit of the times.