Zeng Fanzhi
Zeng Fanzhi was born in 1964 in Wuhan, China. Trained at the School of Fine Arts in his hometown, he discovers during these years of teaching contemporary art, Chinese and Western. Nourished by these influences and anxious to experience a more effervescent context, he moved to Beijing in 1993, where he has lived and worked ever since.
Biography
Zeng Fanzhi was born in 1964 in Wuhan, China. Trained at the School of Fine Arts in his hometown, he discovers during these years of teaching contemporary art, Chinese and Western. Nourished by these influences and anxious to experience a more effervescent context, he moved to Beijing in 1993, where he has lived and worked ever since.
Zeng Fanzhi was born in 1964 in Wuhan, China. Trained at the School of Fine Arts in his hometown, he discovers during these years of teaching contemporary art, Chinese and Western. Nourished by these influences and anxious to experience a more effervescent context, he moved to Beijing in 1993, where he has lived and worked ever since.
Zeng Fanzhi is known for his characters with powerful raised gazes, on hands and stereotypical faces, he simulates a certain tiredness with contemporary society in which consumption reaches its peak and leads to loneliness and total alienation from society and oneself. His paintings are so rich in expression that reminds us of the explanatory power art can achieve.
COMMENT
An artist marked by expressionism, ZENG Fanzhi first included, in his first paintings, flayed characters. From 1994 to 2001, he worked on his famous Mask series. Each character in this series wears a white mask that fits their face perfectly. His characters protect themselves on the face, but also by donning clothes denoting a comfortable social status.
If one considers the developing work of Zeng Fanzhi as the reflection of a psychological journey, one is entitled to wonder where this journey leads. Fifteen years ago, the protagonists of his paintings were helpless victims inhabiting an illogical world. Then they wore masks to enter a realm of urban dawdlers sharing superficial relationships. Now the masks have fallen, and the protagonists are totally alone, stripped and without substance. They abandoned all assignments. Can they now rebuild themselves? We look forward to the rest of this trip.
Career
Solo exhibitions
2024
Near and Far/Now and Then, Presented by Los Angeles County Museum of Art, La Biennale di Venezia, Scuola Grande della Misericordia, Venice, Italy
2023
Old and New (Paintings 1988-2023), Museum of Art Pudong, Shanghai, China
Hauser and Wirth, LA, USA
2019
Collection Exhibition: Zng Fanzhi, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Solo exhibitions
2024
Near and Far/Now and Then, Presented by Los Angeles County Museum of Art, La Biennale di Venezia, Scuola Grande della Misericordia, Venice, Italy
2023
Old and New (Paintings 1988-2023), Museum of Art Pudong, Shanghai, China
Hauser and Wirth, LA, USA
2019
Collection Exhibition: Zng Fanzhi, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
2018
In The Studio, Hauser and Wirth, Zurich, London, Hong Kong
2017
Van Gogh, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
2016
Parcours, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China
2015
Paintings, Drawings, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China
Paintings, Drawings, Two Sculptures, Gagosian Gallery, 555 West NY, USA
2014
Musée du Louvre, Paris
2013
Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris, France
2012–2013
Zeng Fanzhi, Gagosian Gallery, London, England
2012
Gagosian Gallery, Londres, UK
2011
Zeng Fanzhi, Gagosian Gallery, Hong kong, China
2010
Zeng Fanzhi: The Sublime, Union Temple, Brooklyn, USA
Zeng Fanzhi, Shanghai Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai, China
Zeng Fanzhi, The National Gallery of Foreign Art, Sofia, Bulgaria
2009
Zeng Fanzhi, Godia Foundation, Barcelona, Spain
Zeng Fanzhi, Acquavella Gallery, New York, USA
2008
Tai Ping You Xiang. ShanghART Gallery Beijing, Beijing, China
2007
Zeng Fanzhi, Musee d’art Moderne Saint-Etienne Metropole, Paris, France
Zeng Fanzhi, Idealism, Singapore Art Museum (SAM), Singapore
Zeng Fanzhi 1989-2007, Gallery Hyondai, Seoul, Korea
2006
Hero, Zeng Fanzhi Solo Exhibition, Art Basel Miami 06, Miami, US
Zeng Fanzhi, Gallery Wedel, London, UK
2005
Sky, Fine Art Literature, Wuhan, China
Paintings by Zeng Fanzhi, Hanart T Z Gallery, Hong Kong, China
2004
Unmask the Mask, Zeng Fanzhi, Artside Gallery, Korea
Face, Soobin Gallery, Singapore, Singapore
Scapes 1989-2004, The paintings of Zeng Fanzhi, He Xiangning Art Museum,
Shenzhen, China
2003
I/We, 1991-2003, The Paintings of Zeng Fanzhi, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China
2001
Raw Beneath the Mask, ShanghART Gallery, Shanghai, China
1998
Zeng Fanzhi: The Mask Series, ShanghART Gallery, Shanghai, China
Zeng Fanzhi Works 1993-1998, CIFA (Central Academy of Fine Arts)
Gallery, Beijing, China
1995
Zeng Fanzhi: Behind the Mask, Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong, China
1990
Zeng Fanzhi, Hubei Institute of Fine Arts Gallery, Wuhan, China
Group exhibitions
2024
Urban Fluidity: Wuhan Biennale 2024. Wuhan Art Museum (Hankou and Qintai), China
2021
M+ Sigg Collection: From Revolution to Globalisation, M+, Hong Kong.
2019
Under Construction. Tank Shanghai
2018
From 1978 to 2018: Art History Shaped by 40 Artists. Powerlong Museum, Shanghai.
Turning Point – 40 Years of Chinese Contemporary Art. Long Museum West Bund, Shanghai.
Art and China after 1989: Theater of the World. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Traveled to: Guggenheim Bilbao, Spain
2017
Arcadia. Gagosian, Hong Kong.
Art and China after 1989: Theater of the World. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.
Boundless Realities, Multiple Nows – Contemporary Art from Hubei as a Sample. Wanlin Art Museum of Wuhan University, China.
A Panorama of Rivers and Mountains: Blue– Green Landscape Paintings from across
Chinese History. The Palace Museum, Beijing.
2016
100 Years of Chinese Art— Opening Exhibition of Long Museum Chongqing. Long Museum Chongqing, China
Holzwege, ShanghART Gallery West Bund, Shanghai
Fosun Foundation, Shanghai
Sont Art Museum, the 1st Exhibition: From Vincent Willem Van Gogh to Chinese Contemporary Art Song Art Museum, Beijing, China
M+ Sigg Collection: Four Decades of Chinese Contemporary Art. ArtisTree, Hong Kong.
Time Memory. Minsheng Contemporary Art Museum, Beijing
2015
Target Choice: Chinese Contemporary Art Exhibition of Collectors. Today Art Museum, Beijing, France
Picasso, Mania, Grand Palais, Paris
Psycho/Somatic: Visions of the Body in Contemporary East Asian Art. Allen Memorial Museum, Oberlin College, OH.
China 8: Contemporary Art FROM China on the Rhine and Ruhr: MKM Museum Küppersmühle für Moderne Kunst, Duisburg, Germany.
Fusion: Chinese Modern and Contemporary Art since 1930s. Wanlin Art Museum of Wuhan University, China
2014
Post Pop: East Meets West. The Saatchi Gallery, London.
Cosmos. Shanghai 21st Century Minsheng Art Museum.
Le Jardin Décomposé / Decomposed Garden. Gagosian Gallery, Le Bourget, Paris. 1199
People – Collection from Long Museum. Long Museum West Bund, Shanghai.
Matter and Memory: Early Chinese Art Treasures. Gagosian Gallery, 980 Madison Avenue, New York.
Re-Modernization: 2014 Wuhan 3rd Documentary Exhibition of Fine Arts. Hubei Museum of Art, Wuhan, China.
Parcours. Art Basel. Re-View—Opening Exhibition of Long Museum West Bund. Long Museum, Shanghai.
Right Is Wrong: Four Decades of Chinese Art from the M+ Sigg Collection. Bildmuseet, Umeå, Sweden. Myth / History: Yuz Collection of Contemporary Art. Yuz Museum Shanghai. Asian Crossover.
2C for ART, Salzburg, Austria.
I Look at Things . . —Works from the Collection. Faurschou Foundation. Copenhagen
2013
Re: Portrait—The 2013 Hall Three Official 1 Art Exhibition. Hubei Museum of Art, Wuhan, China.
Rewriting the Landscape: India and China. National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Gwacheon, Korea.
Ink Art: Past as Present in Contemporary China. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Portrait of the Times: 30 Years of Chinese Contemporary Art. Power Station of Art, Shanghai.
Passage to History 20 Years of the Venice Biennale and Chinese Contemporary. Arsenale Nord, Nappa 89, Venice.
Prima Materia. Punta Della Dogana, Venice.
Those Leading Contemporary Art Practices: A Juried Invitational Exhibition of AAC. Today Art Museum, Beijing.
The Ode to Elegance: Exhibition of Selected Collection of Guangdong Museum of Art. Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China.
2012
Taste of the East, Masterpieces of Chinese Art, How Art Museum
Collection Exhibition, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China
LATITUDE/ATTITUDE : 20th Anniversary Exhibition, Schoeni Art Gallery, Hong Kong
2011
The World Belongs to You, Palalazzo Grassi, Venice, Italy
Fusion, Contemporary Art Exhibition, Yiyuan Space, Wuhan, China
2010
Photo exhibition of contemporary artists. Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
Clouds – Power of Asian contemporary art. Soka Art Center, Beijing, China
Made in Popland, National Museum of Contemporary art, Gwacheon, Korea
And-Writers 2010, Nan Jing Biennale, Jiangsu Art Museum, Nangjing, China
Invitational Exhibition, National Art Musume of China, Beijing, China
Reshaping History: Chinart from 2000-2009, Special Documenta, China
National Convention Center, Beijing, China
Thirty Years of Chinese Contemporary Art, Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai, China
Fairy Tales: Selections from the MaGMA’s collection, Opera Gallery, Singapore
2009
Another Scene. ShanghART H-Space, Shanghai, China
In the mood for paper, F2 Gallery, Beijing, China
53rd Venice Biennale, Chinese Pavillon, Venice, Italy
Art Basel Miami Beach. Convention Center, Miami, USA.
Acquavella Galleries, New York, USA
Suzhou Museum, China
2008
China macht Druck – Moderne chinesische Druckgrafik. Staedtische Galerie Bietigheim, Germany
Cina contemporanea – Arte fra Identita e Transformazione. Palazzo delle Espozioni, Rome, Italy
Crouching Paper, Hidden Dragon. F2 Gallery, Beijing, China
The olymp – Works on Paper, Galerie Burkhard Eikelmann, Duesseldorf, Germany
Writing on the Wall: Chinese New Realism and Avant-garde in the 80s and 90s, Groninger Museum, Groningen, NL
Made in China – Print Art Part 2. Art China Gallery, Hamburg, Germany
The revolution continues: New Chinese Art. New Saatchi Gallery, London, UK
Selected. ShanghART Gallery, Shanghai, China
2007
Thermocline of Art – New Asian Waves, ZKM (Center for Art and Media), Karlsruhe, Germany
ShanghART at Art’38 Basel, Art Fair, Switzerland
Individual Positions 1, ShanghART Gallery, Shanghai, China
Time Difference, Initial Access, Wolverhampton, UK
Floating – A New Generation of Art in China, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea
China Now. Cobra Museum, Amstelveen, Netherlands
2006
Zhou Chunya, Zeng Fanzhi and Ji Dachun, LONGRUN ART Beijing China
2005
Majong, Chinesische Gegenwartskunst aus der Sammlung Sigg, Kunstmuseum Bern, Switzerland
China, contemporary painting, Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio, Bologna, Italy
2004
Exhibition of Nominate for Art Documentation, Art Gallery of Hubei Academy of Art, China
2003
Left Hand, Right Hand – A Sino-German Exhibition of Contemporary Art, Beijing 798 Space, Beijing, China ; Invitational Gallery Exhibition, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai
2002
Paris-Pekin, Espace Pierre Cardin, Paris
The First Triennial of Chinese Arts, Guangzhou Art Museum, Guangzhou
Korean and Chinese painting – 2002 New Expression, Seoul Arts Center, Korea
2001
Towards a New Image, Twenty years of Chinese Contemporary Painting, National Art Museum, Beijing; Shanghai Art Museum; Guangzhou Art Museum; Modem Art Museum, Chengdu, China
2000
Futuro Exhibition of Chinese Contemporary Art, The Contemporary Art Center of Macau (CACOM), Macau
1998
It Is Me, Forbidden City, Beijing, China
1997
8+8–1, Hong Kong, London, Hamburg
Question Marks, Singapore Art Museum Singapore
1996
China!, Touring Exhibition, Germany, Austria, Denmark, Poland (until 1998)
Reality, Present and Future, International Art Palace, Beijing, China
1995
Avant gardes Artistiques Xineses, Santa Monica Art Centre Barcelona, Spain
Beyond Ideology: New Art from China, Der Haus der Kulture das Welt Hamburg, Germany
1994
Exhibition of Works Selected by Art Critics, China Art Gallery Beijing, China
1993
China’s New Art Post- 1989, Touring Exhibition, Hong Kong, Sidney (until 1997)
1992
Guangzhou Biennal – Oil Painting of the Nineties, Guangzhou Convention Centre, China
1991
Chinese Oil Painting for Fifty Years, International Exhibition Center, Beijing, China