Asian Art Resource Room

Credit for the artist’s portrait: Xu Zhiwei, Painter Fang Lijun #2, 1995, Collection of Fukuoka Asian Art Museum

Since the Tiananmen Square Incident in 1989, many artists in China started reflecting the stagnating mood of society in their works, as they had less freedom of expression and felt hopeless in contradicting social system. New waves of art were born from such a situation, in which paintings ironically represented Chinese social contexts through the reality surrounding them. It was named Cynical Realism and has gained global attention since the early 1990s. One of the representative figures was Fang Lijun, whose works have become globally well-known icons of “Chinese contemporary art.”

In Series 2 No.3, figures with almost identical faces, clothes, and poses stand beside each other against a clear blue sky in the background. Repeated figures may imply an oppressive society where everyone’s behavior is restricted and people have lost their individual characters in such a condition. Shaved head men are modeled after the artist himself. Grinning smiles on their faces evoke derisive attitudes towards the mainstream.