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拍品专文
Every stage of life, every piece of experience—they ceaselessly shape how we perceive and value the world we live in. Be that as it may, we are socially obligated to respond to all sorts of probing gaze and expectations from the outside world as we gain experience with age. Zeng Fanzhi's masked figures are prime allegorical illustrations of this social convention.
Mask Series (Blue) (Lot 127) sees a man donning a mature appearance, with his slick combed-back hair meticulously finished to a glossy shine; however, he is wearing a red scarf of the Young Pioneers of China. Clothing is often the most direct representation of identity in portraits, and this man's childhood experience doesn't seem to fade over time—collectivist ideology has been deeply imprinted in his psyches. The one-bar armband signifies the position of a young captain, alluding to the omnipresence of ranks even in an environment that advocates group’s interests ahead of individual’s.
Created in 1998, this painting features bright tones throughout, opposed to traditional Western portraiture that exploits light-shadow variations to convey a sense of drama or highlight shapes and forms. The vivid colours of the flesh inherit the artistic essence from Zeng's seminal Meat series that visualizes the struggles of survival in surroundings beyond our control. The figures in his early Mask series appear to wear stylized theatrical masks, whereas the piece of alien object in this present work becomes plastered to the skin, as if the mask has always been a part of the body from birth. Zeng Fanzhi's masterly symbolic language of artistic expressions offers a reflective witness of the mercurial and complex social landscapes in China in the 1990s.
Mask Series (Blue) (Lot 127) sees a man donning a mature appearance, with his slick combed-back hair meticulously finished to a glossy shine; however, he is wearing a red scarf of the Young Pioneers of China. Clothing is often the most direct representation of identity in portraits, and this man's childhood experience doesn't seem to fade over time—collectivist ideology has been deeply imprinted in his psyches. The one-bar armband signifies the position of a young captain, alluding to the omnipresence of ranks even in an environment that advocates group’s interests ahead of individual’s.
Created in 1998, this painting features bright tones throughout, opposed to traditional Western portraiture that exploits light-shadow variations to convey a sense of drama or highlight shapes and forms. The vivid colours of the flesh inherit the artistic essence from Zeng's seminal Meat series that visualizes the struggles of survival in surroundings beyond our control. The figures in his early Mask series appear to wear stylized theatrical masks, whereas the piece of alien object in this present work becomes plastered to the skin, as if the mask has always been a part of the body from birth. Zeng Fanzhi's masterly symbolic language of artistic expressions offers a reflective witness of the mercurial and complex social landscapes in China in the 1990s.