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Sitting in Harry’s Bar in Venice, a place where the writer Hemingway, the conductor Toscanini, and the Hollywood star George Clooney all once liked to hang out, the artist Zeng Fanzhi and I were trying to remember when Get to know each other.
He thinks it was in 2006, but I think it might be earlier. I took the initiative to contact Zeng Fanzhi because I saw the spirit of the German expressionist painter Max Beckman in his creations at that time. In the past 20 years, I have attended many of his exhibition openings, from Amsterdam to New York, from Shanghai to Paris, and have witnessed the evolution of his style: from abstract paintings in the late 1980s to his paintings of the Union Hospital and mask series , abstract landscapes, and now, see his work over the past few years on display in Near and Far/Now and Then, presented by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) in Venice. oil paintings and works on paper.
Each artist’s creative style will change over time to some extent, but it is rare for an artist to experience so many and very solid style changes like Zeng Fanzhi.
Zeng Fanzhi rarely talks about his works. He always believes that works have their own logic, which cannot be conveyed by language or words. However, in my opinion, his style changes are gradual and emerge slowly from the process of experimentation. When he first started painting abstract paintings, it was purely to release himself. Because he was bound by too many constraints of figurative painting, he would switch from figurative to abstract every once in a while, but after a while he would take it back and paint very concrete and realistic portraits and still lifes. He found that after painting abstraction and then returning to figuration, he would be better than before. “Like a seed, after you die, you become a seed and fall to the ground to grow again.”
“Near and Far/Present and Past” is presented by Michael Govan, Director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and Dr. Stephen Little, Curator of Chinese Art and Director of the Department of Chinese, Korean, South and Southeast Asian Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Co-curated by Stephen Little. Just discussing the theme concept lasted 9 months. The exhibition title set by the curator not only represents the change in distance when viewing the work, but also reflects that the work combines images and techniques from the Song and Yuan Dynasties, Renaissance, and Post-Impressionism, but also interprets creation in a completely new way. The artists’ and curators’ offices have a scale model of the exhibition hall to help communicate the placement of the works.
The venue for the exhibition, the Scuola Grande della Misericordia, has existed since the beginning of the 14th century. The venue used for this exhibition was also used as a gymnasium for Venice’s famous Reyer basketball team for a period of time. When the artist came to see the venue in October 2019, Venice was flooded, and he had to wade through the water to enter the exhibition hall. At the scene, you can feel that the artist has tried his best to integrate the work with the architecture and form a harmonious relationship with the exhibition hall when creating. It feels like both the works on display and the movement of the exhibition have formed a whole with the surrounding environment.
“Near and Far/Now and Then” exhibition view, (C) Zeng Fanzhi, photography: Stefan Altenburger
“Near and Far/Now and Then” exhibition view, (C) Zeng Fanzhi, photography: Stefan AltenburgerThe exhibition space was designed by Japanese architect Tadao Ando. Ando first designed a buffer zone at the entrance to allow the viewer’s eyes to adjust before entering the darker exhibition hall to view the paintings.
There are many pillars in the exhibition hall on the first floor, which has a strong sense of ritual. Ando believes that the building itself is already very exciting and does not require too much piling up, so he simply placed two oil paintings, “The Impermanence of Things” (2019-2023, 480x480cm) and “All Dharmas Without Self” (2019-2023, 480x480cm). Rich without being cluttered.
There are no pillars in the exhibition hall on the second floor, which is a very traditional Western symmetrical building. Ando designed a series of screens with openings on which the works hang directly. The “window” on the screen not only has the Western focus perspective function, but also provides a step-by-step view of the Chinese garden, as well as the high, far-reaching, and peaceful visual effects of traditional Chinese ink paintings. Even for the same work, the front, back, far, near, large, and small viewing angles are constantly switching, which constantly arouses the emotions of the audience and allows the audience to learn to choose different angles to view the work.
There are many works in the exhibition that are nearly 5 meters in size and composed of single paintings. The image of “Impermanence” comes from a sketch by Cézanne. It is composed of 16 individually completed oil paintings of 120x120cm. Each painting has a skull. When all 16 works are put together, it is a skull. Big skull.
I asked him whether the work itself was related to the epidemic? He said no. The logic behind his choice of images lies entirely in whether the image is suitable for the way he wants to create and express himself, and whether it can form an interesting picture. The image itself may be meaningless, but because it meets the needs of painting, it will become an imaginary and ideal picture under the brush. The intention is to try not to paint what the eyes see. “This is a completely different feeling from Impressionism.” I found that each of the small works that were put together to form a big skull would be a little out of place, a little different in color, and the shape would be a little inaccurate, but this is exactly what Zeng Fanzhi wanted. Don’t make the picture too accurate.
Work “Irregular Things” (2019-2023), oil on canvas, 480 x 480 cm, (16 pieces, each piece: 120 x 120 cm), (C) Zeng FanzhiWhen viewed up close, the work seems to be purely abstract. Standing further away, the shape of the skull gradually becomes visible, but it still retains the vague sense of abstraction. This blurred feeling reminds me of the unique Venetian mosaics, which have a shiny surface but not particularly clear lines. The three-dimensional brushwork and the very thick texture also remind me of a tapestry. Like a dynamic figurative painting, it constantly disturbs the audience’s line of sight and looks a little different almost every time.
Because Zeng Fanzhi is relatively random and likes to pursue accidental effects, he is completely different from the pre-designed, rational and scientific creation method of the Pointillism in the late 19th century.
In this batch of works, colors are not mixed on a palette, but directly superimposed and squeezed stroke by stroke on the canvas, presenting multiple levels and unexpected tones. This kind of creation not only has a preset conception, but also tries its best to retain the beauty of chance, avoiding the rigidity of the work caused by excessive presets. Due to the three-dimensional feeling created by the brushstroke texture, you can feel countless changing colors whether you look at it from a distance or up close. This creative method is fundamentally different from the overly conceptual Pointillism.
From the perspective of studying art history, it is difficult to classify Zeng Fanzhi into a certain school of painting, because he himself developed without any frame or boundaries. Even though he absorbed the creative styles of many masters, in the end he transformed them into his own. Added his own mark.
There are several works in the exhibition, such as “Holy ⺟” (2019-2023) or “Water” (2019-2023), which are more than 2 meters high. They once had to stand on a shelf to create them. I wonder if Zeng Fanzhi needed to keep going up and down, standing further away to see how the painting was going. He did not answer my question directly, but instead said: “Look at those geniuses who play football, they will run all over the field, but they will certainly not always raise their heads to see where the ball is. They have a sixth sense of intuition. , the ball will definitely land wherever it goes. Otherwise, it will be too late to run after a quick look. The football genius not only knows where the ball will be, but the person passing it to him also knows where it will be. To compare painting, it is like a cook trying to solve a cow. The highest state of skill is to forget about technique, see without the eyes, and understand with the heart. When you don’t need to use the eyes to see, you become one with the object you want to express. “
Work “Holy” (2019-2023), “Near and Far/Now and Then” exhibition view. (C) Zeng Fanzhi, Photography: Stefan AltenburgerZeng Fanzhi recalled that when he was more than 10 years old, he could not draw colors and was still drawing sketches. He once asked the teacher who took him painting at the time how to exercise and cultivate his feelings about colors, how to draw colors, and how to draw. painting.
The teacher named Yang Jidong told him to go sketch outdoors. At that time, there was a Jianghanguan Building in Wuhan, and the scenery there was very similar to Notre Dame de Paris in Monet’s painting. Teacher Yang took him with him and taught him what the light looks like in the morning, what Jianghan Pass looks like in the backlight, what colors can be seen, what tones it will look like at dusk, and what the relationship between cold and warm is.
Teacher Yang told Zeng Fanzhi that because the sunlight behind the building has warm colors, it is necessary to use cool colors to express the buildings. It is completely an impressionistic way to cultivate the feeling of color in outdoor sketching. Sometimes he painted three pictures a day, sometimes four pictures a day. After painting for several years, he developed a sense of color.
“Near and Far/Now and Then” exhibition view, (C) Zeng Fanzhi, photography: Stefan Altenburger
“Near and Far/Now and Then” exhibition view, (C) Zeng Fanzhi, photography: Stefan AltenburgerZeng Fanzhi is 60 years old this year. He still paints every day, six or seven hours a day, and he is still thinking about technical issues. When he studies the history of Western art, he not only needs to look at the works, but also has the ability to express them. Understanding them is not enough. I once went with him to the British Museum’s collection of ancient master manuscripts to study the sketches of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and others. He admitted that although he had seen a lot of these masters’ works, it was difficult to express them, especially the intersections of Michelangelo’s lines. These places would be completely impossible to find if he didn’t draw them himself. “Once you start writing, you will find that no matter how you write, you are wrong. Only then will you know how big the difference is between understanding and expressing.”
I completely agree with his attitude that research cannot just stay on the surface. Not only Western art, Zeng Fanzhi also studied Song and Yuan paintings. From time to time, he would take out the complete collection of Song and Yuan paintings at home and look at them one by one. He has watched the two complete sets more than ten times, but what they convey is a different kind of picture effect. This is because he uses special handmade paper, old ink, mineral colors and gold powder. His works on paper will have a very unique, seemingly absent visual effect. They have everything and are at the same time. It is invisible in a blink of an eye and seems to interfere with people’s thoughts.
Whether it is Western art or Song and Yuan paintings, Zeng Fanzhi discovered himself step by step and found his own path through this learning process. I am influenced by the subtle influences of my predecessors, but I always have to transform what I have absorbed into my own language. “Force your potential” because everyone has their own passwords and symbols, which cannot be changed. For example, Van Gogh’s brushstrokes are different from others.
Zeng Fanzhi said that he will also make various attempts, because repeating the past is meaningless. “I must be an unknown thing, an experimental thing, and an accidental thing.”
Zeng Fanzhi explained that there are three processes in the creation of his paper works. He must first adopt what the jade carving master calls “skillful carving” attitude. Since each piece of handmade paper has its own personality and texture, you must spend time communicating with the paper and find creative inspiration from the communication. Starting to create is the second process. The last process must be completed by the audience. Of course, this stage will vary from person to person. Some people will have special feelings, and some people will only see part of it and cannot see the whole picture. However, the most important thing is to look at it, whether from an Eastern or Western perspective, because what Zeng Fanzhi expresses is something common to all human beings. For example, the largest work in the exhibition, “Nirvana Silence” (2019-2023, 600x600cm), has both flowing water and linear light like prints, echoing the plane and perspective.
“Near and Far/Now and Then” exhibition view, (C) Zeng Fanzhi, photography: Stefan Altenburger
Work “Nirvana Silence” (middle), “Near and Far/Now and Then” exhibition view, (C) Zeng Fanzhi, Photography: Stefan AltenburgerI have always believed that the most important thing in art appreciation is not to study genres, materials or creation methods. Good works, whether they are oil paintings or works on paper, are only different in materials, oil paint or pen and ink, canvas or paper, but the aesthetic attitude is the same. Whether it is from an Eastern or Western perspective, the most important thing is to see it with your eyes and go to the scene to see it. As John Berger said in Ways of Seeing: “The relationship between what we see and what we know is never resolved. Every night we see The sun sets. We know the Earth is moving away from it, yet knowledge and explanation never quite fit our vision.”
No matter how detailed the text is, it can’t fully describe what you see. No matter how high-definition the pictures are, you can’t truly feel the vibration of light and color. It can’t even restore the immersion of being in Venice and feeling the scenery of a Suzhou courtyard step by step. experience.
Exhibition: “Zeng Fanzhi: Near and Far/Now and Then”; Time: April 17-September 30, 2024; Location: Scuola Grande della Misericordia, Venice )
(This article represents only the author’s personal views, editor’s email address:[email protected])
