“From soft transitions of ink using shades of gray, wave formations in royal blue and purple, to the lines in a woodcut, scratched into the material, in each work the artist achieves a redefinition of the visual space. There is a similar thematic breadth to the way people are shown responding to the water. Alongside works that show threatening situations, the artist also depicts swimming people with something that is otherwise impossible: flowing movements and relaxed faces. Attention is not focused on the outside, but is rather directed inward. Here, the harsh contours that normally separate people from each other and their surroundings have disappeared, replaced by a symbiotic flowing together. This dissolving effect of the water, liberating from all earthly weight, is fundamentally different from the way Fang Lijun represents the sky. Cloud formations move before a royal blue background. Colourful flowers lend the scenes a strangely fantastic appearance.” (U. Münter, Kaleidoscopic Reality Paintings, Woodcuts: Sculpture by Fang Lijun, Berlin and Beijing: Alexander Ochs Galleries, 2006)
1997 Acrylic on canvas. 46 × 51 cm (18 1/8 × 20 1/8 in). Signed in Chinese and dated ‘Fang Lijun 1997.10.1’ lower right; further signed in Chinese and dated ‘Fang Lijun 1997’ on the reverse.