Zeng Fanzhi - BRIC Theme Sale London Friday, April 23, 2010 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    ShanghART, Shanghai

  • Catalogue Essay


    Zeng Fanzhi has always been preoccupied with themes of suffering and redemption, of loneliness and fear. Even in his early Hospital and Meat series, his sensitivity towards the strained relationship of modern society and spirituality is evident. The expressive, almost chaotic technique found in Untitled No. 10 clearly marks the artist’s venting of frustration. Painted with multiple brushes simultaneously, this landscape is transformed into a nearly abstract field. Zeng’s unruly arrangement of lines and colour emphasizes the naturalistic element in painting, with searing brushstrokes suggesting the influence of Chinese calligraphy. They also create a hypnotic effect that, provocatively, hints at sensations of aggression and alienation; as if, by liberating himself in violent abstraction, Zeng achieves a kind of release. The picture, seemingly filled with anxiety, is thus a powerful statement of solitary, poetic feeling.

22

Untitled No. 10

2004
Oil on canvas.
150 x 200 cm (59 x 78 3/4 in).
Signed in Pinyin and Chinese and dated 'Zeng Fanzhi 2004' lower right.

Estimate
£100,000 - 150,000 

Sold for £97,250

BRIC Theme Sale

23-24 April 2010
London