Beschreibung:

Zeng Fanzhi (B. 1964)Untitled No. 5
2000
signed and dated 2000 on the lower right
oil on canvas
200 x 150 cm (78 3/4 x 59 1/16 in)FootnotesProvenance
Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner
Exhibited
Shanghai, ShanghART Gallery, Zeng Fanzhi: Raw Beneath The Mask, 2001
Literature
Zhou Xiaowen & Chen Yan, Raw Beneath The Mask, ShanghART Gallery, Shanghai, 2001, p. 18 - 19, illustrated in colour
Pi Li & He Lijun, I/We: The Painting of Zeng Fanzhi - 1991-2003, Hubei Fine Arts Publishing House, Wuhan, 2003, p. 152 - 153, illustrated in colour
Gladys Chung, Zeng Fanzhi: Catalogue Raisonné Volume I, 1984-2004 (English version), Skira editore S.p.A., Milan, 2019, p. 636, illustrated in colour
Gladys Chung, Zeng Fanzhi: Catalogue Raisonné Volume I, 1984-2004 (Chinese version), Skira editore S.p.A., Milan, 2019, p. 234, illustrated in colour
曾梵志
無題 第5號
油彩 畫布
2000年作
簽名：曾梵志 2000 Zeng Fanzhi（右下）
來源
現藏家得自藝術家本人
展覽
「曾梵志：面具之後」，上海，香格納畫廊，2001年
出版
《曾梵志：面具之後》，周曉雯及陳艷編，香格納畫廊，上海，2001年，第18 - 19頁，彩圖
《我-我們：曾梵志的繪畫1991-2003》，皮力及何麗君編，湖北美術出版社，武漢，2003年，第152 - 153頁，彩圖
《曾梵志作品全集第一冊1984-2004》（英文版），鍾嘉賢著，Skira出版，米蘭，2019年，第636頁，彩圖
《曾梵志作品全集第一冊1984-2004》（中文版），鍾嘉賢著，Skira出版，米蘭，2019年，第234頁，彩圖
Although the imageries of Zeng Fanzhi's Mask series remained the same over the course of ten years, the artist never stopped exploring and innovating within its iconic schema. This series is a spiritual portrait of everyone, from the individual to the nation as a whole, during the tumultuous period of the Chinese economic reform. Not only can it serve as a psychological snapshot of an era, but it is also a window into the artist's internal transformations. In the year 2000, Zeng Fanzhi was no longer a nervous young artist who just arrived in Beijing. At the time, he was already a well-established artist with numerous exhibits in world-renown galleries and museums on his resume, and he was consistently gaining ground on the international art stage.
In Mask 2000 No. 3, the man in the grey suit confidently presents himself with one hand in his pocket and another extending forward. This representational work is unmistakably a portrait of a successful person in high spirit. In comparison to another work that was completed in the same year, Untitled No. 5 favours the power of an unpolished and direct expression. Bare-chested with one hand in his pocket and another on his hip, the pose of this male figure gives the composition tension and structure. He looks squarely at the viewers with a steadfast gaze and tightly sealed lips. In contrast with his lanky build, his head is disproportionally big and prominent, and his hands are also unusually large. His right thumb cryptically protrudes from his pocket—this peculiar point of interest is a metaphor that signals authority and confidence. Using the hands as a stand-in to render the character's psychological state is a visual device that Zeng Fanzhi has perfected over the years.
Untitled No. 5 is a departure from the Mask series—Zeng Fanzhi no longer relies on the Western traditional painting technique of using colour planes to give structure to the composition. Instead, his execution seen here is more akin to the brushwork style of Chinese ink painting. Not only do lines play a functional role of delineating the form of the figure, but the intrinsic aesthetics within the lines themselves is a subject of artistic appreciation. In Untitled No. 5, the legs of the figure are not completely painted— they remain "unfinished" as if they dissolve into thin air. This treatment highlights the importance of intangible mental imageries in Chinese art. The background is also intentionally left blank—it is a compositional arrangement in Eastern art that brings out the ineffable vacantness and lyrical atmosphere in the work. This pictorial approach can be considered a pivotal moment in Zeng Fanzhi's artistic career. It ushers in both conceptual and formal transformations in his art in the following decade.
"Every work I paint poses a question. It's a question on humanity. It's a series of questions concerning everything from the cradle to the grave. This has been my goal and direction since I staged my first solo exhibition in 1990. The objective is to reveal all plight of humanity". In the Mask series, the attires of the figures are utilized to signal their identity. On the contrary, the protagonist in Untitled No. 5 is shirtless, and thus viewers are not able to discern his background or social status. They can only view him as an individual made of flesh and blood, and this individual radiates casual confidence with his purposeful gaze. What the artist aims to express is not the appearance of an individual but the internal spirit of humanity.
曾梵志的代表系列《面具系列》歷經十年，在相同的圖式裡持續探索與改變。此系列作品刻劃從國家到個人，在面對改革開放帶來天翻地覆的巨變時，大時代下人們的精神面貌。從曾梵志的作品中，我們不僅能一窺時代精神，也能一探藝術家的內心變化。2000年的曾梵志，他不再是初到北京而感彷徨的年青藝術家。當時的曾梵志個人閱歷成熟許多，不斷地在畫廊和美術館舉行展覽，持續朝向國際藝壇發展。
《面具2000 第三號》畫中身著灰色西裝的男子，一隻手插在口袋，另一隻手向前延伸，具體描繪出一位成功的社會人士的神采飛揚形象。相比之下，同樣創作於2000年的《無題 第五號》，則強調不加修飾而直接有力的表現手法。畫中男子赤裸著上身，一手撐著腰，一手插在口袋裡，產生一種帶有張力的結構。他緊閉著唇，眼神堅定地凝視前方，正好與觀眾會合。與男子瘦長的身軀相比、頭部比例明顯較大而突出，雙手也超越尋常地大。畫面中甚為引人注目的，是從口袋中伸出來的右手那暗示了權力與自信的大拇指，貫徹了曾梵志善用人物手部作為心理描寫的手法。
與《面具系列》作品相比，曾梵志在《無題 第五號》中放棄西方繪畫傳統以色塊建構畫面，在技法上更加傾向中國水墨繪畫的「用筆」，強調線條不只具有勾勒人物形態的功能性，而更擁有表現自身美感的可觀賞性。《無題 第五號》中人物的雙腿沒有被「畫完」，彷彿消融在空氣之中，這種處理方式亦體現了中國畫對「意」的重視，包括背景的「留白」安排令整體氣氛更傾向東方虛無與寫意的特徵。如此的畫法可謂曾梵志藝術生涯中的一個轉捩點，開啟了他往後十年的觀念和形式上的蛻變。
「我所畫的每一張畫其實提出的都是一個問題，都是人的問題，從生到死的一系列問題。我從1990年搞個展開始就抱定了這個目標和方向，就是要提出人所面臨的所有困境。」有別於《面具》的人物均以服飾強調個人身份，此畫主角赤裸上身，令觀眾難以判斷其背景和地位，只能把對方視為一個有血有肉的人。而眼前這個人，就是如此的從容不迫，自信滿滿，眼神堅定不移。藝術家要表達的其實不是人的外表，而是人的內在精神。