Zhang
Fangbai's World of Oils
By
Zhang Fen
Still Life 3. |
Zhang Fangbai stands alone in Chinese painting
circles. A graduate of the Oil Painting Department of the Central
Academy of Fine Arts in 1991, he was a teacher in the Oil Painting
Department of the Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts, and also in
the Fine Arts Department of the China Youth College of Political
Sciences. He is now studying for his Ph.D at the Central Academy
of Fine Arts.
The most noticeable visual effect of Zhang
Fangbai's works is his use of white, not as background, but
as the very nucleus of the work. Having grown up in southern
Hunan Province, the shade of white has always figured largely
in Zhang Fangbai's life and left a deep impression on him. He
uses white to express his complex inner world, and his dread
of human nihilism. White is the essence of spirit and vigor
in his paintings.
In his series "Honest" Zhang gives
vent to his innate energy and fear of repression. Its dark brown
fluidity symbolizes a psychological process terrifying in its
inhibitory constraints.
Still Life 1. |
Also well-known is Zhang Fangbai's Eagle Series.
The eagle is a frequent motif in traditional Chinese painting.
Different artists portray the various characteristics of this
predatory bird as they perceive them. For example, Lin Liang's
eagles are beautiful, Badashanren's eagles appear proud but
solitary, and Li Kuchan's are bold and strong. Zhang Fangbai's
eagles have nothing in common with any of these. His paintings
of the eagle portray it as the kind of stuffed specimen seen
in a natural history museum. This gives his eagles a singularly
tragic beauty.
For Zhang Fangbai, still life is an endlessly
compelling pursuit, and a topic of which he never tires. He
is a great admirer of the works of C¨¦zanne. In moments of repose,
he observes still life objects, gaining inspiration from a mental
visualization of them in different colors and shapes. Zhang's
paintings are distinguishably his for their combination of still
life and simple structures.
When he graduated 11 years ago, Zhang
Fangbai was young and passionate. In the decade that followed,
his rich life experience and artistic creativity kept him from
being influenced by artistic trends. Instead he took his own
artistic road in search of a way to express the balance between
sense and sensibility.
Eagle Series 2 |
Eagle Series 1 |
Still Life 2. |
