ZENG FANZHI

ShanghART Beijing is pleased to present Zeng Fanzhi The Louvre Project, the first exhibition of ShanghART Beijing in 2015, from March 9^th to March 22^nd, 2015. It will be the first solo exhibition of Zeng Fanzhi in China Mainland in resent 5 years.

This exhibition project of Zeng Fanzhi in Louvre Museum in 2014 came from a meeting in Hong Kong between Zeng and Henri Loyretee–then the curator of Louvre Museum. They were congenial and conceived the idea of holding an exhibition together to arouse more discussions about ‘classical art and contemporary art’. Soon after that, the artist created From 1830 till Now from No.1 to No.4–a set of four individual pieces for this exhibition. Finally the No.4 was elaborately selected to be displayed in Denon Hall (Red) where specially display romantic artworks. The No.4 was juxtaposed with Liberté guidant le people and other masterpieces of romanticism，which profoundly presenting dialogues between east and west, contemporary art and classical art. Only the No.4 had been exhibited in Louvre Museum, the No.1 to No.3 had so less chance to be exposed in public that they were nearly never absent from artist’s side. Being a precious opportunity, Zeng Fanzhi The Louvre Project in ShanghART Beijing shows the entire collection of From 1830 till Now, this is the first time these four works are shown together in one exhibition. Audiences can deeply feel the rhythm of artist’s emotion in every stage of creation and his changes even breakthroughs along the way while being attracted by artist’s meditation beyond the dialogue of ‘classicism and contemporary’ about history, time, freedom and ‘ultimate freedom’.

From 1830 till Now is a set of four individual pieces, all of the 4 pictures from No. 1 to No. 4 are based on Liberté guidant le people, but in different editions and variations, which shows Zeng’s thinking and interactions toward art history as a contemporary artist. Zeng first saw the coloured illustration of Liberty Leading the People in a textbook in the mid-1980s. He remained deeply fascinated with the piece throughout his school days and, when visiting the Louvre for the first time some 10 years later, in 1995, he found the original Liberté the most moving artwork in the museum. Throughout the years, Zeng’s affection to Liberté has stayed true, he is always fascinated by the complex composition and the intense emotional charge in the colours and brush strokes, but it was the striking image of the nude Liberty in the piece that affected him the most. The free use of the body to express her impassioned feelings, the most consummate apotheosis of ‘liberty’, resonated deeply with Zeng’s conscious pursuit for ‘creative freedom’ in his youth, this is the foundation of all Zeng’s works today. From 1830 till Now could be regarded as a blank page in the Zeng’s history book, offering a fresh direction for interpreting his works.