Flower, 2005

Fang Lijun is a contemporary Chinese painter who works with both paint and wood as part of the cynical realism movement. This movement is Chinese and, in its original language, is called 'Wanshi' which is usually translated to the English word 'cynical'. Here, there is a lot of emphasis on the connection between reality and life, with a lot of the works produced in it being centered around self-mockery. Many of the subjects of these pieces are distorted or giving a strange reflection of modern life. Fang Lijun’s work, in particular, often features young bald men doing different things and performing different tasks such as smiling or yawning. These young men are part of modern society and are confused by it. What it further represents is the loss of direction that modern Chinese youths are thought to have. On top of this, the figures, in some ways, resemble monks, and yet their expressions and body language challenges traditional orthodoxy. One particularly important aspect of Fang Lijun’s work is the idea of individuality. Fang Lijun uses the traditional method of carving wood with a negative image before covering it with ink and pressing it to the paper to create the image. He uses several different carvings for one picture so that it results in the color immersion that he wants.