Fang Lijun at Thomas Erben

Now in his early 40s, the Beijing-based painter and printmaker Fang Lijun was still a student in the print department at the Central Academy of Fine Art when he participated in the landmark exhibition "China AvantGarde" (1989) at the China Art Gallery in Beijing. The show also included such artists as Wang Youshen, Geng Jianyi and Xu Bing, among the most interesting in China. Fang went on to make a name for himself with his images of bald-headed thugs whose nihilist aspect might be read as a statement of pessimism, if net despair, about the state of contemporary Chinese society. Fang's bad boys are Chinese, of course, but their implications are universal; classic emblems of rebellion verging on caricature, they seem intent on breaking through the mores of polite society. Fang became internationally known, showing at the Venice Biennale in 1993 and 1999, as well as in the large exhibition "Inside Out," curated by Gao Minglu, which was held jointly in New York at the Asia Society and P.S. 1 in 1998-99.

At Thomas Erben, Fang showed large woodcuts that range in size from 48 by 32 inches to a monumental 13 by 28 feet; printed on rice paper, they were mounted (some in many parts) and displayed on scrolls. The work shows that Fang's hard edge has softened just a bit. His still-bald figures, exaggerated in their yearning poses, suggest more existential dimensions. In the 13-by-28-foot woodcut from 2002-03, Fang fills the expanse with the heads of open-mouthed figures, printed in a garish yellow with orange highlights; in this, the sole color print in the exhibition, they form a seething crush of humanity. in another huge work (16 by 24 feet), like the rest printed in a more subdued black, white and gray, Fang depicts a solitary swimmer, his mouth open and his clean-shaven head held just above water. His expression is one of intense effort, just short of agony; he could stand for the Everyman as well as for those suffering the hardships of contemporary life in China.

Fang also included a series of vertical 8-by-4-foot woodcuts. All of them were printed in 2001, with three presenting the grimacing bald men. The fourth shows two hands stretching up out of a body of water and reaching toward some flowers. An artist of ardor and despair who refuses to succumb to wishful thinking, Fang seems nonetheless to want to keep alive small avenues of hope.

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