Fang Lijun

As one of the pioneers of Cynical Realism, Fang Lijun is best known for his paintings and prints of generic-looking men with shaved heads massed against anonymous backgrounds of sky, clouds, or water. In early 2007, the artist began a series of paintings that began breaking out of the mold that initially made him famous. With each work titled by the date of completion, Fang's series serves as a sort of visual diary or trajectory of the artist's thoughts and moods.

Fang has exhibited internationally since the early 1990s, including solo shows at the Kupferstichkabinett—Museum of Prints and Drawings, Berlin, the Today Art Museum, Beijing, the Shanghai Museum of Art, the Japan Foundation Asia Center, Tokyo, and the Galerie Nasional Indonesia, Jakarta. His works have been collected by the Pompidou Centre in Paris and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.