From art student poverty to selling US$23m work
Print Edition
His 2001 painting “The Last Supper” has just sold for US$23 million, but growing up in a working-class family during the “cultural revolution” (1966-76), Zeng Fanzhi could never have anticipated the path his life would take.
“A notion of the artist didn’t exist,” he said of his art school days in Hubei Province.
“We were art workers. We didn’t know that we could be free and independent,” Zeng, in Paris for a retrospective of his work, said.
Based on Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece, Zeng’s “Last Supper,” part of the Paris show, set a record for a contemporary Chinese artist when sold at auction in Hong Kong on October 5.
The work, which depicts Christ and the disciples wearing masks and Young Pioneers uniforms, was purchased by an anonymous private buyer.
Born in 1964 in Wuhan, Hubei’s provincial capital, Zeng is currently the subject of a show at Paris’ Museum of Modern Art featuring 40 of his works.
“It’s the first time in my life that so many of my works have been brought together ... It’s very important to me,” he said.
Currently ranked the fourth highest-selling contemporary artist‚ in terms of auction turnover — according to art data firm Artprice, Zeng’s sales in 2012-13 reached US$34.3 million.
Such success is a far cry from his days as a student at the Hubei Academy of Fine Arts.
“In the place where I was living, there were no toilets so I had to use the neighboring hospital’s,” he said.
This inspired works based on what he witnessed on his visits. For his graduation painting he presented “Hospital Triptych No.1,” attracting the attention of the Chinese art world.
His current work uses blurred lines to depict landscapes.
“Before painting a big canvas, I prepare for several days in order to attain a state of calm and serenity. Then I paint fast, in an intense way,” he said.
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