Ink and colour and acrylic on paper

33.5 x 34.4 cm. 13 1/8 x 13 1/2 in.

Signed in Chinese on bottom right
PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Asia

The reconstruction of reality
Me in the Mirror by Zeng Fanzhi
People think that 'Mask Series' is just a symbol, it derives from the vibe of our live in early 1990s. The artworks were defined by labels. Thus, my Mask Series were also labeled by the public inevitably. The origin of my creation was for myself, paint anything from my own will freely, and this theme spoke me genuinely in that period. Thus, I was the happiest when I was painting.
—Zeng Fanzhi
As the threshold of Zeng Fanzhi's independent artistic oeuvre, the Mask series reveals the circumstances of individuals in the present society through its expressionist vocabulary. Accompanying the artist all his artistic path, it has turned into an epitome of the era.
The work, Me in the Mirror, completed in 1990, is one of the early creations from the Mask series of Zeng Fanzhi. The theme of mirror and the distinct style of the work are rare in his subsequent artworks. The mirror theme with a long historical standing has endured throughout ages since the Medieval period and found its modern revival in the work of Zeng Fanzhi. Uncharacteristically, Zeng presents the scene and the sitting figure therein in a sketch style and leads the viewer's sight back and forth by the mirror. In the picture, the mask-wearing figure with head in his hand does not face the viewer but sets off the real subject of the painting – a reflection – through the mirror. The pictorial language which contains the concurrent presence of the subject and its reflection has taken the image to a deeper level of dual existence, constructing a personalized narrative behind the picture through the overlap of the viewer's sights and the image in the mirror.
In the composition, the subtle difference between the reflection and the figure's real posture further blurs the boundary between reality and illusion, conveying an absurd and paradoxical inner sentiment, which enables the viewer to experience the artist's complicated feelings under the mask through an image narrative of misplacement. Thus, the reconstruction of reality reveals the confusion and uncertainty confronted by the individuals and reflects the true humanity concealed behind the rapid social changes.

Price estimate:
HKD: 420,000 - 520,000
USD: 53,500 - 66,200

Auction Result:
HKD : 495,600