035: Zeng Fanzhi’s Mask series No. 9

This short write-up was done last year, after a visit to Zeng Fanzhi’s solo art exhibition “Idealism” at SAM, at the request of my teacher.

In “Mask” series No. 9, 1996. Two men are sitting on a small sofa, a bulldog at their feet. All three are facing the viewer. The two men are dressed in matching outfits. They are also wearing red scarves, like those worn by the Young Pioneers of China, an organization that comes under the Communist Party of China. The red color of the scarves contrast greatly with the relatively dull color of the rest of the canvas.

Both men are wearing white masks that are characteristic of the series. The expression on the masks is indefinable. The eyes are overly large and bright, yet dead, owing to the four spots of highlights, revealing nothing about their inner emotions. (So much for the eyes being windows of the soul). In contrast, the men’s hands look disproportionately large. The figures’ exposed flesh looks raw, with pulsating veins clearly visible on the head and on the arms, revealing nervousness and turmoil of inner emotions. The man on the right is leaning back into his seat, one hand resting on the back of the sofa and the other posed below his face—a seemingly relaxed pose. The man on the left is leaning forward, with his elbows on his knees—another supposedly relaxed pose. The composition seems to be drawn for fashion magazines, as the orientation of figures largely resemble those that can be found in fashion photoshoots. However, the men’s outwardly relaxed pose is incongruent with their bodies. The folding of the body of the man on the right is cramped and uncomfortable, and in the other figure, the violent clenching of his hands gives a sense of the him being ill at ease. The contrast between the men’s expressions and their poses show their anxiety to appear impeccable. In addition, despite the two men sitting close to each other, there seem to be little interaction between them. They might as well be two individual shots from magazines cut and paste together.

Zeng Fanzhi might be making a commentary on the world today, where the image matters more than personality and individuality. In an increasingly affluent society, people are obsessed with the image that they present. They judge others based on their looks, and are in turn being judged by the same criteria. They may be uncomfortable with it (like the two gentlemen in the painting) but one man vs a whole crowd? So no matter who they are, how nervous they are feeling, they must don on that mask wherever they go. Even the dog is a sign of class: Owning pets in China was considered Capitalist, and even if the mindset has changed it is still expensive to own pets in China. The way the two men are sitting together without contact shows how the masks that they wore affected their communication. Because of the existence of masks, distance is created between them, making it hard to confide in anyone. They are so taken with presenting an ideal image of themselves that they have foregone that connectedness with a fellow human being. Beneath that mask, these men are getting lonelier.

And that’s something worth thinking about.

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