Fang Lijun

Born in 1963, in Handan, Hebei, China. Lives and works in Beijing

After the Tiananmen Square Incident in 1989, young artists faced restrictions towards freedom, anxiety towards the future, and hopefulness against the contradictory political system. However, at the same time, they started to experiment by rebelling against the closed-in mood of the society. Paintings that satirized society created new waves of art, and Fang Lijun was at the center of the movement, who became well known for his portrait work featuring his insolent smiles.