Feng Zhengjie

Born in 1968 in the province of Sichuan, Feng Zhengjie is one of the most interesting Chinese artists of recent years. Femininity is the main subject of his painting. Women painted in gaudy colours, with seemingly alien, rarefied faces, who charm viewers, locking their gazes. The eyes are the unmistakable and attractive force of Feng Zenghjie’s faces: distorted often squinting, they enrich women’s faces, giving them an aura of nobility. Haughty femininity, with a strong sensuality, women who are similar in colours and shapes, but can be identified by the striking perfection of their beauty. Feng Zenghjie’s artistic career has led to the codification of a formal element in the image moving closely with contemporary visual experience. His works seem magnified fashion photographs, but in reality they are artificially thought and constructed, as they are influenced by old popular culture, as well as by commercial contemporary images, based on imitating and counterfeiting, capable of evoking a fully contemporary spirituality. These are charming and captivating works, unreal for their iciness, but at the same time alive with the warmth and eroticism exuding from them.

This is an odd mix, left hanging in mid-air, but capable of striking viewers. Few signs are present on the often large canvasses, with faces not looking anywhere as if lost in their own thoughts, and in a confusing society making one lose the perception of what really happens. A unique pictorial style characterizing the unmistakable style of this artist.

Eleonora Battiston

see also Saatchi Gallery