Artwork Description

Title: Untitled 07-10-8
Artist: Zeng Fanzhi (b. 1964)
Date: 2007
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 84.6 × 129.9 in (215 × 330 cm)

Artwork Identification
A monumental canvas from 2007, Untitled 07-10-8 epitomizes Zeng Fanzhi’s large‑scale, emotionally charged practice. The composition is a dense lattice of gestural lines and layered pigment in a vivid, turbulent palette. Linear skeins veil and reveal forms, evoking an abstracted landscape that oscillates between figuration and abstraction. Signed and dated lower right: Zeng Fanzhi 2007.

Artistic Style and Influences
The work belongs to Zeng’s mature phase, where frenetic, psychologically inflected linework supersedes the cool remove of the earlier Mask paintings. His “chaotic line” language fuses the immediacy of Expressionism with the rhythm and discipline of Chinese calligraphy, producing a hybrid visual syntax—at once global and deeply introspective.

Historical Context
The painting is associated with the artist’s Random Brushstrokes trajectory, which originated after a 2005 injury led him to experiment with his non‑dominant (left) hand. Embracing “mistakes” as generative, Zeng evolved a new mode in which tangled reeds and “messy grass” become fields of memory and emotion. In Untitled 07-10-8, figures related to the revolutionary model opera Sha Jia Bang appear through the thicket, shifting the scene from landscape to historical recollection—replacing heroic clarity with ambiguity, tension, and human vulnerability.

Provenance, Publishing & Exhibitions
Publishing: Liu Lan Collection, fig. 2, Beijing Commune Publishing House, 2008.

Exhibitions:

Liu Lan Collection Exhibition, Beijing Commune Gallery, Beijing, 2008.

The First Annual Meeting of Chinese Contemporary Art Collectors and Invitational Exhibition of Chinese Contemporary Art Collectors’ Collections, Hejingyuan Art Museum, Songzhuang, Beijing, 2009.

Watching Classics and Dialogue with Contemporary Art – Beijing Art Fair, National Agricultural Exhibition Hall, Beijing, 2014.

Condition and Conservation
Condition not assessed in this note. A detailed condition report can be provided upon request.

Artistic Significance
Monumental in scale and ambition, the painting crystalizes Zeng’s exploration of control versus spontaneity and the dialogue between Eastern and Western painterly lineages. It is a key statement within the “weeds/messy grass” corpus and an incisive reimagining of cultural memory through an abstracted, expressive language.

Summary
Untitled 07-10-8 stands as a landmark of Zeng Fanzhi’s oeuvre—technically masterful, symbolically rich, and historically resonant—affirming his position as a leading figure in contemporary Chinese painting.