Go Figure: Contemporary Chinese Portraiture
By Michael Young
From left to right, Johnnie Walker, Uli Sigg and Fang Lijun, standing in front of Lijun’s Untitled,1995, at the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, 2012. Courtesy Johnnie Walker.
Fang Lijun enjoys almost rock star status in the contemporary Chinese art world. He is as much at home in the company of western politicians as he is in one of his several studios (or for that matter in any one of his eight restaurants). Last week he was holding court at a group show which opened at Canberra’s National Portrait Gallery (NPG). “Go Figure: Contemporary Chinese Portraiture” is an exhibition of 55 works drawn from the collection of Swiss businessman and former diplomat, Uli Sigg, and is currently being shown simultaneously at two venues, the second being Sydney’s Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation (SCAF).
