Message
In 2013, the Macao Museum of Art (MAM) held an exhibition of works by Yue Minjun, one of the Four Giants of Chinese contemporary art, with the title Neo- Idolatry. Ten years later, the works of Fang Lijun, another member of the Four Giants, are presented to the public in Macao through the exhibition The Light of Dust organised by the Macao Museum of Art under the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao Special Administrative Region Government.
The exhibition features 190 works of Fang Lijun from the early 1980s to 2022. The artist entitled the exhibition The Light of Dust, which refers to ‘concealing one’s brilliance to merge with the dust’ – an idea from the Tao Te Ching. In the 21st century, humankind faces more challenges in geopolitics, environment and ecology, or those brought by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, there are more differences and more serious problems, all of which are testing people’s judgment, tolerance and empathy. Only by applying the said tenet can we resolve the crisis by living in harmony with the world.
Using ‘Human & Figures’ as a theme, the exhibition includes four sections: ‘Passage: The Process of Growing Up’, ‘Introspection: Self-Portraits’, ‘Mutual Reflections: Friends’, and ‘The Light of Dust: Human’. The artist first engaged in introspection, then observed his close friends and various persons lastly. He is experiencing and observing life with a temporal clue, from the point, to the line and plain, thus offering viewers a glimpse into the artist’s inner mind in order for the audience to resonate with him.
As one of the most important representatives of the New Art Movement in China, Fang Lijun, together with his peers at the forefront of the contemporary art scene, strives to express their unique willingness to establish dialogue with the world through art. They have witnessed and experienced drastic epochal changes, and have also partaken the transformation of reality. Through this exhibition, I believe Macao viewers will have a deeper understanding of Chinese contemporary art. I sincerely wish the exhibition a complete success!
Deland, Leong Wai Man
President of the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao Special Administrative Region Government