Zeng Fanzhi (Photo provided to China Daily)
Anyone who has been to his studio will understand why he is not disturbed by the chaos from outside.
Zeng, who uses gardening as a form of meditation, often paints while listening to his favorite classical music－Tchaikovsky or Smetana－in his studio.
Besides oil paintings there's also a dark and mysterious room in the exhibition.
For the first time, Zeng is showing his Paper series－experimental work done since 2009, when he was excited after acquiring a piece of handmade paper.
Zeng, who is fascinated by the texture and grain of the paper, just adds very weak lines with mineral water colors based on what he observes in the texture, and the landscape that exists on the paper.
"The paper does 30 percent of the painting. I paint 30 percent. And the rest is done by each viewer," he says.
Basically, one does not need to understand the theory of art to appreciate a painting.
However, if one understands both Western art and traditional Eastern art, especially paintings from the Song Dynasty (960-1279), one can enjoy his works on paper even more.
"Even if you don't know art history, art can be rewarding if you are patient. You have to communicate with the work, stare at it for a while and feel it. Just a quick glance will leave you disappointed," he says.
That's why Zeng has ensured that the exhibition room is dark, and it takes as long as one minute for a viewer's eyes to adapt to the environment.
