07/12/15 - The Gagosian Gallery on 24th st in New York is currently presenting   "Paintings, Drawings and Two Sculptures", by Zeng Fanzhi (1964). This Chinese artist, admirer of the German expressionists and French Romanticism, displays large scale nocturnal landscapes. In some cases, those landscapes are linked to anonymous subjects that can however be historically identified. 

Some landscapes are rather abstract and present a broad color stripe on a dark background. The artist works with different brushes in each hand, and a very own construction-destruction method.

In another painting, a precise and detailed reproduction of Laocoon's head is faced with a cloudy sky. The features of his face show the agony before death. It was copied from an iconic sculpture of Western art: that of Troyan Laocoon and his sons, being punished by the gods and attacked by sea snakes. It can be found  in the Vatican museums.

Other paintings recall Leonardo da Vinci's drawings. He does a Virgin Mary seated on Saint Anne's lap, but the scene is partially darkened by yellow strokes before a powerful landscape. On another painting, he vanishes the main subject to concentrate in the fold of the cape.

The exhibition includes works on sale and others belonging to private collectors, as the two apocalyptic landscapes owned by François Pinault. Zeng Fanzhi has a long career, has presented exhibitions around the world and is loved by the art market. Always innovative, he is a talented blender of both cultures: the Western and the Eastern worlds.