Violence is also the central theme of Fang Lijun’s 2005-2006 sculpture (opposite). Fang first established his reputation in the early and mid 1990s with canvases depicting anonymous, bald headed figures. Typically caught in moments of extreme emotion, these bellowing personages have been variously interpreted as portraits of the artist and everyman, embodying Li’s description of the post 1989 generation: “They are anti rationalistic and anti-idealistic, against metaphysics and heroism. They emphasize the accidental and pointless, cultural pluralism and the universal.” 8

　　A nightmare tableau, 2005 2006 challenges us to read the nine caged figures as heroes or oppressors, freedom fighters or thugs Stripped bare, they could be specters from Tiananmen Square or the embodiment of today’s terrorists. The weapons they bear range from slingshots, bricks, sticks, and knives to guns and missile launchers. Some are grinning confidently, others seem to grimace in fear Their actions are futile, however; penned in, they have no space to release their belligerent impulses. Tellingly, the lock that holds the cage door shut is open, implying that the figures are complicit in their captivity. Indeed, the artist has disclosed that 2005-2006 should be understood as an image of self-imprisonment, particularly that of the mind; it is the cage that is the enemy, both the source and expression of the figures’ fearful aggression. 9

　　8 Li Xianting, China Avant-Garde: Counter- Currents in Art and Culture (London: Oxford University Press, 1993), 49.

　　9 I am indebted to Tom Whitten for sharing this information on the artist; Tom Whitten in an interview with the author, May 2, 2007.

　　出处：《RED HOT—ASIAN ART TODAY FROM THE CHANEY FAMILY COLLECTION》, THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, HOUSTON,2007年，P180-182.