Chen Kong Fang (Tung Cheng, China 1931 - São Paulo SP 2012)
Chen Kong Fang was a painter, draftsman, printmaker and teacher. He studied sumi-e and watercolor in China in 1945. In 1951, he moved to São Paulo with his family, becoming a naturalized Brazilian in 1961. Between 1954 and 1956, he studied painting with Yoshiya Takaoka (1909-1978) in São Paulo. He held his first solo exhibition in 1959 at the Clube dos Artistas Plásticos de São Paulo. Between 1965 and 1967, he explored abstraction, but later abandoned it and returned to figuration.
In 1972, he began teaching at the Faculdade de Belas Artes de São Paulo. In 1977, he traveled to North America, Europe and Asia, where he continued to develop his work. In 1981, the biographical short film O Caminho de Fang [Fang's Path] was produced in São Paulo. In 1985, he visited China at the invitation of the Chinese government, getting to know several places of artistic interest.
Critiques
"After his period of apprenticeship (with Takaoka), Fang began searching for his own artistic path. In drawing, and for a long time, he delighted in the subject of horses in motion, which he learned from his teacher. But in painting, tendencies soon emerged that set him apart from his teacher. An inclination toward the dramatic, the suffering, the neglected. Beggars, drunks lying dramatically on the sidewalks, favelas, old rows of houses half abandoned and in ruins, animals in strange situations are his favorite subjects. Perhaps an echo of the dramatic sufferings of the war he endured at such a young age in his native land. Clearly expressionist tendencies, yet still without the freedom of expressive and expressionist distortion. For the time being, he remains within the limits of naturalism. (...) As an 'intermezzo' in his development came the attempt at abstraction. Pressured by the fashion for Abstract Painting that dominated the country, he tried, between 1965 and 1967, to become abstract. They were years of suffering. Abstraction was not in his blood. (...) The wave of new figuration that swept the country freed him from those years of suffering. He returned to his favorite figurative subjects: rows of houses, plants, still lifes, landscapes, children's toys, etc. (...) He took up his old favorite figurative subjects again (from before the abstract attempts) and developed, little by little and progressively, what we call Oriental expressionism (...)".
Theon Spanudis
COHN, Glaucia S. (org.); COHN, J. Peter (org.). Fang. São Paulo: Dan Galeria, 1984. 144p. il. p.b. color.
Solo Exhibitions
1959 - São Paulo SP - First solo exhibition, at Clube dos Artistas Plásticos de São Paulo
1961 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria Ambiente
1962 - Salvador BA - Solo, at Biblioteca Pública de Salvador
1978 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Galeria Cosme Velho
1978 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria Academus
1981 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Dan Galeria
1985 - Schleswig (Germany) - Solo, at Galeria de Arte F. Konning
1990 - Lugana (United States) - Solo, at The International Museum of 20th Century Arts
1993 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Dan Galeria
1994 - Americana SP - Solo, at MAC de Americana
2005 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Cultural Blue Life
Group Exhibitions
1957 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 6th National Salon of Modern Art
1960 - São Paulo SP - 25th São Paulo Fine Arts Salon, at Galeria Prestes Maia
1961 - São Paulo SP - 26th São Paulo Fine Arts Salon
1962 - São Paulo SP - 27th São Paulo Fine Arts Salon
1964 - Brasília DF - Federal District Salon of Modern Art
1965 - São Paulo SP - 14th São Paulo Salon of Modern Art, at Galeria Prestes Maia
1966 - São Paulo SP - 15th São Paulo Salon of Modern Art, at Galeria Prestes Maia
1967 - São Paulo SP - 32nd São Paulo Fine Arts Salon
1968 - São Paulo SP - 12th Grupo Seibi Visual Artists Salon, at Sociedade Brasileira de Cultura Japonesa e de Assistência Social
1968 - Piracicaba SP - Piracicaba Fine Arts Salon
1968 - Santo André SP - Santo André Contemporary Art Salon, at Paço Municipal
1969 - São Paulo SP - 2nd São Paulo Landscape Salon
1969 - São Paulo SP - 13th Grupo Seibi Visual Artists Salon, at Sociedade Brasileira de Cultura Japonesa e de Assistência Social
1969 - São Paulo SP - 1st São Paulo Contemporary Art Salon, at Museu de Arte de São Paulo
1976 - São Paulo SP - Group show, at Museu de Arte de São Paulo
1978 - São Paulo SP - Constructivists and Figuratives from the Theon Spanudis Collection, at Centro de Artes Porto Seguro
1978 - Penápolis SP - 3rd Noroeste Visual Arts Salon, at Fundação Educacional de Penápolis
1979 - São Paulo SP - Theon Spanudis Collection, at Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo
1979 - São Paulo SP - Brazil-Japan Fine Arts Exhibition
1979 - São Paulo SP - 11th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at Museu de Arte Moderna
1979 - Atami (Japan) - 4th Brazil-Japan Fine Arts Exhibition
1981 - São Paulo SP - Transcendent Art, at Museu de Arte Moderna
1984 - Curitiba PR - Simões de Assis Galeria de Arte: Inaugural Exhibition, at Simões de Assis Galeria de Arte
1985 - São Paulo SP - 100 Itaú Works, at Museu de Arte de São Paulo
1985 - São Paulo SP - Mothers and the Flower in the Vision of 33 Painters, at Ranulpho Galeria de Arte
1985 - Penápolis SP - 6th Noroeste Visual Arts Salon, at Fundação Educacional de Penápolis
1986 - São Paulo SP - Antonio Maia, Fang, Inos Corradin, Rapoport and Wakabayashi, at Ranulpho Galeria de Arte
1987 - São Paulo SP - 18 Contemporaries, at Dan Galeria
1987 - São Paulo SP - 20th Contemporary Art Exhibition, at Chapel Art Show
1987 - São Paulo SP - Spring, at Liberdade Garô Galeria de Arte
1988 - São Paulo SP - 15 Years of the Brazil-Japan Fine Arts Exhibition, at Fundação Mokiti Okada M.O.A
1988 - São Paulo SP - 21st Chapel Art Show, at Chapel Art Show
1988 - São Paulo SP - Five Expressions of Brazilian Art, at Espaço Cultural do Banco Central do Brasil
1989 - São Paulo SP - 22nd Chapel Art Show
1989 - São Paulo SP - Thirty-Three Ways of Seeing the World, at Ranulpho Galeria de Arte
1990 - São Paulo SP - Fruits, Flowers and Colors, at Ranulpho Galeria de Arte
1990 - São Paulo SP - Painted Cats, at Ranulpho Galeria de Arte
1990 - São Paulo SP - 6th Brazilian Art Salon, at Fundação Mokiti Okada M.O.A
1991 - São Paulo SP - Music in Painting, at Ranulpho Galeria de Arte
1991 - São Paulo SP - Chico and the Animals, at Ranulpho Galeria de Arte
1991 - São Paulo SP - 20th Bunkyo Salon, at Sociedade Brasileira de Cultura Japonesa e de Assistência Social
1992 - São Paulo SP - 7th Brazilian Art Salon, at Fundação Mokiti Okada M.O.A
1993 - São Paulo SP - Works Illustrating the Suplemento Literário: 1956 - 1967, at Museu de Arte Moderna
1994 - São Paulo SP - Flags: 60 Artists Celebrate USP's 60 Years, at Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo
1995 - São Paulo SP - Brazil-Japan, at Fundação Mokiti Okada M.O.A.
1995 - Curitiba PR - Group show, at Waldir Assis Art Galery
1995 - Niigata (Japan) - Exhibition of Contemporary Japanese-Brazilian Painters, at The Niigata Prefectural Museum of Modern Art
1995 - Tokushima (Japan) - Exhibition of Contemporary Japanese-Brazilian Painters, at Centro Cultural de Tokushima
1996 - São Paulo SP - Flags, at Galeria de Arte do Sesi
1996 - São Paulo SP - Exhibition of Contemporary Japanese-Brazilian Painters, at Museu de Arte de São Paulo
1996 - São Paulo SP - Collection Show, at Sudameris Galleria
1996 - Gifu (Japan) - Exhibition of Contemporary Japanese-Brazilian Painters, at The Museum of Fine Art Gifu
1996 - Tokyo (Japan) - Exhibition of Contemporary Japanese-Brazilian Painters, at Azabu Art Museum
1997 - São Paulo SP - Hélio Siqueira and Fang, at Museu Banespa
1997 - Jacareí SP - Exhibition of Contemporary Japanese-Brazilian Painters, at Oficina de Artes Santa Helena
1998 - São Paulo SP - Impressions: The Art of Brazilian Printmaking, at Espaço Cultural Banespa Paulista
2004 - São Paulo SP - 22nd Exhibition of Contemporary Artists, at Esporte Clube Sírio
2004 - São Paulo SP - Work in Process. Impertinent Gaze, at Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo
2006 - São Paulo SP - 2nd Golf in Art, at Cultural Blue Life
2007 - Americana SP - ...limites... [...limits...], at Casa da Cultural de Hermann Müller
2009 - São Paulo SP - 40th Chapel Art Show, at Escola Maria Imaculada - Chapel School
2010 - São Paulo SP - 41st Chapel Art Show, at Escola Maria Imaculada - Chapel School
Source: Itaú Cultural
