A retrospective of Zeng Fanzhi’s work has just opened at the National Gallery for Foreign Art in Sofia, Bulgaria. The group of 18 paintings are from the artist’s personal collection, including some from his Mask Series that brought him to collectors’ attention in the 1990s. I particularly like Mask No 13, where a man caresses a Dalmatian with his enormous, out of proportion hands (a signature style from the artist). There is a moment of joy in this painting which is quite unusual in Zeng's works. There is also a rare self-portrait, dating 2009, where he sits on a stool in front of a mountainous landscape, wearing a long red robe. Zeng holds a paint-brush in his hand which appears to have started a line in the air (recalling his most recent landscape works of frenzied brush strokes.). If you want to know more about this artist, I wrote this IHT story a few years back.