A priest, a scientist, and a philosopher walk into a bar….
If this sounds like the set up for a joke, that's because the human brain enjoys thinking in patterns. We anticipate a punchline, and in the physical realm of daily reality, the “Rule of 3” reigns supreme.
From folk stories to modern advertising, this ancient law states that when any three objects, actions, or adjectives are placed together, they form a more complete whole. After all, “three” is the smallest number of elements that form a pattern, and in the mind’s eye, nothing is sweeter than the sacred symmetry of a perfect triangle.
But what about the “Third Eye” of the soul? Can the abstract nature of the spirit realm also follow a divine design, and if so, who has a right to interpret it: scientists, priests, or philosophers?
Chengdu-based graffiti artist Fansack doesn’t pretend to know the answers to these age-old questions, but as an artist, his own interpretation follows in the footsteps of scholars’ past. In his frantic pursuit to find fresh meaning within traditional and contemporary symbols, Fansack becomes a modern day urban shaman whose literal “writing on the wall” approach blends elements of Eastern Philosophy, Religion, and Science.
With vibrant murals that depict stoned astronauts, zenned out monkeys, and pensive priests, Fansack kneels at the altar of pop-culture and offers consumers of art and culture a heady tribute not to “Universal Truth,” but to what we’ve always known to be true: That good things come in threes.
31-year-old Fan Pang (Fansack) has been terrorizing the streets of Sichuan with spray paint ever since he was a child on a skateboard, the only difference is that now he’s being paid for it…and it’s called “Contemporary Urban Art,” not vandalism. With over 100 murals in Chengdu alone and commissions by various international brands such as KFC, WeWork, Absolute Vodka, Reebok, and more, one of his biggest patrons is actually the local government, and any walk through Chengdu proves it.
This is an ironic twist for the spiritual skateboarding menace who was once beat up by local security guards for illegally throwing up tags, but in the reality of China’s mad rush toward progress, it’s true. Fansack is the biggest graffiti artist south of the Yangtze river, and it’s impossible to ignore his work. Even now, Fansack admits that he “has no idea anymore” how many of his pieces are strewn alongside the constantly budding skyline of Chengdu’s creative and commercial landscape.
Yet, this is also not entirely surprising. Within the last decade, Chengdu has proven to be a fertile breeding ground for hometown heroes of underground movements to take root locally, and eventually blossom under more international, mainstream limelights. Skateboarding, graffiti, and hip-hop, the 3 forms of alternative “Sichuan Street Culture,” seem to grow in perfect harmony with one another, and the fruits of their mutual successes overseas are not coincidental.
As I descend into Fansack’s subterranean studio in the dimly lit basement of Club Nox, one of the most popular hip-hop venues in Chengdu, I pass by a psychedelic mural of 4 alien-like figures appropriately titled Higher that looks as if it resembles the Chengdu-based rap-quartet Higher Brothers. As we drink beer and listen to a mixture of lo-fi hip-hop and indie rock, Fansack confirms my suspicions and tells me that, “Some of my closest friends are musicians, like Higher Brothers, Bohan Phoenix, and Wang Yitai (local hip-hop stars from Chengdu). We all know each other.” He claims, “I’m actually working on the album cover for Wang Yitai right now. My studio is right down the hall from his producer, Harikari.” So if their mutual friendships aren’t a coincidence, can their independent successes be considered fate?
Lil Yachty w/ Fansack PrintsPsy.P & Melo from Higher Brothers, Fansack's StudioFansack & 郑凯
To Fansack, fate is entirely the reason for his own achievements. He is a firm follower of eastern philosophies such as Taoism and Buddhism, and his artwork often features spiritual motifs such as lotus flowers, reclining buddhas, and monkeys. “My philosophy is that I trust karma,” Fansack says. “You plant a seed with your consciousness with or without your consent, and one day it will grow up. So what kind of fruit do you want later?” Fansack’s journey toward success seems to perfectly flow with his chosen path of philosophy.
After watching the 2004 French documentary “20 Years of Graffiti in Paris,” Fansack was inspired to fly to Shenzhen and meet graffiti superstar Cyril Kongo in person.
4 years later, he found himself studying art in France, where he earned a Master’s degree from Sorbonne and began exhibiting and selling his work in galleries across Europe.
Eventually, Fansack had the opportunity to not only personally meet his childhood graffiti heroes, but also work alongside those same street artists who initially inspired him as a teenager. He even describes a surreal experience where he enjoyed a lobster dinner with the CEO of Ferrari in his private villa in Italy. When asked if this success shocks him, Fansack shakes his head no and explains that this is only the beginning,“You can be at the high place, and at the low place, but every step for you is inspiration for more art.”
In this regard, Fansack is both equal parts commercial artist and creative capitalist whose “spiritual seeds for growth”is similar to the approach of a savvy investment banker, one who always expects greater interests and returns on his efforts. “I always consider my market, always!” Fansack emphasis this.“So many graffiti artists think we should stay underground… and I respect that. But with age, we should also grow, and change our energy.” While this isn’t necessarily the “8-fold path of buddhism” or the “alternative lifestyle” one would expect a spiritual-alternative-Chinese-graffiti-artist to follow, Fansack doesn’t shy away from commissioned works, and in his words, even “gives it a hug.”
From coffee cups to coke cans, Fansack frequently integrates elements of pop-culture consumerism into his art, and actively fuses these two opposing ideologies in comical ways, such as a buddha with a VR headset or a meditating monkey with headphones on. For Fansack, it’s all about balance, and he strives to never be consumed by ego, money, or strict ideologies.
“I think earning money is no problem, but how to use your money is the key. When I can reach a balance, I am most happy.” When asked about his future, Fansack claims he wants to become the biggest artist in China before sixty, then quit.
“I will become a monk” he says seriously.
It is precisely this tension and balance between manic materialism, mass mechanization, and meditative buddhism that lends Fansack’s work such an approachable atmosphere, even when dealing with deeper existential themes. For Fansack, art, religion, and science are three components to “discover the meaning of life, the meaning of the universe, and the relationship between ourselves and nature.”
“Ape and Alien”/Yibin“猿与灰人”/宜宾，2017
"Red Buddha no.2"/Kuixingloujie street/Nuart festival/Chengdu
"紅仏 二號"/奎星樓街/Nuart藝術節/成都
“Astromantic” The Temple house Chengdu成都博社酒店，2018
He represents this pursuit in his art through aliens, astronauts, and monks, all of whom embody their own unique approach to Ultimate Truth, but each just as equal to each other on their respective paths. Fansack seems to subversively (and comically) suggest this theme by interchanging various components of these three ideologies in the images he paints.
In Fansack’s painted reality, aliens wear priest robes while staring silently upward, a baby’s umbilical cord is replaced by wires, and astronauts comfortably recline in reposed buddha beds.
By splicing iconography in this fashion, Fansack doesn’t necessarily change the landscape of our reality, he simple shifts the “Triangle of Truth” in a perfect circle to prove that all three points can exist equally and simultaneously, as both parallel and perpendicular perspectives toward something greater. Each point of the triangle gives their own explanation, and for Fansack, “art, religion, and science are just different branches on the same tree,” three parts to one whole. In some of his more obvious pieces, Fansack even mixes images of artists, scientists, and great thinkers together to stress this point, and a viewer can often pick out popular public figures such as Ai Wei Wei, Albert Ainstein, Mahatma Gandhi, Steve Jobs, Yue Minjun, and more.
"See No Evil" Buddhist monkey pose
"Speak No Evil" Buddhist monkey pose
"入眼”Insitu/gallery Liusawang
Yet, how can three lines of a triangle be both parallel and perpendicular to each other, and how can an individual view all three perspectives, or “branches,” simultaneously? In his artwork, Fansack represents this ascent toward greater spiritual enlightenment through the use of a “third eye,” which has also been used historically in ancient depictions of spiritual beings. The third eye denotes that an image has deeply personal spiritual or psychological significance worthy of worship, and in a cheeky wink of self-awareness, Fansack has several eye tattoos on his own body. In his personal life, he even poses for pictures by looking through his thumb and forefingers in a "third eye" position, or by posing like the "Three Wise Monkeys" of Buddhism, who "See no evil, Hear no evil, and Speak no evil."
If “A scientist, a priest, and a philosopher walk into a bar…” truly is the beginning of a joke, then Fansack’s quirky and creative art is the punchline that reminds us it’s okay to laugh, even when faced with heavy, opposing viewpoints. Taoism vs. capitalism, religion vs. reason, collective vs. self…. by painting these contradictions in such a casual, colorful style, Fansack builds an easy to cross bridge that warmly welcomes an audience to safely cross the road between the complicated and sometimes opposing concepts posed by Eastern collective philosophy and Western French ideals of fierce self-reliance. In this manner, Fansack as a traffic guard is an appropriate metaphor for an artist who got his start paintings murals on the side of buildings for passing pedestrians to admire.
If you happen to have the time for closer inspection, Fansack’s artwork reveals an entirely new, yet familiar, spiritual universe that is deeply layered, rich in symbolism, and rewarding to explore. But even if you can only spare a brief glance upwards from a busy sidewalk in Chengdu, that’s okay, too. Fansack’s work reminds us to take a moment, enjoy life, and not take it too seriously, whether on a busy a commute or in an upscale art gallery.
Коментарі