Oh boy. Lotta pain in China. Lotta pain.
Fang Lijun is one of the best-known contemporary Chinese painters. Soul as psyche, that's what Fang paints. We've all had dreams of drowning. Those nightscapes are psychic soul-speak for being overwhelmed, for being powerless. They can be terrifying.
This is Fang's interpretation of Mao's famous swim in the Yangtze River in 1966, which was Mao's signal to the country that, at 73 years old, he was still vigorous enough to re-take control. He was, and that swim was the beginning of China's descent into the terror of the Cultural Revolution. Fang's figure in the water looks like a corpse rather than a swimmer.
You often see this facial expression in e.g.
Sports Illustrated action photos of say butterfly-style swimmers. However in Fang's painting the arms are not extended out of the water. His man is not exercising any control. He is being dragged under. This is a last gasp.
In homicide work, this man is known as "a floater." He's dead.
