Born in 1938 in Nantong, East China's Jiangsu province, Fan Zeng is a contemporary master of traditional Chinese painting and is especially skilled in figure painting.
During the 1970s and 1980s, with reform and opening-up newly underway, China was welcoming Western influences. Yet Fan remained a determined adherent to traditional Chinese culture.
Association at the age of 13, marking his entry into art circles. Besides painting cartoons and posters required by the politics at the time, he also created his own art.
After graduating from Nantong Middle School, he was admitted to Nankai University, where he majored in history. Two years later he transferred to the Central Academy of Fine Arts to study art history and later learned Chinese painting. Fan's teachers included noted artists Wu Zuoren, Li Keran, Jiang Zhaohe, Li Kuchan, and Liu Lingcang.
Fan has since continued exploration of his artistic style. To do that he sought a profound understanding of himself, as well as of history and the present.
Part of his discovery took place at Bada Shanren Memorial Hall in Nanchang, Jiangxi province. There he says he can communicate with Bada Shanren's works, and in doing so, transcend time and space.
Bada Shanren was also known as Zhu Da. He was a master of traditional Chinese painting whose miserable life fuelled his artistic achievements. His works marked a new height in painting by Chinese literati.
Fan's confidence is borne of years of hard work। In 1990, he traveled to Paris where he spent day after day producing copies of Bada Shanren's paintings. In doing so he used up more than 3,000 sheets of paper and scores of brushes.

*This information is provided courtesy of Asian Antiquities who can be found at http://asian-antiquites.com