Born in 1963, Chinese artist Fang Lijun was still a student when his work was included in 1989’s milestone exhibition “No U-Turn,” at the China Art Gallery in Beijing. In the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square massacre, Fang emerged as a pioneer of “cynical realism,” a style that writer Ben Davidson has characterized as a “mix of ennui and rogue humor.” And while he is still best known for his figurative paintings and wood-block prints—in particular those featuring his trademark bald Everyman—the artist has focused increasingly on sculpture in recent years.

Fang’s first solo museum exhibition in