Zhang Xiaogang

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Zhang Xiaogang (born 1958) is a contemporary Chinese symbolist/surrealist painter, well known for his Bloodline series of paintings, which are haunting, often monochromatic, slightly stylized portraits of Chinese people, usually with large, dark-pupiled eyes, posed in a stiff manner deliberately reminiscent of family portraits from the 1950s and 60s. Critics have praised these paintings as "portraits of the modern Chinese soul". On 21 March 2007, his work Bloodline: Three Comrades sold for $2,112,000 at Sotheby's in New York.^[1]

He is represented by Chinese Contemporary in London and Beijing, Gallery Artside in Seoul, Jaski Art Gallery in Amsterdam and Max Protetch in New York.

1 Childhood, Education, Early Career
2 Influences
3 Analysis
4 Exhibitions
5 Prizes and awards
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Childhood, Education, Early Career

Zhang was born in the city of Kunming in China's Yunnan province in 1958. He came of age during the 1960s and 70s political upheavals known as the Cultural Revolution, which exerted a certain influence on his painting. In 1982, he graduated from the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts in the city of Chongqing in Sichuan province, then joined a young group of young avant-garde painters who came to prominence during the 1980s.

[edit] Influences

Western painters including Picasso and Dali have been considered influences. Zhang also said: "I read in a book once a few words by British experimental artist Eduardo Paolozzi, which were very influential for me: "a person can very easily have the right idea, but choose the wrong means to express it. Or he can have the right means, but lack a clear idea." Lastly, Zhang cites his discovery of photos of his mother as a young, attractive woman as a key inspiration for the Bloodline series.

[edit] Analysis

Referring to the Bloodline paintings, Zhang notes that old photographs "are a particular visual language" and says: "I am seeking to create an effect of 'false photographs' - to re-embellish already 'embellished' histories and lives." He adds: "On the surface the faces in these portraits appear as calm as still water, but underneath there is great emotional turbulence. Within this state of conflict the propagation of obscure and ambiguous destinies is carried on from generation to generation."

Regarding the influences of China's political upheavals on his paintings, Zhang has said, "For me, the Cultural Revolution is a psychological state, not a historical fact. It has a very strict connection with my childhood, and I think there are many things linking the psychology of the Chinese people today with the psychology of the Chinese people back then."

Regarding the portrait-like format of the works, he notes, "Posing for a photograph, people already display a certain formality. It is already something artificial. What I do is increase this artificiality and this sense of formalism." Zhang accomplishes this by increasing the "perfection" of the faces, as though by retouching - in the process giving them a disturbing, mask-like quality. This can be related to the groupthink tendency in Chinese culture, which places great pressure on individuals to subsume themselves in group norms.

Asked about the full title of the Bloodline series - Bloodline: the Big Family - Zhang said, "We all live 'in a big family'. The first lesson we have to learn is how to protect ourselves and keep our experiences locked up in an inner chamber away from the prying eyes of others, while at the same time living in harmony as a member of this big family. In this sense, the "family" is a unit for the continuity of life and an idealized mechanism for procreation. It embodies power, hope, life, envy, lies, duty and love. The "family" becomes the standard model and the focus for the contradictions of life experiences. We interact and depend on each other for support and assurance."

The Bloodline paintings often feature small patches of color, the meaning of which can be interpreted in various ways. Obviously, it can be read as a bursting forth of individuality through the conformity of Chinese society, particularly during the Mao era. However, it can also be interpreted as a flaw in the mask of perfection required by the social pressures on middle class Chinese people, or, more prosaically, as an imitation of physical damage to the actual photographs that inspired the paintings.

[edit] Exhibitions

Solo Exhibitions

1989: Lost in the Dreams Gallery of the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts, Chongqing, China
1997: Bloodline: The Big Family-1997 Gallery of the Central Academy of Fine Arts
1998: Bloodline: The Big Family-1998 Hanart Taibei Gallery, Taiwan
1999: Les Camarades Gallery De France, Paris
2000: "Zhang xiaogang 2000" Gallery of Max Potetch, New York
2004: Hong Kong Arts Center, Hong Kong

Group Exhibitions

1989: China Avant-Garde National Art Gallery, Beijing
1991: "I Don't Want to Play Cards with Cezanne" and Other Works: Selections from the Chinese "New Wave" and "Avant-Garde" Art of the Eighties Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena, California
1992: The Guangzhou Biennial: Oil Paintings from the 90s Guangzhou, China

Documents of China Contemporary Art Show Travelling exhibition in Beijing, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Shenyang, Shanghai, Nanjing

1993: China's New Art Post-1989, Hong Kong Art Center, Hongkong; Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia; Marlborough Fine Art, London

Mao Goes pop Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney China's Experience Exhibition, Sichuan Art Gallery, Chengdu, China

1994: Chinese Contemporary Art at São Paulo 22nd International Biennial of São Paulo, Brazil
1995: 46th Venice Biennial Venice

China New Arts Vancouver Art Museum, Vancouver, Canada Contemporary Chinese Art Exhibition, In the Absence of Ideology, Kampnagel Halle-K3, Hamburg, Germany

1996-97: China! Zeitgenossische Malerei Bonn Art Museum, Bonn, Germany; Kuenstlerhaus, Vienna, Austria; Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin

Reckoning With the Past: Contemporary Chinese Paintings, Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, Great Britain The 2nd Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art Queensland Art Museum, Australia 4 Points de Rencotre, China, 1996 Galerie de France, Paris Reality: Present and future International Art Palace, Beijing The First Academic Exhibition of Chinese Contemporary Art, China National Art Gallery, Beijing and Hong Kong Art Center, Hong Kong

1998: Helsinki Art Museum, Helsinki, Finland.
2000: Kwangju Biennale 2000, Kwangju, Korea

A Hundred Years of Chinese Oil Painting, China National Art Gallery, Beijing

2001: group exhibition, Artist Centre, Oslo, Norway
2002: "Babel 2002" exhibition, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea.

[edit] Prizes and awards

Bronze Prize at the 22nd São Paulo Biennial Exhibition in Brazil in 1994.
Document Prize at the First Academic Exhibition of Chinese Contemporary Art held at the China National Museum of Fine Arts and Hong Kong Art Centre in 1996.
Prize for Contemporary New Asian Artists granted by the British Court's International Art Fund in Hong Kong.