78. ZHANG XIAOGANG
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Zhang
Xiaogang
Untitled 2006 Oil on canvas 200 x 260 cm |
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Zhang
Xiaogang
Bloodline 2005 Oil on canvas 200 x 260 cm |
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A
Big Family
1995 Oil on canvas 179 x 229 cm |
BIO & STEPS
Born:
In
1958 in Kunming, Yunnan (China)
Nowadays:
Lives and works in Beijing
Studies:
grew up
during the Cultural Revolution under Mao Zedong. His parents were forced into
“study camps” while he was a boy, and Zhang was sent to a “reeducation camp” to
perform hard labor as a young adult; these experiences directly impacted his
art later in life.
Following the 1976 collapse of the regime, Zhang
attended the Sichuan Institute of Fine Arts, where he was influenced by Vincent
van Gogh, Millet, and the Surrealist movement.
Themes and
style:
Inspired
by family photos from the Cultural Revolution period, as well as the European
tradition of surrealism, Zhang Xiaogang’s paintings engage with the notion of
identity within the Chinese culture of collectivism. Basing his work around the
concept of ‘family’ –immediate, extended, and societal – Xiaogang’s portraits
depict an endless genealogy of imagined forebears and progenitors, each
unnervingly similar and distinguished by minute difference.
Often painted in black and white, Xiaogang’s portraits
translate the language of photography into paint. Drawing from the generic
quality of formal photo studio poses and greyscale palette, Xiaogang’s figures
are nameless and timeless: a series of individual histories represented within
the strict confines of formula. The occasional splotches of colour which
interrupt his images create aberrant demarcations, reminiscent of birth marks,
aged film, social stigma, or a lingering sense of the sitter’s self assertion.
Techniques:
His work
is developed in paintings.
Solo Exhibitions
2000
Max Protetch Gallery, New York
1999
Galerie de France, Paris
1989
Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts, Chongqing
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2002-03
1st Guangzhou Triennale, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou
2002
Chinese Modernity, Armandao Alvares Penteado Foundation, Sao
Paulo
Image is Power,He Xiangning Art Museum,Shenzhen
Paris-Pekin, Espace Cardin,Paris
CHINaRT Museum Kuppersmuhle,Duisburg
2001
The Initial Image: Contemporary Art on Paper, Yibo Gallery,
Shanghai
Hot Pot, Kunstnemes Hus, Oslo
Towards a New Image, 20 Years of Contemporary Chinese
Painting, National Gallery, Beijing,then Shanghai Art Museum, Sichuan Province
Art Museum, Chengdu and Art Museum of Guangdong Province, Guangzhou
Passe-murailles, Musee de Picardie, Amiens
Rouges, Galerie Loft, Paris
C’est Moi, C’est Nous, Galerie de France, Paris
2000
Portraits de Chine Contemporaine, Espace Culturel F.
Mitterand, Perigueux
Futuro, Contemporary Art Centre of Macau
Kwangju Biennial, Kwangju, Korea
The Dutch Gasunie, Groningen, Holland
The Chengdu Movement, Canvas International Art, Amsterdam
1998-2000
Inside Out, Asia Society, New York, MoMA San Francisco,
Seattle, Monterey
1997-98
8+8-1, Selected Paintings by 15 Contemporary Artists, Schoeni
Gallery, Hong Kong
Avant Garde Chinese Artists, Soobin Gallery, Singapore
China Now, Kulturprojekte, Basel
Faces and Bodies of the Middle Kingdom, Chinese Art of the
Nineties, Gallery Rudolfinum, Prague
Awarded Coutts Art Foundation Award
1996-97
CHINA! Kunstmuseum, Bonn, travelled to Vienna, Singapore,
Copenhagen and Warsaw
4 Points de Rencontre: Chine 1996, Galerie de France, Paris
1996
Asia Pacific Triennial, Australia
Reckoning with the Past, Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh
1995
46th Venice Biennale, Venice
Avant Gardes Artistiques Xineses, Centre d’Art Santa Monica,
Barcelona
1994
22nd International Biennial of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil
1993
New Art from China: Post-1989, Marlborough Gallery, London
Chinese Fine Art in the 1990s: Experiences of China, Chengdu
Mao Goes Pop, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
1992
Guangzhou Biannual, Guangzhou
1991
I Don’t Want to Play Cards with Cezanne, Asia Pacific Art
Museum, California
1989
China Avant Garde, China National Gallery, Beijing
In his own words:
The government never said I couldn't
display my works, they just said it was a problem of different artistic
perspectives. In the past, the government held exhibits of works that reflected
a different perspective on life. So for an artist like me, my understanding of
art and my understanding of life did not, for example, match the government's
exhibition theme, so they wouldn't let me participate in those exhibitions. It
was only a difference of ideology rather than other concepts. Ever since I
decided to become an artist, I don't think about what others may think about my
works. That's the first thing. Secondly, I don't think about trying to create a
relationship with the government or anybody else for that matter. All I want to
do is to be true to my art. Some may appreciate my work, some might not like my
work
Representative
Galleries:
ArtN sapce
ArtChina
Art Plural
Art Now
Beijing Commune
Tanya Baxter
Exhibit A
Dominic Guerrini
Ethan Cohen
Michali
Pace
Opera
Tang
Triumph Art Space
Yang
Zane Bennett
For
more Information:
http://www.saatchigallery.com/artists/zhang_xiaogang.htm
http://www.artnet.com/artists/zhang-xiaogang/