Zhang Xiaogang

Galerie Sepia, Paris
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2001

The work is generally in good condition, with scattered spots of retouching, mostly on the pink paint areas, a few on the top right quadrant of the canvas. Most spots of retouching are only visible under UV light, some are visible to the naked eye upon very close inspection. On original canvas, not re-lined.
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At the end of the 1980s, Zhang has already started to receive critical attention. As part of the Chinese Avant-garde, he was one of the founders of the ’85 New Wave Movement and was also involved in New Images. The gallery of Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts organized a solo show of his works in 1989 and he also participated in the ground-breaking exhibition at the National Art Museum of China in Beijing: China Avant-Garde. But at the same time he was also seeking his artistic style and directions, feeling that he had to distinguished himself and create something new, be a Chinese artist, different from the Western ones. The political events of 1989 also deeply impacted him. In a letter to Mao Xuhui dated December 4, 1990, Zhang wrote: “Maybe we can say that art should mean some kind of rational control over things”?

In the summer of 1993, his first Bloodlines paintings were created. They were exhibited in December of that year at the Sichuan Art Museum in Chengdu in the exhibition Chinese Art in the 1990’s: Experiences of China. The Bloodline series depicts simplified portraits of melancholy individuals staring quietly ahead with a mysterious and detached expression on their faces. The subject is usually a lone figure or a family portrait. The figures are connected with an erratic red line and their faces show a yellow or golden patch as if some light was reflected on them. The red line refers to the relationships between the individuals as well as the cultural and historical ties between people. The marks on the figure’s temples or corner of their mouth denote physical and moral imperfection. They can also be interpreted as a symbolic mark left by traumatic experiences.  The first works also show a dark grey palette which imbues the work with solemnity and cool tone. Based on his old family photographs and others from the Cultural Revolution given by friends, through this series, the artist attempts to document the memory of the previous generations, moving away from Western expressionist style and returning to the roots of Chinese history.

“The elements that constitute my recent art works stem from, in addition to what history and reality have instilled in our complicated mentality, some old photos from a private collection, and from charcoal drawings that were seen everywhere in the streets. I cannot say clearly which string of my nerve in the depth of my soul was pulled by these ornately decorated old photos. They made me think and I loved them. Maybe  because at that time these old pictures not only gave one some kind of reminiscent joy but also presented a certain simple, direct but somewhat illusionary visual language, which validated my mind to reject enigmatic mannerism and bloated romantism. At the same time, such iconological languages like old pictures and charcoal embody things that I am familiar with but indifferent to, among which are the aesthetic requirements that ordinary Chinese have long been accustomed to, such as the emphasis on collectivism at the expense of sacrificing individuals; modest, neutral, but poetic features”. (Zhang Xiaogang, Self-account, 1995).

The Bloodline series immediately gained Zhang Xiaogang international recognition. Not only do they discuss China’s recent history but they also are deeply connected to the artist own childhood and memories. Haunting experiences for the Western critics, these paintings were instantly seen as a perfect illustration of Chinese Contemporary Art. The Bloodline and Big Family series were exhibited in the 22^nd Sao Paolo Biennale in 1994, in the 46^th Venice Biennale in 1995 and in group exhibitions in Spain, Canada, Germany, Australia UK, Switzerland, Portugal, Czech Republic and of course various parts of China. At the time of the creation of the present work, in 1999, Zhang Xiaogang also held his first solo exhibition at the Galerie de France in Paris.

In this portrait, the subdued monochromatic palette contrasts with the pink face. This reminds us of the conventional black and white photographs, occasionally hand-coloured he used as source of inspiration. The surface is thick but flat, without any evidence of brushstrokes. The composition is restricted to the upper part of the body, the pose is frontal. The red line which crosses the canvas connects the figure to a larger family, as a suggestion of a lineage beyond the frame. However, this single figure of a young boy, seen as a portrait of the family child, is also a reminder of the China’s One-child Policy introduced in 1978.
In this work, through very small elements, he is able to transmit the sense of the individual that sets each one apart, however still respecting the standardized framework he has created for this series. From a viewer’s point of view, the variations among these portraits are not immediately apparent. But after 1993 and the breaking point that this corpus represented for the artist, he has once explained: “Before 1993, I was younger and I enjoyed exploring and practicing. My style fluctuated drastically. After 1993 and after I better understood myself, I hoped that I would be able to find a field that would allow me to cultivate myself and, as a result, (my work) did not change as much as before. I have little interest in stylistic changes. I just want to explore the various contextual possibility within my work.” (Quoted in Zhang Xiaogang, exh. cat. Sara Hilden Art Museum, Tampere, Finland, 2007-2008, p.152).
This similarity between all the portraits can also be explained by the actuality of the society in which the artist grew up. Everyone looked the same and was made to the same mould. When taking a close look at them, there are remarkable differences among the portraits and individuality stands out. Just as the red line connects the figures to their family or past, it singularizes the persistence of private memories to be found in each individual even in a standardized society with little room for the expression of the self.  This role of the memory is an element important enough for the artist to devote an entire series to it starting in 2003: Amnesia and Memory.

Zhang Xiaogang in his studio in 1995, courtesy of the artist