Zhang Xiaogang

Schoeni Gallery, Hong Kong

Colours: The colours are fairly accurate in the catalogue illustration, although the overall tonality is slightly brighter and more vibrant in the original. Condition: This work is in very good condition. There is extremely light wear to the top left, right and bottom right hand corner edges. There is a very faint horizontal rub mark along the left section of the extreme top edge, visible in the catalogue illustration. There is no retouching apparent when examined under ultra-violet light.
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Begun in 1994, Zhang Xiaogang's Bloodline Series represents one of the most powerful contributions by an artist to the Chinese avant-garde. Replete with significance following the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989, the output of Chinese avant-garde artists during the 1990's aimed to articulate the injustices of a generation, exteriorising them through a myriad of styles and inspirations. For his own inspiration Zhang Xiaogang looked to old photographic portraits that formed such a fundamental testimony to the private existence of the Chinese family during the 20^th Century. By repeating such a simple theme with subtle and delicate variations, the series is able to unlock the serene façade that appears to dominate the images: "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." (The artist quoted in Edward Lucie-Smith, Umbilical Cord of History, Paris 2004, p. 12) By undermining what is seemingly a formal and contrived exercise in memorialising, the artist is able to hint at a deeper agenda that bubbles below the surface, as though we are witnessing the exact moment where the cocktail of individual aspiration and state control boils over. These swathes of pigment could almost be the scars of wounds that have half-healed, telling the story that the implacable faces refuse to relate.

"I am seeking to create an effect of 'false photographs' - to re-embellish already embellished histories and lives" (ibid., p. 11) Therefore, by imposing faint lines, almost blood vessels, across the canvas the artist links each work in the series to one another as though they all form part of an extended family.  These exquisite early examples from the series are indicative of this impetus in the artist's work, engaging with both familial and societal trauma in a time of exponential change in China.