| Zhang Xiaogang was born on 1958 in Kunming, | | | | define this era. Because Zhangs footing is within |
| Yunnan province,CHINA. Zhang Xiaogangs paintings | | | | the academy system, therefore the system may |
| engage with the notion of identity within the | | | | also claim credit for his success. |
| Chinese culture of collectivism. Basing his work | | | | Zhang has achieved this by bringing together a |
| around the concept of family immediate, | | | | number of polarities. Zhang uses a technique |
| extended, and societal Zhangs portraits depict an | | | | based on western academic realism to suggest |
| endless genealogy of imagined forebears and | | | | unreality and illusion; he portrays a private insular |
| progenitors, each unnervingly similar and | | | | world by means of a public artistic language, |
| distinguished by minute difference. Often painted | | | | hinting at unspoken public trauma through |
| in black and white, Zhangs portraits translate the | | | | individuals secrets. Over twenty years, Zhang has |
| language of photography into paint. Drawing from | | | | managed to resolve his own stylistic passage |
| the generic quality of formal photo studio poses | | | | from an early expressionistic period to a form of |
| and greyscale palette, Zhangs figures are | | | | classicism.This solution makes a cultural connection |
| nameless and timeless: a series of individual | | | | with the pioneering era when western painting |
| histories represented within the strict confines of | | | | technique was first successfully borrowed by |
| formula. | | | | popular art to portray the figure, when it was |
| Zhang Xiaogangs work is usually based on its | | | | adapted to mass culture in the spirit of popular |
| iconography and style, which reveal a strong | | | | folk taste. It is therefore close to traditional |
| consistency whether the works are studied from | | | | Chinese taste, hence successful in making claims |
| the angle of artistic intention or personal history. If | | | | to be a new paradigm. |
| we look at the phenomenon of Zhang Xiaogang, | | | | Selected Exhibitions:- |
| and consider elements of his art that have helped | | | | 2000 |
| to establish his position in the art world, we can | | | | Max Protetch Gallery, New York |
| look away from Zhangs psychological and personal | | | | 1999 |
| history, to focus on his contributions to artistic | | | | Galerie de France, Paris |
| language in contemporary Chinese art. Zhang | | | | 1989 |
| Xiaogangs art has become a canon of | | | | Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts,Chongqing |
| contemporary Chinese oil painting, and its merits | | | | Conclusions: |
| depend very much on the fact that he has found | | | | Zhang Xiaogangs work is usually based on its |
| new solutions to harnessing western classical | | | | iconography and style, which reveal a strong |
| academic technique (a standard in Chinese | | | | consistency whether the works are studied from |
| academies) to turn it into an indigenous artistic | | | | the angle of artistic intention or personal history. |
| language. Zhang Xiaogang is very much a product | | | | He had focused on his contributions to artistic |
| of the Chinese art academy system, and out of | | | | language in contemporary Chinese art. |
| this heritage he has developed an iconography and | | | | What to Do Next... |
| identified a special sensibility that in many ways | | | | |