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Memory + ing
by Daegu Art Museum
Location: Daegu Art Museum
Artist(s): ZHANG Xiaogang
Date: 13 Jun - 10 Sep 2014

Zhang Xiaogang has become the representative artist of the Chinese contemporary art world, with his epic artworks that fantastically transfer memories of the chaotic times during the Cultural Revolution (1966-76), the Tiananmen Incident (1989), and the radical changes of the socialist and capitalist systems. On the surface his works seem tranquil and quiet, as if in a dream, but within them are swirling emotions that ring out to the viewer.

Every year, Daegu Art Museum organizes the exhibition of the most active artist in the international art scene, introducing its current trends and reflecting on the significance and value of the artist and his or her works. This is only Zhang Xiaogang’s second retrospective exhibition, and the first time it has been organized in Korea. His first was held in Australia in 2009. Therefore, this is a very special and rare opportunity for a comprehensive understanding of the breadth of Zhang Xiaogang’s art; starting from his early works in the 1980s to his most recent works. 

The evolution of Zhang Xiaogang’s artworks

The 1980s
In this period, the artist was absorbed in and explored Western Modernism, whilst mainstream art in China had been inclined towards Social Realism. Influenced by Vincent van Gogh, Jean-François Millet and René Magritte,Zhang Xiaogang was unfolding a different kind of artwork separate from the local mainstream art tendency. He created mysterious and dreamlike symbols that grew from his inner meditation. Through his depiction of ghostly figures that had never been present in Chinese art history before, he delivers the angst and discomfort of the reality of a generation.

The 1990s
In 1992, the artist travelled to Europe and directly encountered Western artworks for the first time, leading him to become extremely conscious of the Chinese identity. Afterwards, he drew images of Tiananmen Square and family photos taken during the Cultural Revolution, and began to seriously contemplate the issue of ‘what is Chinese’. His most representative series Bloodline: The Big Family (1993-present) was inspired by his mother’s old photographs. The figures inside the paintings are often wearing Mao suits with very distinct blood-like lines across their blemished faces; the blood and blemishes show that they are connected as a family. Through these works, he intended to capture the individual as well as the the collective imagery of the Chinese, who have undergone immense anguish and pain throughout the modern history of China.

From 2000 to the present
Since 2000, Zhang Xiaogang has been exploring the idea of nostalgia for the past and the continuous change of memory in his series Amnesia and Memory, In & Out and Description. In Amnesia and Memory, the artist illustrates those who were hurt by the remembrance of the past, whilst In & Out represents his childhood memories that focus on symbolic images of speakers and green walls that have remained in his memory. On the other hand, he uses the format of a diary in Description to write over his paintings of popular TV and film from his childhood, experimenting with the overlap of different memories.

Recent works
Zhang Xiaogang either reinterprets Chinese traditional painting with a modern sensibility or utilizes various media simultaneously. He also transfers the images of his figures in Bloodline: The Big Family  into three-dimensional objects.

*image (left)
Zhang Xiaogang
Green Wall: sofa, 2008
Oil on canvas, 200 x 150 cm
courtesy of the artist and Daegu Art Museum 

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