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Memory of Time

When the studio is floated with music every afternoon, it annouces the formal start of Zhang Xiaogang's working hours. China has become the focus of the whole world's attention in the 21st century with its rapidly-growing economy. Making its appearance more brilliant on the international stage is its contemporary art contributed to a lot by the perseverance and unremitting efforts of Chinese artists which can date back to the period prior to the reform and opening up. In recent years Chinese contemporary art, with its increasingly skyrocketing prices and fabulous art stars, is drawing growing attention from the international community. Zhang Xiaogang is one of the best representative of Chinese contemporary artists.

Zhang Xiaogang is so well-known that he, more than anyone else, can by no means be neglected at the mention of contemporary Chinese art. However, much more well- known than the artist himself, his series "Bloodline: Big Family" never fails to arouse within numerous viewers the inexpressible feelings and emotions even if they might not know about the artist. Zhang Xiaogang, with his original photo-like painting, has successfully redefined and reflected the memory of a time gone past.

Zhang Xiaogang was compared to a miniature artist of Chinese contemporary art by his talent scout, Li Xianting. Zhang was born in 1958 and has gone through all the changes of Chinese society in the past three decades. As one of the intellectuals in China, what he has done reflects the art ambition of his group and the way he has been going all the time round is simply an indicator of the changes in Chinese contemporary art in the past three decades. The critice LU Peng said "Zhang Xiaogang is an artist related to various art phenomena in the early 90s but remains independent of his unique artistic style. We can never attempt to interpret his art in the light of the popular art with the artistic style he has initiated, though many popular elements can find their way into his art." (Chines Art History of the 20th Century, Peking University Press, P. 922). The cover of LU's Chinese Art History of the 20th Century, is the right works "Big Family" by Zhang Xiaogang.

As a matter of fact, the artist himself has a pretty sensible understanding of his own art, "I am neither a culture-style artist for I am not sensitive to big issues nor a science- style artist though I have done a lot of experimental arts. On the contrary to Wang Guangyi who views problems in the overall light, I, like Kafka, am only responsible for our inner part. What I am doing is trying to think of problems in the light of human nature or to explore the inner world from an individual viewpoint."

In 1994, Zhang's series "Bloodline: Big Family" made its appearance in the "22nd Sao Paulo Biennial". It is a series which presents the spiritual bloodline and historical family in the eyes of the artist. It is the very series which shows for the irst time in the history of ine arts the "Chinese face, Chinese family and Chinese history" as commented by the poet Ouyang Jianghe that brought Zhang Xiaogang and Chinese contemporary art as a whole an abundance of honors and applause. Since then Zhang won general acknowledgement for several of his exhibitions. And the "Bloodline: Big Family" of 1998 is the representative of its kind.

As to the origin of the works, Zhang Xiaogang explained in his Self Narrative in 1995 "Recently, I get direct inspirations for my works from personally kept photos or charcoal drawings which can been seen anywhere on the streets of China, as well as the complex mental state which history and reality has given us. l can't really say which part of the carefully decorated old photograph touched a nerve deep inside my soul. However, they let endless thoughts spring out of me, and make it impossible to get it off my hands. Perhaps these old photos do more than just satisfy people's certain retrospection. The simple, candid, dreamy vision and linguistic methods it bears are so profound that it somehow proves my hatred for the incomprehensible Formalism and exaggerated Romanticism. To me, old photos and charcoal drawings are quite familiar like a schematic language, and at the same time, they are presenting things that I did not find valuable then. Among them was a unique aesthetic appreciation which ordinary Chinese people had been pursuing for a long time, such as aesthetic characteristics which suppress individuality and emphosize commonness, and that are implicit and neutral but illed with poetic meaning at the same time."

In the eyes of LU Peng, "Zhang Xiaogang was born in a family of revolutionary cadre, a kind of family familiar to those in the 50s. And it is the custom of such families to keep old photos about revolution and construction in early days. Different from the earlier and older pictures of Chinese-style long robe, these pictures, from the 40s to early 70s, carry a direct emotional and historical relatedness with parents and their children and with the living Chinese as a whole. They even witnessed the historic moments shoulder by shoulder." (Zhang Xiaogang, ARTSIDE GALLERY, P.34) Uniform gestures and standardized expression are the features of the old time, as generally considered, however, Zhang Xiaogang, far less satisfied with this, has greater expectations, that is, to exhibit various blood lines, social or cultural.

The "big family" concept of Zhang Xiaogang relects a common characteristic of the time and wins name and fame for his series works in the international artistic world. However, Zhang Xiaogang once mocked himself saying it was the same successful big family painter that went bankrupt with his own family. Thus the artist concludes: "bloodline is unbreakable while family is vulnerable". After divorcing, he moved from Sichuan to Beijing and it was his affection and compassion for his daughter that gave birth to the series "Amnesia and Memory" following "Big Family". Just as his second wife said, "I think, his daughter is just a part of him. He also said himself that his daughter was a rib from his body. I often say to him his daughter is himself. They are not two persons but one."

The sensitiveness and ability of profound observation grants the artist the gift to connect his personal life closely with the time and society, which raises him to the heights of art. Now, Zhang Xiaogang is a universally acknowledged successful artist, an artist whose success is far beyond failure. Wang Lin, art critic and a professor in the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts said: "I wish to see more achievements and bigger success with him and am expecting him to get a sound footing in the world history of ine arts. The history of our joint efforts will become part of the history of world art."

However, the sensational success seems still unable to eliminate the feeling of loneliness deeply rooted within him. He said: "I can never expect to make any sunny and happy paintings. My paintings are all cloudy and melancholic. Maybe it is because of my experience for the relationship between my family and I always displays the negative side or dark back of life, never the positive face"

Zhang Xiaogang's good friend and artist Ye Yongqing commented on the former saying: "Sometimes the so-called 'gifted' or 'kind' is the gifted simply because his gift is not recognized. The gift is sometimes not a gain but a pain. Xiaogang is a man with a devil dwelling within him and thus he is doomed to suffer for the desire of expression. He hurts if his expression is not recognized."

As for his gift and his success, Zhang Xiaogang said: "I don't think I have a gift. My success relies on my hard efforts on the one hand and on the other hand is much contributed to the help of others. Why do by they help me? I feel it is the power of god. Whenever I am in dificulty, someone, at the command of god, will come to help me out. So I always believe no one can have success all by himself. You are living in society and it is the various elements in society that jointly help you succeed. I never think too much of such stuff as self-achievement and something like that, just like I don't believe there is a thing called gift."