PRINTCatalogue Note:
Tang Zhigang an art master who has contributed his vivid and unique images to contemporary Chinese art. His art, as unbending as his temperament, carries a powerful vitality. He blends solemnity and humor together in a way akin to straddling the boundary between water and ice. His art feels warm but not steaming, cold but not freezing. You can’t help but smile when you observe the scenes in his art; however, such a smile would be gradually dissolved by the topics presented. The presentation of the Children in Meeting Series is straightforward without losing its sense of humor, satirizing how the uncontrollable political power of today is indeed as absurd as children’s games.
Tang directly expresses his thoughts in the Children in Meeting Series. The children are arranged behind the table of the leaders, where exaggerated expressions and childlike excitement are juxtaposed. The artist injects fear and pressure, two adult emotions, into his portrayal of those children. He explains that over the course of history men have always tried to exceed their limits. While men are setting records one after another, they also subject themselves to new pressure. Therefore, to some point, the arena is filled with the fear generated from confronting extremes. Tang criticizes such a reality with irony and comparison, presenting the stress of those living in a competitive environment.
In this painting, Tang adopted a more simplistic and straightforward painting technique, which meets the essence of Chinese freehand (Xieyi) painting, a style that removes complexity for simplicity and portrays forms with spirit. He applied brighter hues, with Chinese scarlet red as the basic tone, which is certainly a highly contemporary and international use of color. The artist showed his unique point of view and empathetic mind through this series. Being sensitive about his surroundings, he noticed the common mindset of modern people and the anxiety and psychological burdens spreading through the whole world. Eventually, he tried to dissolve such heaviness through his customary bright and lighthearted images of children, and that was no doubt a brilliant and wise design. Children in Meeting Series presents us with a fairy tale world, but in fact it is not an innocent children’s book. Instead, it conveys implications of the pressure, anxieties and the sense of crisis prevailing in the adult world.
Tang directly expresses his thoughts in the Children in Meeting Series. The children are arranged behind the table of the leaders, where exaggerated expressions and childlike excitement are juxtaposed. The artist injects fear and pressure, two adult emotions, into his portrayal of those children. He explains that over the course of history men have always tried to exceed their limits. While men are setting records one after another, they also subject themselves to new pressure. Therefore, to some point, the arena is filled with the fear generated from confronting extremes. Tang criticizes such a reality with irony and comparison, presenting the stress of those living in a competitive environment.
In this painting, Tang adopted a more simplistic and straightforward painting technique, which meets the essence of Chinese freehand (Xieyi) painting, a style that removes complexity for simplicity and portrays forms with spirit. He applied brighter hues, with Chinese scarlet red as the basic tone, which is certainly a highly contemporary and international use of color. The artist showed his unique point of view and empathetic mind through this series. Being sensitive about his surroundings, he noticed the common mindset of modern people and the anxiety and psychological burdens spreading through the whole world. Eventually, he tried to dissolve such heaviness through his customary bright and lighthearted images of children, and that was no doubt a brilliant and wise design. Children in Meeting Series presents us with a fairy tale world, but in fact it is not an innocent children’s book. Instead, it conveys implications of the pressure, anxieties and the sense of crisis prevailing in the adult world.