PRINTPROVENANCE:
Private collection, Europe
Private collection, Europe
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The Son
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2005 Oil on canvas 150 x 120 cm
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Estimate
13,000,000 - 19,000,000 3,342,000 - 4,884,000 430,700 - 629,600
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Inquiry
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Catalogue Note:
THE SON
ZHANG XIAOGANG
Born in Kunming in 1958, and a 1982 graduate of the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Zhang Xiaogang has a long history of activity on China's art scene. This 'Kafkaesque artist' continues to seek out a way to express his emotions. From his first drawing lessons in his childhood, to unexpected acceptance to the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, to the establishment of his own style when he returned to China, to his record-breaking artworks at the auctions — after all of these experiences, Zhang Xiaogang has returned to his original starting point, his inner self. When facing himself in frank honesty, he asks: Why am I in this field? He clearly has never faltered in his answer. At an interview with Yang Lan, Zhang Xiaogang said, I just really feel that I like art. This is one thing that I am certain of.
When he returned to China from Germany, he revealed that he had reached a point of wanting to throw up when it came to visiting art galleries and museums. While visiting and pondering, he gained the clear understanding: the reason the masters of art throughout history could not be surpassed was not that they were more skilled, but just that they already existed. You can try to learn as much as you can, but you will only remain a student. Also, because you are not a part of his culture, you are actually nothing. At that moment I was very glad to have come to understand this. I finally felt rooted. Back then my attitude was one of honesty. I kept trying to find out exactly who I was. Where did I belong? I really wanted to find that out. Later when I came back to Kunming I was going through some old photos, I saw photos of my childhood self. I saw photos of my parents when they were young, and I suddenly realized that in those intimate and personal family pictures, you could still feel the impact of society on them.
Zhang Xiaogang's creative inspiration comes from the imagery and experiences of the Cultural Revolution, as well as from traditional European Surrealism. He used the form of that period's traditional family photo to explore the concepts of personal identity behind Chinese collectivism. The themes of Zhang Xiaogang's works generally surround 'family' and extend from there to society. The works depict imagined ancestors and older generations going back to time immemorial. Each of the characters are eerily alike, with only minute differences in the details. The works are often portrayed in black and white to express a photo-like quality. With the characters' standard everyday photo studio poses and the grayscale tones, the characters in the scene often appear wordless and mute. Yet at the same time, they surpass time and space: an entire swath of personal history has been strictly confined within the formalized frame. Every now and then blotches of color appear in the artist's works. They expand the boundaries unexpectedly and remind one of birthmarks, old films, social discrimination, or even an undeniable sense of self-flattery. Zhang Xiaogang's style incorporates the aesthetics of traditional Chinese charcoal drawing. It swings between the exaggerated elements of animation and the flatness of asceticism. Zhang's family members are silent and timid. Their personal identities are conveyed through unchangeable features of the body: Large heads, clear limpid eyes, and slight variations of the hairstyle. All of these become hints that express their personalities and repressed emotions. The fantastical distortions in Zhang Xiaogang's works created a complex mindscape. This enhances the level of claustrophobic distress and points to a hinted descriptive narrative.
The Son, created in 2005, is in the standard format of an old photograph. With Zhang's iconic 'blotch of light' in a photo-like presentation, it describes the fate of the character. Almost every Chinese person has a photo like this. In the drawers of every home can be found ID photos in this style, some one-inch photos, some two-inch. At the same age as this child, the photos of girls always show them with eyebrow-length bangs, two pigtails, a white shirt, and a bright red neckerchief. Such are the memories of that era, that age. In 1994's Bloodline: Big Family, which appeared at the 22nd Biennial of Sao Paulo, the artist portrayed the essence of bloodlines and the history of the family that existed in his mind. It was lauded by the poet Ouyang Jianghe as the first piece of art in art history to clearly portray Chinese peoples' faces, Chinese peoples' families, Chinese peoples' history . The piece won numerous accolades for Zhang Xiaogang, and propelled the artist and Chinese contemporary art onto the international art stage. From then on, Zhang Xiaogang received widespread affirmation for his subsequent exhibitions. When discussing the works from the Bloodline series, Zhang Xiaogang pointed out that old photos are a type of unique visual language. He also said, I am trying to create the effects of fake photos in order to aestheticize history and life . He said, from the surface, the faces of these portraits are as placid as the surface of water, but under the calm facade is great emotional turmoil. In a state of conflict, obscure and ambiguous fate spreads and passes down, generation by generation.
In Zhang's works, the neat and uniform poses of the characters and the standardized facial expressions are seen as features from a bygone era. But these alone are not enough to satisfy the artist. He wishes to depict every type of bloodline relation, whether familial, societal, or cultural. From Zhang's concept of Big Family can be seen the collective features of an era. This is also the reason that this series of artworks has become internationally acclaimed. But the artist once said self-deprecatingly that, while he might be the person who paints big families, his own family is a mess. Zhang Xiaogang has a definitive conclusion on families and bloodlines: A bloodline will remain unbroken, but a family cannot bear any strife . After divorce from his ex-wife, he moved from Sichuan to Beijing, because he had missed his child desperately. This became the inspiration behind the creation of the Amnesia and Memory series that came after Big Family. His love for his child is described aptly by his current wife, Jia Jia: I feel that his daughter is a part of him. He has also said himself that his daughter is like one of his own ribs. I often tell him that his daughter is himself. When the two of them are together, they are not like two separate people; they are like one person .
Zhang Xiaogang does not admit that he is a genius. Regarding his success, he has said, I think it was partly due to my own hard work, but I think mostly it is because I received a lot of help from others. Why did they help me? I feel that there is this power. Whenever I encounter difficulties, someone always appears to help me overcome this obstacle. So I have always believed that you cannot only rely on yourself for everything. If you think of anyone's success, in reality, it was achieved because of the factors in the environment which they were in; it was not an isolated phenomenon. I do not believe in things like self-accomplishment, just like I don't believe there are geniuses .
ZHANG XIAOGANG
Born in Kunming in 1958, and a 1982 graduate of the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Zhang Xiaogang has a long history of activity on China's art scene. This 'Kafkaesque artist' continues to seek out a way to express his emotions. From his first drawing lessons in his childhood, to unexpected acceptance to the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, to the establishment of his own style when he returned to China, to his record-breaking artworks at the auctions — after all of these experiences, Zhang Xiaogang has returned to his original starting point, his inner self. When facing himself in frank honesty, he asks: Why am I in this field? He clearly has never faltered in his answer. At an interview with Yang Lan, Zhang Xiaogang said, I just really feel that I like art. This is one thing that I am certain of.
When he returned to China from Germany, he revealed that he had reached a point of wanting to throw up when it came to visiting art galleries and museums. While visiting and pondering, he gained the clear understanding: the reason the masters of art throughout history could not be surpassed was not that they were more skilled, but just that they already existed. You can try to learn as much as you can, but you will only remain a student. Also, because you are not a part of his culture, you are actually nothing. At that moment I was very glad to have come to understand this. I finally felt rooted. Back then my attitude was one of honesty. I kept trying to find out exactly who I was. Where did I belong? I really wanted to find that out. Later when I came back to Kunming I was going through some old photos, I saw photos of my childhood self. I saw photos of my parents when they were young, and I suddenly realized that in those intimate and personal family pictures, you could still feel the impact of society on them.
Zhang Xiaogang's creative inspiration comes from the imagery and experiences of the Cultural Revolution, as well as from traditional European Surrealism. He used the form of that period's traditional family photo to explore the concepts of personal identity behind Chinese collectivism. The themes of Zhang Xiaogang's works generally surround 'family' and extend from there to society. The works depict imagined ancestors and older generations going back to time immemorial. Each of the characters are eerily alike, with only minute differences in the details. The works are often portrayed in black and white to express a photo-like quality. With the characters' standard everyday photo studio poses and the grayscale tones, the characters in the scene often appear wordless and mute. Yet at the same time, they surpass time and space: an entire swath of personal history has been strictly confined within the formalized frame. Every now and then blotches of color appear in the artist's works. They expand the boundaries unexpectedly and remind one of birthmarks, old films, social discrimination, or even an undeniable sense of self-flattery. Zhang Xiaogang's style incorporates the aesthetics of traditional Chinese charcoal drawing. It swings between the exaggerated elements of animation and the flatness of asceticism. Zhang's family members are silent and timid. Their personal identities are conveyed through unchangeable features of the body: Large heads, clear limpid eyes, and slight variations of the hairstyle. All of these become hints that express their personalities and repressed emotions. The fantastical distortions in Zhang Xiaogang's works created a complex mindscape. This enhances the level of claustrophobic distress and points to a hinted descriptive narrative.
The Son, created in 2005, is in the standard format of an old photograph. With Zhang's iconic 'blotch of light' in a photo-like presentation, it describes the fate of the character. Almost every Chinese person has a photo like this. In the drawers of every home can be found ID photos in this style, some one-inch photos, some two-inch. At the same age as this child, the photos of girls always show them with eyebrow-length bangs, two pigtails, a white shirt, and a bright red neckerchief. Such are the memories of that era, that age. In 1994's Bloodline: Big Family, which appeared at the 22nd Biennial of Sao Paulo, the artist portrayed the essence of bloodlines and the history of the family that existed in his mind. It was lauded by the poet Ouyang Jianghe as the first piece of art in art history to clearly portray Chinese peoples' faces, Chinese peoples' families, Chinese peoples' history . The piece won numerous accolades for Zhang Xiaogang, and propelled the artist and Chinese contemporary art onto the international art stage. From then on, Zhang Xiaogang received widespread affirmation for his subsequent exhibitions. When discussing the works from the Bloodline series, Zhang Xiaogang pointed out that old photos are a type of unique visual language. He also said, I am trying to create the effects of fake photos in order to aestheticize history and life . He said, from the surface, the faces of these portraits are as placid as the surface of water, but under the calm facade is great emotional turmoil. In a state of conflict, obscure and ambiguous fate spreads and passes down, generation by generation.
In Zhang's works, the neat and uniform poses of the characters and the standardized facial expressions are seen as features from a bygone era. But these alone are not enough to satisfy the artist. He wishes to depict every type of bloodline relation, whether familial, societal, or cultural. From Zhang's concept of Big Family can be seen the collective features of an era. This is also the reason that this series of artworks has become internationally acclaimed. But the artist once said self-deprecatingly that, while he might be the person who paints big families, his own family is a mess. Zhang Xiaogang has a definitive conclusion on families and bloodlines: A bloodline will remain unbroken, but a family cannot bear any strife . After divorce from his ex-wife, he moved from Sichuan to Beijing, because he had missed his child desperately. This became the inspiration behind the creation of the Amnesia and Memory series that came after Big Family. His love for his child is described aptly by his current wife, Jia Jia: I feel that his daughter is a part of him. He has also said himself that his daughter is like one of his own ribs. I often tell him that his daughter is himself. When the two of them are together, they are not like two separate people; they are like one person .
Zhang Xiaogang does not admit that he is a genius. Regarding his success, he has said, I think it was partly due to my own hard work, but I think mostly it is because I received a lot of help from others. Why did they help me? I feel that there is this power. Whenever I encounter difficulties, someone always appears to help me overcome this obstacle. So I have always believed that you cannot only rely on yourself for everything. If you think of anyone's success, in reality, it was achieved because of the factors in the environment which they were in; it was not an isolated phenomenon. I do not believe in things like self-accomplishment, just like I don't believe there are geniuses .