Children in Meeting

1998

Oil on canvas

150 x 180 cm


Signed lower right Tang in English and dated 98
Signed on the reverse Tang Zhigang in Chinese, inscribed 150 x 180 cm

Estimate
2,400,000 - 3,400,000
617,000 - 874,000
79,500 - 112,700
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Ravenel Spring Auction 2017 Taipei

363

TANG Zhigang (Chinese, b. 1959)

Children in Meeting


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Catalogue Note:
Tang directly expresses his thoughts in the “Children in Meeting” series. The children are arranged behind the table, 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. 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” 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.

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