Zhang Xiaogang (born 1958, Kunming, China) is a Chinese symbolist and surrealist painter. He is famous with his Bloodline series, where mostly monochromatic, stylized portraits of Chinese people are presented as part of the artist's exploration of the 'family' concept.
Zhang Xiaogang was trained as an oil painter at the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts. After his graduation in 1982, he joined a group of young avant-garde artists who came to international prominence in 1980. In his earlier paintings, Xiaogang explored human values through the lens of the traditions coming from the rural Chinese culture. The artist continues to work around the multifaceted concept of 'family', the notion of identity within the Chinese culture, and collectivism. His imagery is inspired by the family photos from the Cultural Revolution period, as well as the European tradition of surrealism. Xiaogang’s portraits represent an infinite genealogies, where the sitters' appearance is almost homogenous. The colour schemes, such as black and white, translate the language of photography into paint that incorporates the aesthetics of the traditional Chinese charcoal drawing, giving the image a nostalgic quality. The occasional splashes of colour and red lines running through the paintings carry a substantial part of Xiaogang's symbolic language. The use of colour has an ambivalent purpose - while it is used to idealize the sitter, the splashes also create demarcations, reminiscent of birthmarks and aged film. Xiaogang was represented in many international exhibitions including Mao Goes Pop at the Sydney Museum of Contemporary Art in 1993, Sao Paolo Biennial in 1994, and Venice Biennial in 1995.

Zhang Xiaogang

Inspired by contemporary tensions in China, Zhang Xiaogang makes grim, unsettling portraits that consider identity and heredity in a collectivist state.

Inspired by contemporary tensions in China, Zhang Xiaogang makes grim, unsettling portraits that consider identity and heredity in a collectivist state. The artist draws on influences that include political iconography, Chinese charcoal drawings, distorted Surrealist compositions, and family portraits from the Cultural Revolution era. His paintings, often executed in grisaille with bursts of bright yellow or red at the center, explore how varied individual histories are flattened into conformist representations. Zhang has exhibited in New York, Beijing, Tokyo, London, Paris, and Hong Kong, among other cities. His work belongs in the collections of the Long Museum, the M+ Sigg Collection, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Shenzhen Art Museum, and the Guggenheim Museum. Zhang’s practice also includes sculpture.

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“ I drew a person smiling once, but I don't think I am good at drawing people smiling. I'm better at drawing people spacing out. „

—Zhang Xiaogang