Zhang Xiaogang
Zhang Xiaogang
Zhang Xiaogang(b. 1958, China)'s mother taught him to paint as a way to solve problems when he faced difficulties. He went through a political turbulence in the 1960s-1970s known as the Cultural Revolution, and that event had an impact on his work. In 1977, he entered the Department of Oil Painting at Sichuan Fine Art Institute. In 1992, he traveled to Germany to acquire a Chinese cultural identity himself. After returning to China, he took a new interest in exploring and revitalizing Chinese history, both past and present, as well as personal through his paintings. During his trip to Germany, he was impressed by Gerhard Richter(1932~, Germany)'s photography-based paintings, therefore he used his old family photos as a means of expressing "Chinese emotions". His paintings were sold to Sotheby for $6 in 2007, but in 2011 he sold for HK$79 million (approximately 11 billion won), making him the most influential painter in China. It is counted as a representative artist of “China Avant-garde,” who worked with socio-political messages in isolation with writers who had exiled abroad after the Tiananmen crisis in 1989. Through his work, he satirizes the political powerlessness of his time with a code of vainness and cynicism.
[Solo]
2018 Multiple Narratives: Zhang Xiaogang 1975-2018, United Museum, Wuhan, China
Stage: Zhang Xiaogang 2008-2018, Hubei Museum of Art, Wuhan, China
The Reunion of Poetry and Philosophy, Prague City Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic
ZHANG XIAOGANG, Pace Gallery, New York , U.S.A.
2016 Sol LeWitt & Zhang Xiaogang, Pace Beijing Gallery, Beijing, China
2014 ZHANG XIAOGANG MEMBER+ING, Daegu Art Museum, Daegu, Korea
2013 ZHANG XIAOGANG, Pace Gallery, New York , U.S.A.
[Group]
2020 Duration: Chinese Art in Transformation, Beijing Minsheng Art Museum, Beijing
In Thinking- the intellectual history and Methodologies of Chinese Contemporary Art, Guangdong
Museum of Art, Guangdong Guangzhou
Some mysterious Process, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
Waves and Echoes: A Process of Re-contemporarization in Chinese Art Circa 1987 Revisited, Inside-out Art
Museum, Beijing
Archie Plus, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
