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May 15, 2020 · Internationally acclaimed and exhibited at prestigious biennales in the mid-1990s, Zhang Xiaogang’s singular Bloodline – Big Family aesthetic is underlain by a rich range of influence from artistic trends and personal experiences during two dense decades of societal and cultural shifts.
- Who Is Zhang Xiaogang?
- Bloodline Series
- After Bloodline
Zhang Xiaogang is a Chinese surrealist and symbolist painter. He is most famous for his Bloodlineseries, a body of work characterized by predominantly monochromatic portraits of Chinese people. His wide-eyed subjects featured in his stylized portraits of Chinese people are posed stiff and upright, deliberately reminiscent of family portraits from t...
What led to Zhang’s Blood Line Series
During the time of self-discovery, he stumbled upon his old family photos that changed his career path. In the old family photos, Zhang came across a photo of his mother as a beautiful young woman before her health deteriorated. That is how his famous series ‘Bloodline’ came into existence. The series depicted the predicament of private and public life.
Technique
Zhang uses vivid lighting effects combined with flat indistinctive backgrounds to venerate his subjects. In his work, individuals are painted with a smooth pearly finish looking very similar to the finish of porcelain, and their faces lack any emotion whatsoever. These detached faces stare into the audience and the world beyond. However, the reminiscence of the traditional family portrait draws you in, contradicting the aversion to the seemingly unnatural expressionless stare of the figures s...
Popularity & Market success
Soon after releasing, Bloodlinereceived positive coverage and was exhibited worldwide, including countries like the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, France, and Brazil. Bloodline made Zhang Xiaogang a bestselling Chinese artist and one of the favorites for western collectors. In the early 2000s, the Bloodline: Big Family series was among the must-haves for collectors worldwide. The popularity of the series became a blessing and curse as he was forced to work even harder to meet the d...
For the benefit of his artistic skills to grow as well as giving other works space to “shine,” Zhang has actively considered putting the Bloodline series to bed. In 2016, his exhibition at Pace Gallery tried to feature some of Zhang’s new works to draw the attention of the audience to the fact that he has produced many other works other than Bloodl...
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Who is Zhang Xiaogang?
In 1993, Zhang Xiaogang began the Bloodline series, which comprises some of the most iconic images in Chinese contemporary art. In this video, he explains how his discovery of family photographs—thought to have been destroyed during the Cultural Revolution—inspired these paintings.
In our exclusive interview with Zhang Xiaogang, we talk to the artist about his seminal 'Bloodline' series, through which he uses personal memories to represent an entire generation.
The Big Family No. 2 is a typical representation from the series Bloodline of Zhang Xiaogang's paintings of various family portraits. He uses “the artistic language of the Cultural Revolution period in order to comment on the world around him” (Clark, 1996, p. 251).
Bloodline – Big Family No. 3 (1995) From 1993 to 1999, a family theme occupied the artist’s attention almost exclusively. The pictures became his first signature series, garnering broad international attention.
Oct 22, 2023 · Studies for the Mayfly Diary series Enigmata is Zhang Xiaogang’s first solo exhibition in Kunming, coming some forty years after he left his hometown. The deep connections he forged with literature during his time in Kunming is what turned him into a modernist early on.
