1995
Oil on canvas
Why I have been tangled in the past ?
"A Big Family" is one of the favourite painting Gallery from Zhang Xiaogang. I love this art work because it can show the whole picture of Chinese traditional family. I appreciate his painting style. In seires of a big family, He painted in black and white background. Xiaogang’s " A Big family " convey individual identity through their unalterable physical features: too big heads, tiny hands, long noses, and subtle alterations in hairstyle give clues to intimate characteristics and stifled emotions. In addition, He adds scars to his oil on canvas. He indeed can express a bad relationship and hatred emotion between tradition family in 60- 70's.
Zhang Xiaogang has a long process of reflection before he painted "a big family". With "85 New Wave Incident "completely passed and China further opened up local market, Art in international exchanges began more and more in China in 1992. Chinese citizens began to think more about the location of the development of Chinese contemporary art. Under this premise, Zhang Xiaogang has a profound introspection. After that he consciously finds his own identity and the feeling of art, as well as the connection between art and life, the problem of Chinese cultural relationship. In 1993, from old photos of his parent, he read a lot of things and it is very interesting. Therefore, he drew a family picture and he painted his life which is directly related to the human and material. In 1994, he finished his Gallery which called " A Big family " . The Gallery is more popular in arts community quicky. In 1995, "A Big Family" is posted in 46th Venice Biennale, Venice.
Reference:
1: Zhang Xiaogang EXHIBITED AT THE SAATCHI GALLERY
Retrieved from:http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/zhang_xiaogang.htm
2: 中國新聞週刊“張曉剛：為什麼我一直對過去糾纏不清”
