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”
Hi King,
回覆刪除Thanks for sharing. I really appreciate this artist. I think the style of this artwork is very special as it is a traditional Chinese charcoal drawing. You gave a lot of details of this art work. I didn't notice the scars until you mentioned it. This artwork gives a feeling of sadness. I guess the boy in the middle one is the artist, right? Why does his face so red? Is there any specific meaning behind it?
Venus:)
I feel quite sad when looking at the picture. You have a detail introduction as well. However, i notice that there is a red line on their body. Did it have special meaning? Also, i think you can focus more on the relation between the hatred emotion and the painting. For example, how did the artist present it?
回覆刪除Also, you can divided different context like cultural, historical, personal to talk about how the artwork link to contemporary art. :)
HELLO KING!
回覆刪除Although I feel uncomfortable when looking on the painting, how it express a bad relationship and hatred emotion between tradition family in 60- 70's. Would you explain more on it?
I also find that the direction of the sight of the character is not reasonable. Is it have special meaning?
Wai :)
I love the artwork which is full of Chinese characteristics. And you explained so well that how the history of China inspired the artist.
回覆刪除I would like to ask some questions about the artwork. Why the 3 person in the artwork look so unhappy? Is it related to the title " Why I have been tangled in the past ?" What does it means?
The painting is call "A big family". Why there are only 3 people? It seems that the 3 people are the artist himself, his mother and sister. Why there is no this father? Is it also related to the title " Why I have been tangled in the past ?" and therefore they look so unhappy?
Besides, why the face of the little boy is red in color? What does it means?
Janice
The piece by Zhang gives me a feeling that a leaden weight lay on my heart, causing me think about if the background was painted in black and white simply because it is a picture in old days? Then why did he still highlight some parts of the boy with red. Do this intimate some situations during the reign of Chinese Communist Party?
回覆刪除i can't wait for your presentation. ^^
Dear King,
回覆刪除In your post you have talked about the context, and in your presentation you also talked about the style and meaning of the painting. What is still missing is the reference to the context of contemporary art. In your presentation you said that Zhang Xiaogang is one of the top Chinese contemporary artists, but what does this mean? Is he the top selling artist, or is he part of a specific art movement? Is his style unique amongst these artists or is it typical? Obviously he is working with a theme that people from China can relate to, but what about his painting style? Is it related to any art movements from the West?