ZHONG CHENG

  • Zhong Cheng 2024 Autumn Auction「Modern And Contemporary Art」
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    ZHANG XIAOGANG ( b.1958)

    Amnesia and Memory

    2001

    Oil on Paper
    54.5 x 39 cm

    Signed Zhang Xiaogang in Chinese and English, dated 2001

    Estimate TWD 7,500,000-8,800,000
    USD 235,000-275,700
    HKD 0-0

    Hammer Price TWD 9,000,000
    USD 278,207
    HKD 2,173,913

Provenance：

Illustrated："Zhang Xiaogang: Amnesia and Memory," Artside Gallery, Seoul, Korea, 2006, Page 37

Exhibition："Zhang Xiaogang: Amnesia and Memory," Artside Gallery, Seoul, Korea, November 1st-20th, 2006

Exposition：

Zhang Xiaogang, born in 1958 in Yunnan, China, is recognized as one of the most prominent figures in contemporary Chinese art. His work spans multiple mediums, including painting, sculpture, and installation art, and is known for its unique perspective and profound cultural exploration. His artistic style is deeply influenced by Chinese history, culture, and social change, reflecting a meditation on the cultural memory of China's modernization and the historical contradictions embedded within it. Zhang Xiaogang explores themes of collective memory, personal identity, and family relationships, intertwining personal life experiences with the historical context in which they unfold. 

Through his use of grayscale and black-and-white techniques, he transforms old photographs and historical materials into emotionally charged artworks that provoke deep reflection.

Zhang Xiaogang's most famous series is Bloodline: Big Family, in which he depicts family photographs from the Chinese Cultural Revolution with an almost photorealistic style. The figures in these paintings are often expressionless, their faces blank and pale, with large, vacant eyes that convey a sense of silence and repression, subtly hinting at the alienation experienced by individuals in a collectivist society. He frequently employs soft tones, particularly gray, light green, and brown, creating a nostalgic atmosphere. However, he also incorporates disharmonious elements, such as blocks of color and fine lines, symbolizing the fractures and instability within families and society. Zhang Xiaogang approaches the relationship between the individual and the collective, history and memory, with a calm and detached demeanor, imbuing his figures with the imprints of their era. His works convey deep thoughts and emotions buried deep within, acting as both a reflection on and a meditation on the past, while also offering a profound observation of contemporary society's psychological state.

The Amnesia and Memory series continues Zhang Xiaogang's exploration of history and personal identity, delving even further into the gradual forgetting of memories and the past in a rapidly changing social environment. This series reflects Zhang's concern with the rapid, massive changes in cultural and social systems, as well as the individual's role and situation in these historical currents. Similar to the Bloodline: Big Family series, the figures in the paintings tend to be abstracted and symbolic, yet the emphasis shifts towards the fragmented nature of memory. The figures and scenes become more hazy and indistinct, conveying a sense of distortion and fragmented clarity, as if representing the loss of focus and the scattering of memories. In contrast, this series is more symbolic and conceptual.

In Amnesia and Memory, the figures are expressionless, staring vacantly to one side. Their profiles and bodies are marked by irregular color blocks and connecting lines that represent memory. The blurred brown-gray tones of the background merge with the figures' checkered shirts, creating a sense of connection and separation simultaneously. Zhang Xiaogang uses intricate, specific symbols to interpret his understanding of past events, infusing the painting with thoughts and memories. Through his artistic language, he conveys symbolic meaning and reflective viewpoints, exploring how people confront the fragmentation of memory, the passage of time, and the changes of eras and history.

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