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Zhang Xiaogang

Chinese • b. 1958

Biography

Relying on memory and inspired by family portraits from the Chinese Cultural Revolution, Zhang Xiaogang creates surreal, subtle artworks that explore the notion of identity in relation to the Chinese culture of collectivism. Using a muted, greyscale palette, Xiaogang repeatedly depicts a series of unnervingly similar figures, often dressed in identical Mao suits, to create an endless genealogy of imagined forebears and progenitors. Their somber, melancholy gazes are interrupted only by thin red bloodlines intimating familial links as well as occasional pale splotches of color resembling birthmarks.

Xiaogang investigates how to express individual histories within the strict confines of a formula. His sitters, while appearing muted and compliant, are given physical exaggerations: oversized heads, tiny hands and long noses. These distortions imply stifled emotions and give a complex psychological dimension to the artist's work.

Insights

Xiaogang was born in the Chinese province of Sichuan in 1958 and was an early progenitor of the "Sichuan School" of painters.
The artist's 'Bloodlines' and 'Amnesia and Memory' series invoke traditional forms of twentieth-century Chinese studio portraiture undercut with harrowing and subtle symbolism.
In our inaugural 20th Century & Contemporary Art & Design Evening Sale in Hong Kong, Phillips sold Amnesia and Memory (One Week), an example from the artist's 'Amnesia and Memory' series exploring quotidian objects and motifs, for HK$6,680,000.

"I don't want to plant a forest, but a single tree...I really have just one strand of thought and I dig deeper and deeper until I can't go any farther."

Past Lots

9
Zhang Xiaogang
Bloodline Series - Father and Daughter
Estimate HK$5,500,000 - 7,500,000
Sold for HK$5,715,000
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56
Zhang Xiaogang
Tiananmen, plate no. 2, from The Storyteller’s Enchantment
Estimate $2,000 - 3,000
Sold for $1,524
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57
Zhang Xiaogang
Description, plate no. 20, from The Storyteller’s Enchantment
Estimate $2,000 - 3,000
Sold for $1,651
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58
Zhang Xiaogang
Landscape, plate no. 19, from The Storyteller's Enchantments
Estimate $2,000 - 3,000
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72
Zhang Xiaogang
Young Girl No. 3
Estimate $50,000 - 70,000
Sold for $63,500
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25
Zhang Xiaogang
Bloodline Series - Big Family
Estimate HK$7,500,000 - 10,000,000
Sold for HK$8,115,000
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171
Zhang Xiaogang
Portrait of a Boy
Estimate HK$400,000 - 600,000
Sold for HK$630,000
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172
Zhang Xiaogang
Portrait of Ma Xiangsheng
Estimate HK$500,000 - 800,000
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379
Zhang Xiaogang
Untitled
Estimate $200,000 - 300,000
Sold for $277,200
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16
Zhang Xiaogang
Family Portrait No. 13
Estimate HK$8,000,000 - 12,000,000
Sold for HK$10,535,000
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196
Zhang Xiaogang
Yellow Baby
Estimate HK$1,200,000 - 1,800,000
Sold for HK$3,654,000
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197
Zhang Xiaogang
Untitled
Estimate HK$150,000 - 250,000
Sold for HK$252,000
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12
Zhang Xiaogang
Fairy Tale
Estimate HK$6,500,000 - 8,500,000
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160
Zhang Xiaogang
Young Man
Estimate $60,000 - 80,000
Sold for $75,000
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12
Zhang Xiaogang
Duplicated Space No. 14 (Divided Dream)
Estimate HK$6,000,000 - 8,000,000
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13
Zhang Xiaogang
Bloodline Series: Big Family No.3
Estimate HK$10,000,000 - 15,000,000
Sold for HK$8,790,000
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345
Zhang Xiaogang
Bloodline: Big Family, from The Storyteller’s Enchantments
Estimate $3,000 - 5,000
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18
Zhang Xiaogang
Bloodline: Big Family No. 11
Estimate HK$9,000,000 - 15,000,000
Sold for HK$10,950,000
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323
Zhang Xiaogang
Two Sisters, from Big Family
Estimate $2,500 - 3,500
Sold for $4,000
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12
Zhang Xiaogang
Bloodline: Big Family No.9
Estimate On Request
Sold for HK$38,350,000
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12
Zhang Xiaogang
Bloodline: Big Family No.9
Estimate On Request
Sold for HK$38,350,000
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311
Zhang Xiaogang
Tian'anmen, from Tian'anmen Series
Estimate £4,000 - 6,000
Sold for £5,250
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32
Zhang Xiaogang
Amnesia and Memory (One Week)
Estimate HK$3,500,000 - 5,500,000
Sold for HK$6,680,000
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211
Zhang Xiaogang
Young Man
Estimate $100,000 - 150,000
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