Zhang Xiaogang - New Now New York Wednesday, September 30, 2020 | Phillips

New Now

New York Auction 30 September 2020

  • Provenance

    Pace Gallery, New York
    Acquired from the above by the present owner

  • Exhibited

    New York, Pace Gallery, Zhang Xiaogang, March 29 - April 27, 2013, pp. 14-15 (another example exhibited and illustrated)

  • Literature

    Jonathan Fineberg and Gary G. Xu, Zhang Xiaogang: Disquieting Memories, London, 2015, p. 303 (another example illustrated)

  • Artist Biography

    Zhang Xiaogang

    Chinese • 1958

    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.

    View More Works

160

Zhang Xiaogang

Young Man

incised with artist's signature [in Chinese], number, date "2013 3/3” and foundry mark on the backside
hand-painted bronze and artist's plinth
sculpture 58 1/2 x 32 x 28 in. (148.6 x 81.3 x 71.1 cm)
plinth 28 1/2 x 36 x 36 in. (72.4 x 91.4 x 91.4 cm)
overall 87 x 36 x 36 in. (221 x 91.4 x 91.4 cm)
Executed in 2013, this work is number 3 from an edition of 3 plus 1 artist's proof.

Estimate
$60,000 - 80,000 

Sold for $75,000

Contact Specialist

Sam Mansour
Associate Specialist, Head of New Now Sale
New York
+1 212 940 1219

New Now

New York Auction 30 September 2020