Zhang Xiaogang - 20th Century & Contemporary Art New York Tuesday, July 18, 2023 | Phillips

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  • “I wanted to make the sculptures look and feel like paintings, instead of pure sculptures. Through painting on the surface, the sculpture was altered, producing unique works. I found a lot of inspiration after I came to New York; I was inspired by the colors, and by the use and treatment of texture.”
    —Zhang Xiaogang

    • Provenance

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

    • 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

72

Young Girl No. 3

painted bronze
sculpture 42 1/2 x 25 1/4 x 19 3/4 in. (108 x 64.1 x 50.2 cm)
base 36 x 28 x 28 in. (91.4 x 71.1 x 71.1 cm)
overall 78 1/2 x 28 x 28 in. (199.4 x 71.1 x 71.1 cm)

Executed in 2013, this work is artist's proof number 1 from an edition of 3 plus 2 artist's proofs.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
$50,000 - 70,000 

Sold for $63,500

Contact Specialist

Nina Piro
Specialist, Associate Vice President
npiro@phillips.com
646-647-5387

20th Century & Contemporary Art

New York Auction 18 July 2023