Million dollar memories
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With an array of new works on display at the Today Art Museum, 52-year-old Zhang Xiaogang, one of the best known Chinese contemporary artists, is once again under the spotlight after his previous exhibition, Record, made headlines last September.
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Train Window - The Lonely Violin by Zhang Xiaogang. [Global Times] |
Entitled 16:9, the exhibition opened Thursday and is scheduled to run until 26 of this month. It showcases 17 pieces created by Zhang in 2010, displayed of two series, Heaven and Train Window.
Zhang made his name with paintings that reflected upon the collective memories of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). With his new works, Zhang focuses on his own youthful memories. They are still melancholy, haunting pieces, but this time are more personal.
"Art is something I'd like to work on my whole life," Zhang said, in a press conference held before the opening. "Stepping a little bit further forward each year would be enough for me."
Zhang's efforts to move his art forward are more than just fractional. He is trying hard to avoid imitating himself, and moving on to new materials such as stainless steel rather than simple canvas.
His trademark oil paintings, called Bloodline: Big Family, show stylized figures, often devoid of emotion, and, all were inspired from formal family photographs of the 1960s and 70s. Zhang has described them as "false photographs," with great turmoil concealed by a seemingly still exterior.
These somber, gray-hued depictions of Chinese families are so famous that it's hard to connect Zhang with other styles.
However, at the newly-opened exhibition, there's no stylized portraits on display. Instead, the large space is occupied with installations and sculptures, unfamiliar forms for Zhang. The few oil paintings steer clear of family portraits, instead focusing on landscapes and other new scenes.
Windows of the heart
Zhang spent 2010 working on his series Train Window, inspired by his youthful memories of long trips by rail that took him far away from home.
Born in Kunming, Yunnan Province in 1958, Zhang studied in the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts in Chongqing, Sichuan Province. The dull but restful journey from Kunming to Chongqing and back made a strong impression on him, Zhang said.
The paintings are strikingly different from traditional landscapes that depict a distanced view of nature. In Zhang's unique artwork, the frame is totally filled with natural objects like red plums in full blossom or beautiful green trees.
The beautiful objects completely capture the viewers' attention, as though they were the only thing in the world.
"It's kind of weird," one member of the audience said. "But it totally makes sense, and there's a mysterious power that the picture projects."
"When you view through the window, what you see is often what had long been harbored in your own heart," Zhang said, smiling mildly, as usual. "My art is always the window of my heart."
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