Zhang Xiaogang

He now works and lives in Beijing. His works are about time, memory and history. He says: “Magritte has taught me how to experience our heavy history from a certain distance and how to experience the capricious reality we have to face. At the same time I have learned how, with an ‘internalised’ language, to describe our life, show concern about the hearts that are often neglected and build an ‘illusory kingdom’ for our souls to rest in from time to time.”
The exhibit in Shibuya consists mainly of portraits- lithographs and oil on canvas- base on old family photographs.
The portraits combine realistic depictions of individuals or groups, but always include at least one of the two of Zhang’s distinct and disturbing symbolic elements. Those are either the singled out devilish looking baby boys, young men and women with reddish skin, or the pink patches appearing on the faces.
More symbolism lays in the thread-thin, red lines representing family bonds. The stains and lines on the prints represent the family ties, but may well represent the physical decomposition of the symbolic memory, the photograph.
The other part of the exhibit are photographs of what seems like TV news casts. These photographs have narratives on them resembling scratched out delicate hand written journal entries. The personal memories inevitably overlap with the shared ones creating history.