Soul of Asia ,Porto de Phuket

Zhang Xiaogang

Zhang Xiaogang

Date of Birth: 1958, China

Biography

Zhang Xiaogang, born in 1958 in China, is a contemporary Chinese symbolist and surrealist painter. He is best known for his *Bloodline* series, which features predominantly monochromatic, stylized portraits of Chinese people. These portraits often depict figures with large, dark-pupiled eyes posed in a stiff manner, reminiscent of family portraits from the 1950s and 1960s. Recently, Zhang has also ventured into sculpture, translating many characters from his "Bloodlines—Big Family" portrait series into three dimensions. His sculptures, like his paintings, have been featured in numerous exhibits, solidifying his status as one of China's leading contemporary artists.

Solo Exhibitions

  • Solo Exhibitions (title)
  • Lost in the Dreams, Gallery of the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts, Chongqing, China (1989)
  • Bloodline: The Big Family-1997, Gallery of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, China (1997)
  • Bloodline: The Big Family-1998, Hanart Taibei Gallery, Taiwan (1998)
  • Les Camarades, Gallery De France, Paris, France (1999)
  • Zhang Xiaogang 2000, Gallery of Max Protetch, New York, USA (2000)
  • "Amnesia and Memory", Gallery of France, Paris, France (2003)
  • Umbilical Cord of History: Paintings by Zhang Xiaogang, Hong Kong Arts Center, Hong Kong (2004)
  • "Zhang Xiaogang 2005", Max Protetch Gallery, New York, USA (2005)
  • "Home – Zhang Xiaogang", Beijing Commune, Beijing, China (2006_1)
  • "Zhang Xiaogang Exhibition", The Art Centre of Tokyo, Japan (2006_2)
  • "Amnesia and Memory", Artside Gallery, Seoul, Korea (2006_3)
  • Sara Hildén Art Museum, Tampere, Finland (2007)
  • Revision, PaceWildenstein, New York, USA (2008_1)
  • "Chinese Painting: Zhang Xiaogang", Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague, Czech Republic (2008_2)
  • "Record", Pace Beijing Gallery, Beijing, China (2009_1)
  • "Zhang Xiaogang: Shadows in the Soul", Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia (2009_2)

Selected Group Exhibitions

  • Selected Group Exhibitions (title)
  • "Neo-Realism", Shanghai and Nanjing, China (1985)
  • "Modern Art of China", National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China (1987)
  • "Art from Southeast of China", Chengdu, China (1988)
  • China Avant-Garde, National Art Gallery, Beijing, China (1989)
  • "I Don't Want to Play Cards with Cézanne" and Other Works: Selections from the Chinese "New Wave" and "Avant-Garde" Art of the Eighties, Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena, California, USA (1991)
  • The Guangzhou Biennial: Oil Paintings from the 90s, Guangzhou, China (1992)
  • Documents of China Contemporary Art Show, Travelling exhibition in Beijing, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Shenyang, Shanghai, Nanjing, China (1992)
  • China's New Art Post-1989, Hong Kong Art Center, Hong Kong; Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia; Marlborough Fine Art, London, UK (1993)
  • Mao Goes Pop, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia (1993)
  • China's Experience Exhibition, Sichuan Art Gallery, Chengdu, China (1993)
  • Chinese Contemporary Art at São Paulo 22nd International Biennial of São Paulo, Brazil (1994)
  • 46th Venice Biennial, Venice, Italy (1995)
  • New Arts, Vancouver Art Museum, Vancouver, Canada (1995)
  • Contemporary Chinese Art Exhibition, In the Absence of Ideology, Kampnagel Halle-K3, Hamburg, Germany (1995)
  • “Des del Pais del Centre: Avantguardes artistiques xineses”, Barcelona Contemporary Art Museum, Barcelona, Spain (1995)
  • "China! New Art & Artists", Kunstmuseum Bonn, Germany (1996)
  • "Reckoning with the Past: Contemporary Chinese Paintings", Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, UK (1996)
  • "The Second Asia-Pacific of Contemporary Triennial", Queensland Art Gallery, Queensland, Australia (1996)
  • "4 Points de Rencontre. Chine, 1996", France Gallery, Paris, France (1996)
  • "The 1st Academic Exhibition of Chinese Contemporary Art", National Art Museum of China, Beijing; Hong Kong Art Center, Hong Kong, China (1996)
  • "Reality: Present and Future", Beijing International Art Museum, Beijing, China (1996)
  • "China New Art", Lisbon Museum of Art, Portugal (1997)
  • "Faces and Bodies from Middle Kingdom: Chinese Art of the 90s", Prague Art Museum, Prague, Czech Republic (1997)
  • "8+8-1: 15 Chinese Artists", Schoeni Art Gallery, Hong Kong (1997)
  • "Quotation Marks: Chinese Contemporary Paintings", Modern Art Museum, Singapore (1997)
  • "Red and Grey: Eight Avant-Garde Chinese Artists", Soobin Art Gallery, Singapore (1997)
  • "Hundred Years of Chinese Portrait", National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China (1997)
  • "China New Art", Helsinki Art Museum, Helsinki, Finland (1998)
  • "Exhibition of International Contemporary Art Collection", Amsterdam, The Netherlands (1998)
  • "Exhibition of Collection of Shenghe Gallery", Chengdu, China (1998)
  • "Margaret and Contemporary Art", Dostende Contemporary Museum, Belgium (1998)
  • "1999 Art China", LIMN Gallery, San Francisco, USA (1999)
  • "Faces: Entre Portrait et Anonymat", Maison de la Culture Namur, Belgium (1999)
  • "Inside Out: New Chinese Art", Asia Society and P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York, USA; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, USA (1999)
  • "Man+SPACE: Kwangju Biennale 2000", Kwangju, Korea (2000)
  • "Transcending Boundaries", Montclair State University, New Jersey, USA (2000)
  • "Portraits De China Contemporaine", Espace Culturel François Mitterrand, Périgueux, France (2000)
  • "The First Collection Exhibition of Chinese Contemporary Art", Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China (2000)
  • "Hundred Years of Chinese Oil Painting", National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China (2000)
  • "Contemporary Art of China", Picardie Museum, Amiens, France (2000)
  • "The 1st Chengdu Biennial", Chengdu Contemporary Art Museum, Chengdu, China (2001)
  • "Dream – 2001 Contemporary Chinese Art Exhibition", The Red Mansion, London, UK (2001)
  • "Towards A New Image: Twenty Years of Contemporary Chinese Art", National Art Museum of China, Beijing; Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai; Sichuan Art Museum, Chengdu; Guangdong Art Museum, Guangzhou, China (2001)
  • "It’s me, It’s us", Gallery of France, Paris, France (2001)
  • "Hot Pot", Artist Center of Oslo, Norway (2001)
  • "The 3rd Mercosul Biennial", Porto Alegre, Brazil (2001)
  • "A Point in Time", Changsha Meilun Museum of Art, Changsha, China (2002)
  • "14 Chinese Artists / Made in China", Enrico Navarra Gallery, Paris, France (2002)
  • "BABEL 2002", National Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea (2002)
  • "Review 77’, 78’", Gallery of Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts, Chongqing, China (2002)
  • "Long March", Upriver Loft, Kunming, China (2002)
  • "The 1st Triennial of Chinese Art", Guangdong Museum of Fine Arts, Guangzhou, China (2002)
  • "Image is Power", He Xiangning Art Museum, Shenzhen, China (2002)
  • "The Image of Concept", Shenzhen Art Museum, Shenzhen, China (2002)
  • "In Memory: The Art of After War", Sidney Mishkin Gallery, New York, USA (2002)
  • "East + West – Contemporary Art of China", Kunstlerhaus, Vienna, Austria (2002)
  • "From China with Art", Indonesian National Gallery, Jakarta, Indonesia (2003)
  • "3Face 3Colors", Artside Gallery, Seoul, Korea (2003)
  • "Open Sky – Contemporary Art Exhibition", Shanghai Duolun Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China (2003)
  • "The East Daybreak: 100 Years of Chinese Painting", Africa Museum, Paris, France (2003)
  • "The 5th Shanghai Biennial", Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China (2004)
  • "Face to Face", Accor Gallery, Taiwan (2004)
  • "Beyond Boundaries", Shanghai Gallery of Art, Shanghai, China (2004)
  • "China Now", Tang Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand (2004)
  • "The 1st Wuhan Fine Arts Archive Nomination", Art Gallery, Hubei Academy of Fine Arts, Wuhan, China (2004)
  • "Three Worlds", Shanghai Gallery of Art, Shanghai, China (2004)
  • "China, the body everywhere?", Museum of Contemporary Art, Marseilles, France (2004)
  • "The 2nd Guangzhou Triennial", Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China (2005)
  • "Take Off – An Exhibition of the Contemporary Art Collection in the He Xiangning Art Museum and Contemporary Art Terminal", He Xiangning Art Museum, OCT Contemporary Art Terminal, Shenzhen, China (2005)
  • "Always to the Front – Chinese Contemporary Art", Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei (2005)
  • "Plato and His Seven Spirits", OCT Contemporary Art Center, Shenzhen, China (2005)
  • "Mahjong: Contemporary Chinese Art from the Sigg Collection", Kunst Museum Bern, Bern, Switzerland; Hanburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany (2005)
  • "Contemporary View Exhibition for Collector: China First Contemporary Art Almanac Exhibition", Millennium Museum of Art, Beijing, China (2005)
  • "2005 Invitational Exhibition of China Contemporary Oil Painting", Shenzhen Art Museum, Shenzhen, China (2005)
  • "Big River – New Period of Chinese Oil Painting and Retrospective Exhibition", National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China (2005)
  • "Allegory", Hangzhou, China (2005)
  • "The Blossoming of Realism – The Oil Painting from Mainland China since 1978", Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei (2006)
  • "Reinventing Books in Chinese Contemporary Art", China Institute, New York, USA (2006)
  • "Jiang Hu – Chinese Contemporary Art European and American Traveling Exhibition", Tilton Gallery, New York, USA (2006)
  • "Food and Desire", South Silk Restaurant, Beijing, China (2006)
  • "China Now: Fascination of a Changing World", SAMMLUNG ESSL Museum, Vienna, Austria (2006)
  • "China – Facing Reality", Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna, Austria (2007)
  • "From Southeast", Guangdong Museum of Fine Art, Guangzhou, China (2007)
  • "From New Figurative Image to New Painting", Tang Contemporary Art, Beijing, China (2007)
  • "Black White Gray – A Conscious Cultural Stance", Today Art Museum, Beijing, China (2007)
  • "85 New Wave: The Birth of Chinese Contemporary Art", Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China (2007)
  • "Case Studies of Artists in Art History and Art Criticism", SZ Art Center, Beijing, China (2008)
  • "Our Future: The Guy & Myriam Ullens Foundation Collection", Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China (2008)
  • "Avant-Garde China: Twenty Years of Chinese Contemporary Art", Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan (2008)
  • "Waiting on the Wall: Chinese New Realism and Avant-Garde in Eighties and Nineties", Groningen Museum, Groningen, The Netherlands (2008)
  • "Facing the Reality: Chinese Contemporary Art", National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China (2008)
  • "19 Games - A Chinese Contemporary Art Exhibition", T Art Centre, Beijing, China (2009)
  • "A Gift to Marco Polo", Venice International University, Venice, Italy (2009)
  • "INAMANIA", Arken Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark (2009)
  • "Beijing-Havana - New Revolution art Contemporary Art", National Art Museum of Cuba, Havana, Cuba (2010)
  • "Reshaping History - Chinart from 2000 to 2009", China National Convention Center, Beijing, China (2010)
  • "Clouds - Power of Asian Contemporary Art", Soka Art Center, Beijing, China (2010)
  • "The Official Opening of Minsheng Art Museum Thirty Years of Chinese Contemporary Art", Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai, China (2010)

Prizes and Awards

  • Prizes and Awards (title)
  • Bronze Prize at the 22nd São Paulo Biennial Exhibition in Brazil (1994)
  • Document Prize at the First Academic Exhibition of Chinese Contemporary Art held at the China National Museum of Fine Arts and Hong Kong Art Centre (1996_1)
  • Prize for Contemporary New Asian Artists granted by the British Court's International Art Fund in Hong Kong (1996_2)