Zhang Xiaogang

Chinese Contemporary, London
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate. Condition: This work is in very good condition. No restoration is apparent when examined under ultra-violet light.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Zhang Xiaogang's painting Bloodline series: Boy of 2003 is an exceptional example of his greatly celebrated and iconic Bloodline corpus which he began in 1994. This symbolic, poetic and haunting image of the Cultural Revolution subtly portrays the undercurrent of great emotional turbulence that was so aptly masked by the Chinese population during the Maoist era.  Zhang's method of reinterpreting old family photographs from the Cultural Revolution, when most such mementos of bourgeois life had been destroyed, is used to portray the collective identity and to create an effect of false photography to reflect the undercurrent of fabrication used to obscure the sitter's education and originality of thought. Rather than rendering any individual characteristics, the artist depicts the monotone appearance of his nameless and expressionless subjects as a metaphor for the force of the collectivisation.

 

The current work is a striking epitome of the artist's signature portrait motif, with a composition that draws intensely on Chinese communist propaganda imagery. We are presented with an image where individual characteristics are subordinated:  identity has been swept away in the revolutionary fervour, and all that is left is isolation within their own emotional universe.  The present portrait refuses to reveal any particularity at all, but offers instead a reflection of the relationship between individuals and society, hinting at the significance of sons during the restrictive one-child policy still prevalent in China today. The signature streak of red pigment, reminiscent of a birthmark, falls on the sitter's face like a camera flash or theatre lighting.  This 'bloodline' suggests a link with the past, the red colour symbolic of communism, Chinese patriotism and Mao himself. Zhang's work shows a vivid interest in the tension between a public life and one's own intimate world, and the prevailing duality between knowledge and uncertainty. The mannerism of the figures and their apparent distance from the supposed innocence of their childhood suggests an inherited awareness of the shared historical past, blurred to conceal its appearance in society.