Visual Arts Library
The Big Family No. 16
Artist: Zhang Xiaogang
Date:
1998
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 200 x 250 cm
Event: Chinese History
Motif:
Fading Memory
Zhang Xiaogang began working with themes of mourning and desolation in the late 1980s. Inspired by Chinese family photo portraits of the 1920s, he sought to combine the formality of the staged photo with a mood of rigid detachment. By 1993, he was producing the first works in what would become the renowned Bloodlines series. The characteristic trait of the series is the uncanny sense of fixity in the faces of those portrayed. The photographic reference is recreated through the smoothness of the painted surface, while the undefined, fuzzy background counters with a surrealistic undertone. The contrast between the presentation of these individuals as a family, and the alienation inherent in their bearing reveals the tensions in family relationships that were particularly acute during the Cultural Revolution, when children were encouraged to denounce their parents. In these works, the Cultural Revolution is invoked in two ways: historically, as a movement which brought unprecedented devastation to the deepest core of Chinese society (the family structure), and formally, through a visual simplicity, which presents a nostalgic view of the uncomplicated styles of an earlier time.-- Francesca dal Lago Artist's Statement For me, the Cultural Revolution is a psychological state, not a historical fact. It has a very strict connection with my childhood, and I think there are many things linking the psychology of the Chinese people today with the psychology of the Chinese people back then. I am very interested in the relationship between Chinese individuals and their society, and I chose to use the family to express this relationship. I think that to express this feeling, the photos of the Cultural Revolution are quite peculiar. People in the West stress the self, the individual character. In China, if you concentrate on your individuality, you will end up being very isolated. Since we were very small, we were educated with the consciousness that we were living in a big family and you must always consider the network of relationships with people living around you. Our society is made of all these relationships, so that's why my paintings are entitled Big Family. You can even perceive it in old photographs. The way in which pictures are taken, the clothes the people wear, the expressions on their faces in fact are a way to fit into this social standard. Taking a picture, everybody would say, "Hey let's get together, let's pose", trying to look very happy, but in fact the society at that time had a destructive effect on personal relationships. The different color of the child stands for a difference between the parents and the child. I changed the color to add a sense of absurdity. The lines and the light are meant to destroy the customary effect created by these photographs. Posing for a photograph, people already display a certain formality. It is already something artificial. What I do is increase this artificiality and this sense of formalism. From an interview with the artist conducted by Francesca dal Lago.
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