Artist research- Zhang Xiaogang

https://www.phaidon.com/agenda/art/articles/2015/april/01/zhang-xiaogang-explained-in-5-paintings/

Zhang Xiaogang is a Chinese painter and has produced work in respond to the cultural revolution. I look at his work as a representation of the situation of the Chinese in that period of time and relate to my older generation. Written in his monograph disquieting memories, “Memory serves as an analogue for history in Zhang’s art, and examining history, like meditating on the structure of memory, is another of his persistent themes.” Zhang's photography style drawings are dim and solemn and there is barely any facial expression on the figures' faces. The poses and features are almost the same in his portraits which represent the historical period of strict confines and uniformity.

The portraiture of a boy wearing uniform and the tiny body parts that are naked down the waist created a confusion of his age and his ability required as an army. It is described as "exemplifies the anxiety between public veneer and private vulnerability, official doctrine and personal conscience". As the portraiture is limited to black and white, the small yellow stain-like section can be interpreted as a personal assertion or the only left over individuality being shown from the outside.

His method of using shadows, contrast between dominant monochrome and single bright colour blocks inspire me to define the colour palette of the project. I am thinking of using uneven stains and monochrome to represent the past, and cool colours to represent my own experience. I will research more about surrealism and how it can express the unsettling anxiety when living in a new place.

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Research

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