Zhang Xiaogang
Zhang Xiaogang was born in 1958 in Kunming, in the Chinese province of Yunnan. He is recognized as a member of the Chinese artistic avant-garde, and as a spokesperson for a whole lost generation.
Biography
Zhang Xiaogang was born in 1958 in Kunming, in the Chinese province of Yunnan. He is recognized as a member of the Chinese artistic avant-garde, and as a spokesperson for a whole lost generation. During the Cultural Revolution, many young people were sent to the countryside for several years to work and complete their “political training”. Their living conditions were harsh, far from their families. When they finally returned to town, their reintegration was difficult. The bitterness born of this experience will have a decisive impact on Zhang’s artistic creations. A graduate of the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts in 1982, he was greatly influenced by the works of Vincent Van Gogh and Millet.
Zhang Xiaogang was born in 1958 in Kunming, in the Chinese province of Yunnan. He is recognized as a member of the Chinese artistic avant-garde, and as a spokesperson for a whole lost generation. During the Cultural Revolution, many young people were sent to the countryside for several years to work and complete their “political training”. Their living conditions were harsh, far from their families. When they finally returned to town, their reintegration was difficult. The bitterness born of this experience will have a decisive impact on Zhang’s artistic creations. A graduate of the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts in 1982, he was greatly influenced by the works of Vincent Van Gogh and Millet.
During the 1995 Venice Biennale, he exhibited the first portraits from his Bloodline series, now recognized and exhibited worldwide. His subjects are inspired by old photos showing sparse families, weakened by the Cultural Revolution. The characters in uniform, silent, with closed eyes, are so many anonymous symbols of individual stories denied and silenced. They are linked by a red thread, a symbolic color of the revolution but also a link of blood and suffering, a thread originating in a forbidden city depicted as the keystone of Chinese society, a metaphor for an all-powerful state. This series is considered on the international scene as the manifesto of a whole generation of contemporary Chinese artists, and the expression of “the Chinese soul”. The artist often resorts to areas of bright colors, contrasting in an almost schizophrenic way with the greyish monochrome tints of his paintings, as if to signify the deep generational and ideological fractures within Chinese society. He continues to explore, with these portraits, the consequences of the cultural revolution or the one-child policy on private and social life, denouncing both totalitarianism denying people and individualism atomizing them in a China now converted to excessive capitalism. He currently lives and works between Sichuan and Beijing.
Exhibitions
Career
Solo exhibitions
2025
Zhang Xiaogang, The Reader, the Writer, Song Art Museum, Beijing, China
2024
Zhang Xiaogang: Illusorium, Fosun Foundation, Chengdu, China
2023
Zhang Xiaogang: Enigmata, Contemporary Art Gallery, Kunming, China
Zhang Xiaogang: Lost, Pace Gallery, Hong Kong
Zhang Xiaogang: Mayflies, Long Museum West Bund, Shanghai, China
2018
Zhang Xiaogang: Multiple Narratives, United Art Museum, Wuhan, China
Stage: Zhang Xiaogang 2008–2018, Hubei Museum of Art, Wuhan, China
Zhang Xiaogang: Recent Works, Pace Gallery, New York, USA
2015
Zhang Xiaogang: The Plum Tree and The Girl, Galerie Zdeněk Sklenář, Prague, Czech Republic
2014
Zhang Xiaogang: Memory + ing, Daegu Art Museum, South Korea
Zhang Xiaogang’s Oil on Paper, Pace Gallery, Hong Kong
2013
Zhang Xiaogang, Pace Gallery, New York, USA
2012
Beijing Voice: Zhang Xiaogang, Pace Gallery, Beijing, China
2010
Zhang Xiaogang: 16:9, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
2009
The China Project: Zhang Xiaogang—Shadows in the Soul, Queensland Art
Gallery / GOMA, Brisbane, Australia
The Records, Pace Gallery, Beijing, China
2008
Zhang Xiaogang: Revision, PaceWildenstein, New York, USA
2007
Zhang Xiaogang, Sara Hildén Art Museum, Tampere, Finland
2006
Amnesia and Memory, Artside Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
Home – Zhang Xiaogang, Beijing Commune, Beijing, China
2005
Zhang Xiaogang 2005, Max Protetch Gallery, New York, USA
2004
Umbilical Cord of History, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong
Zhang Xiaogang: Forget and Remember, Galleria Davide Di Maggio, Milan, Italy
Zhang Xiaogang: Forget and Remember, M3 – Galerie Gianluca Ranzi, Antwerp, Belgium
2003
Forget and Remember, Galerie de France, Paris, France
2000
Max Protetch Gallery, New York, USA
1999
Les Camarades, Galerie de France, Paris, France
1998
Bloodline: Big Family 1998, Hanart TZ Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan
1997
Bloodline: Big Family 1997, CAFA Gallery, Beijing, China
1994
Zhang Xiaogang, Galerie de France, Paris, France
1989
Lost in Dreams, Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts, Chongqing, China
Solo exhibitions
2025
Zhang Xiaogang, The Reader, the Writer, Song Art Museum, Beijing, China
2024
Zhang Xiaogang: Illusorium, Fosun Foundation, Chengdu, China
2023
Zhang Xiaogang: Enigmata, Contemporary Art Gallery, Kunming, China
Zhang Xiaogang: Lost, Pace Gallery, Hong Kong
Zhang Xiaogang: Mayflies, Long Museum West Bund, Shanghai, China
2018
Zhang Xiaogang: Multiple Narratives, United Art Museum, Wuhan, China
Stage: Zhang Xiaogang 2008–2018, Hubei Museum of Art, Wuhan, China
Zhang Xiaogang: Recent Works, Pace Gallery, New York, USA
2015
Zhang Xiaogang: The Plum Tree and The Girl, Galerie Zdeněk Sklenář, Prague, Czech Republic
2014
Zhang Xiaogang: Memory + ing, Daegu Art Museum, South Korea
Zhang Xiaogang’s Oil on Paper, Pace Gallery, Hong Kong
2013
Zhang Xiaogang, Pace Gallery, New York, USA
2012
Beijing Voice: Zhang Xiaogang, Pace Gallery, Beijing, China
2010
Zhang Xiaogang: 16:9, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
2009
The China Project: Zhang Xiaogang—Shadows in the Soul, Queensland Art
Gallery / GOMA, Brisbane, Australia
The Records, Pace Gallery, Beijing, China
2008
Zhang Xiaogang: Revision, PaceWildenstein, New York, USA
2007
Zhang Xiaogang, Sara Hildén Art Museum, Tampere, Finland
2006
Amnesia and Memory, Artside Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
Home – Zhang Xiaogang, Beijing Commune, Beijing, China
2005
Zhang Xiaogang 2005, Max Protetch Gallery, New York, USA
2004
Umbilical Cord of History, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong
Zhang Xiaogang: Forget and Remember, Galleria Davide Di Maggio, Milan, Italy
Zhang Xiaogang: Forget and Remember, M3 – Galerie Gianluca Ranzi, Antwerp, Belgium
2003
Forget and Remember, Galerie de France, Paris, France
2000
Max Protetch Gallery, New York, USA
1999
Les Camarades, Galerie de France, Paris, France
1998
Bloodline: Big Family 1998, Hanart TZ Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan
1997
Bloodline: Big Family 1997, CAFA Gallery, Beijing, China
1994
Zhang Xiaogang, Galerie de France, Paris, France
1989
Lost in Dreams, Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts, Chongqing, China
Group exhibitions
2025
Nothing Still about Still Life: Masterpieces from the World of Flower Collection, Deji Art Museum, Nanjing, China
The River of Time: Inaugural Exhibition of MadeOriental Art Center, MadeOriental Art Center, Hangzhou, China
At Ease with Hand and Mind: Literature, Calligraphy and Contemporary Art, Qualia Contemporary Art, Palo Alto, USA
Time Unfinished: Chinese Contemporary Art 1980s–1990s, Taikang Art Museum, Beijing, China
The Hidden Collectors II, La VIE Material Living Art Center, Shenzhen, China
Love Unknown, G Museum, Nanjing, China
2024
The Exhibition of Annual of Contemporary Art of China 2014–2024, One Art Museum, Beijing, China
Zeitgenössische Kunst aus China und Deutschland, Jiangxi Provincial Museum of Art, Nanchang, China
My World, Singer Laren, Netherlands
2023–2025
Mirrors of the Portrait: Highlights of the Centre Pompidou Collection Vol. III, West Bund Museum, Shanghai, China
2024
Neo-vision: Chinese Contemporary Art Invitation Exhibition, Jingdezhen Ceramic University Museum, China
Engaging with the World: Modern and Contemporary Chinese Art Since the Dawn of the 20th Century, Guang Hui Art Museum, Sichuan, China
Inscription of Time: Experience and Transformation of Contemporary Chinese Art Collection, Ennova Art Museum, Langfang, China
Grand Opening of Guangdong Museum of Art New Building, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China
2023
Embarking, Central Art Museum, Hangzhou, China
Portraits: The Tenth Anniversary of the Long Museum, Long Museum, Shanghai, China
Golden – The 28th Anniversary Exhibition, Tang Contemporary Art, Beijing, China
Twenty Years of Iteration, Duolun Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China
M+ Sigg Collection: Another Story, M+, Hong Kong
Chewing Gum VI, Pace Gallery, Hong Kong
2022
Multiple Sights: The Tenth Anniversary of the Long Museum, Long Museum West Bund, Shanghai, China
The Language of Mushrooms: The Interspecies Internet, Contemporary Gallery, Kunming, China
Chewing Gum V, Pace Gallery, Hong Kong
Art and Peace: Let us begin again from Zero o’clock, Ulsan Art Museum, South Korea
2021
Beyond, TAG Art Museum, Qingdao, China
Little Things: Part I & II, Pace Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland
Signs, Pace Gallery, Hong Kong
2020
Duration: Chinese Art in Transformation, Minsheng Art Museum, Beijing, China
Chewing Gum IV, Pace Gallery, Hong Kong
2019
Zhang Xiaogang, Mao Yan & Qiu Xiaofei, Pace Gallery, Hong Kong
Conversations: Contemporary Asian Art, Hermitage Museum, USA
A Fairy Tale in Red Times: Works from the White Rabbit Collection,
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
Under Construction, TANK Shanghai, China
2018
Practice and Exchange: An Exhibition of Chinese Contemporary Art, UCCA, Beijing, China
2017
Art and China after 1989: Theater of the World, Guggenheim Museum & SFMOMA, USA
Chinese Dreams, Boston, USA
Metamorphosis: Huang Zhuan Memorial Invitational Exhibition, OCT Contemporary Art Terminal, Shenzhen, China
2016
Sol LeWitt and Zhang Xiaogang, Pace Beijing, China
Talking on Paper, Pace Beijing, China
M+ Sigg Collection: Four Decades of Chinese Contemporary Art, Hong Kong
The Collection: A Selection of Chinese Works, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, France
2015
A New Dynasty – Created in China, ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Denmark
ChinZ 8: Contemporary Art from China on the Rhine and Ruhr, Germany
2014
I Look At Things… Works from the Collection, Faurschou Foundation, Copenhagen, Denmark
Carte Blanche, Pace at Chesa Büsin, Switzerland
Hanart 100: Idiosyncrasies, Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong
2013
Voyage and Awakening, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan
2012
Future Pass, Taiwan / Beijing
39 Steps up the Corridor, Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong
Voyages & Rêves, Paris, France
2011
Future Pass – From Asia to the World, Rotterdam / Venice
Burning, Bright: A Short History of the Light Bulb, Pace Gallery, New York, USA
2010
Beijing–Havana, National Art Museum of Cuba
Reshaping History: Chinart from 2000 to 2009, Beijing, China
Clouds – Power of Asian Contemporary Art, Beijing, China
2008–2009
The Revolution Continues: New Art from China, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK
2008
Chinese Painting, Prague, Czech Republic
Writing on the Wall: Chinese New Realism and Avant-Garde, Groninger Museum, Netherlands
Avant-Garde China: 20 Years of Chinese Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan
Half-life of a Dream, SFMOMA, USA
2007
Society Art, Moscow, Russia
Starting from the Southwest, Guangdong Art Museum, China
2006–2007
Mahjong: Chinese Contemporary Art from the Sigg Collection, Germany
2006
Food and Desire, Beijing, China
Plato and His Seven Spirits, Shenzhen, China
2005–2006
Regeneration: Contemporary Chinese Art from China and the U.S., USA
2005
The Second Triennial of Chinese Arts, Guangzhou, China
2004
Shanghai Biennale: Techniques of the Visible, Shanghai, China
2003
From China with Art, Indonesia
Chinese Contemporary Art, Budapest, Hungary
2002
BABEL 2002, Seoul, South Korea
Paris–Beijing, Paris, France
2001
Towards a New Image: 20 Years of Chinese Contemporary Painting, China
Passe-murailles, Amiens, France
2000
Kwangju Biennale, South Korea
1998–2000
Inside Out: New Chinese Art, USA
1997–1998
China Now, Basel, Switzerland
1996–1997
CHINA!, touring exhibition (Europe & Asia)
1995
46th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
1994
22nd São Paulo Biennial, São Paulo, Brazil
1993
New Art from China: Post-1989, London, UK
1992
Guangzhou Biennial, China
1991
I Don’t Want to Play Cards with Cézanne, USA
1989
China Avant-Garde, National Art Museum, Beijing, China