'85 New Wave

ZHANG Xiaogang

Born in Kunming, Yunnan province in 1958.
Graduated from the Sichuan Institute of Fine Arts in 1982. Currently lives and works in Beijing.

Zhang Xiaogang was a primary member of the New Representationalism and Southwestern Arts Group of the ¡¯85 New Wave movement. His style gradually moved away from realism in the first half of the 1980s and began to display more formal explorations. Zhang Xiaogang focused on the themes of death and illusion during this period. Rather than advocating radical expression in his art he was more inclined towards expressing what he termed ¡°warmth of life.¡± Even though this warmth disappeared between the years of 1989 and 1990, it endowed his canvases with vigor and a deeper concern for life, which they previously lacked.