HOW ZHANG XIAOGANG CRITICIZE THE SOCIETY THROUGH HIS ARTWORKS? ABSTRACT This article attempts to investigate different expressions that Zhang used to criticize the society. It will define that Zhang used traditional Chinese charcoal drawing aesthetic to show the subtext of his artworks in contemporary Chinese art. By tracing the traditional Chinese charcoal drawing aesthetic in Chinese Painter Zhang Xiaogang artistic development in the past two decades, his art as a whole can be interpreted in presenting his concerns of the foregone society and showing his own feelings towards the public history with a unique form of expression. INTRODUCTION In this article, I will argue that Zhang’s artworks engage with the notion of identity within the …show more content…
He seemed being more focus on the use of personal expressionism at that time. In line with an academic article written by Zhang Hongyuan, he mentioned that he could easily found the uses of Van Gogh's passionate style of personal expressionism, and a sense of rustic simplicity that always performed by Miller in Zhang’s painting “Cloud” . He also stated that Zhang’s style of passionate Expressionism has been changed into a rational and calm style at the use of "old photo" schema art collections, which is a significant transmutation of his painting style. Focusing on this painting, it gives people a kind of mysterious feeling, pure, sincere through its color performance. We can see the awakening of youths, their realization of dim and hazy future, the sexual desire and the reverie, which shown the monologue of Zhang’s heart and the life Hymn. Hang said that it is a “a force of soul." Zhang’s painting “Cloud” is formed by triangular composition. We can see three youngsters are lying on the ground with grass and they fill almost 80% of the picture, which form a strong sense of instability. Zhang used rough black lines to outline the large cloths. And this painting is mainly in brown, which bring a sense of unusual. Also, he used a strong dynamic coarsening to draw the sky and clouds in the background, therefore, the horse, the sheep and the horizontal black slopes created a calm sense and contained a …show more content…
Thus, Zhang began to pay attention to the relationship between the individual and society. This series of artworks began having reflections on life and death and containing philosophical. The works “Bloodline: Big Family" series. This idea was inspired by an old photograph of Zhang’s parent. In this series, we can see a family of three, including parents and children. The families are in the shape of a bit exaggerated, with highlighting the figure of that era clothing and facial expressions. Also, the Black gray tone and the color of ultra-realistic and spot, the symbolic red line bring out a unique feeling towards
There may been times when people have been treated unfairly, just because of their appearance or their social life.
In many scenarios, it is the younger generations who represent new times and challenge old tradition to be left in the past. Considering the reading of “Hangzhou” by Chang, Shitai, the fortune teller exhorts Chanyi, the illustrator grandma, to adapt to the modern generation where their “own ideas of love and power” (Chang 103) will decide the faith of their future. Taken by surprise, Chanyi disagrees, rationalizing and remaining silent on the topic. In similarity, Alice Walker relates to this reaction by echoing the illustrator of “Everyday Use” as she is informed of her daughter’s name change from Dee to Wangero. Asserted by Dee, it was a burden to be named after the people who oppress her” (Walker 318). This proves to the reader that in both families an adaptation is required by the mother. Therefore, both families have been driven to the similar situations regardless of their origin or ethnicity. Modern times request for new changes, a difficulty that families must
Artists communicate their identity through their work in different ways. Identity can be influenced by culture, community, and diversity, it can be represented and communicated in many different ways as well. The two artists I will be comparing are Ah Xian and Kerry James Marshall. Both artists represent culture identity in their works but in different ways as well as have different views on the subject of cultural identities.
Zhang’s first person narrative, uncensored and informal diction makes her story and experience relatable and one that touches the reader in ways not many other works are able to. This could be because of the fact that Zhang addresses harder to talk about subjects, but for me it was mainly her ability to deliver her truth in all its raw, real and ugly that is uncommon to find. Zhang’s unique style of writing is bold yet does not alienate readers allowing her to be able to share her story, experiences, and thoughts of depression. Zhang believes that “everyone wants to make something touchable, but most of us don’t out of fear of being laughable (Zhang),” and through “How It Feels”, she has created something that is just that,
A medium is the material and tools used to construct the images with ideas that relate to the world. This image was made of many other pictures from the Funk and Wagnall encyclopedia. These different pictures were all pieced together to form a collage. A collage is one picture that has many different parts added. The collage was formed by sticking various materials onto a single canvas that made them one picture. Putting pictures together separately just shows how different they are and how unconnected everything truly is. With a collage there is no structure, there is not harmony and it is all thrown together without much neatness or organization. Especially since the artists has a conceptual style, and is more concerned with the overall idea. The other medium used is the plain black and white image. Some people may overlook this, but it shows how society is black and white, there is no in between. Simple colors are a medium that have a large impact on the picture. Their impact is so large because the whole meaning of the picture stems from the most abundant medium used. The colors used are a black canvas with white figures pasted on. The black and white trend is seen throughout Chin’s paintings and is the way he expresses every collage. This can be attributed to the separation of black and white that is still prevalent in our world. This can also relate to today’s society
Much of Ai Weiwei’s activism and artwork has been influenced by his experiences growing up. Ai Weiwei lived through a tumultuous time in Chinese history, with the Cultural Revolution, the Tiananmen Square Massacre and the Opening Up of China by Deng Xiaoping. Ai Weiwei’s father, Ai Qing was a famous poet during the Cultural Revolution. However, he was targeted in the Anti-Rightist campaig...
As an artist, I always want to find out who I am and what my uniqueness is. In the same time I am concerned about the disappearance of my unique identity due to various reasons like the technological developments. The pair of artists I choose to write about are both dedicated to question or break the boundaries of identity. However, this question is still not solved yet. Are we losing our identities while searching for answers? More questions are aroused and we just need to keep
Identity is a huge topic that could go on for hundreds of pages; in fact, Solomon did. The concept of vertical and horizontal identity is unknown to many, yet very important. Sometimes, we do not belong in the vertical
Throughout the centuries, regardless of race or age, there have been dilemmas that identify a family’s thru union. In “Hangzhou” (1925), author Lang Samantha Chang illustrates the story of a Japanese family whose mother is trapped in her beliefs. While Alice Walker in her story “Everyday Use” (1944) presents the readers with an African American family whose dilemma is mainly revolving around Dee’s ego, the narrator’s daughter. Although exibiting different ethnicity, the reader should meditate that both families commonly share the attachment of a legacy, a tradition and the adaptation to a new generation.
The composition of the painting takes place with the square of the canvas. The square is approximately 5' x 5'. A black frame surrounding the painting protrudes approximately 4" off the canvas. There is a 1" inlay between the canvas and frame. From this square, Reinhardt breaks the composition into six equal squares in three even rows. Texture is no where to be found in the painting. No visual indication of the artist's brush stroke is present. No varnished glare is given off by the piece. The entire work, including the frame, is completely matte. The squares take up the entire canvas in a checkerboard type arrangement. Each square is a slightly different shade of blue-black. It almost becomes impossible to see the difference between each square. The middle squares in the top and bottom rows shift more towards blue than the rest of the squares. The division of these middle squares become more obvious than the others. When the painting is looked at from a distance, it is almost impossible to see any of the squares at all. When looking from a far, all a viewer can see is a blackish blue canvas. As you stare longer into the painting, a halo begins to form around the corners of the canvas, creating a circle inside the square. Once you look away from the canvas, the circle is gone. With this observation in mind, we could say that the painting most definitely relies on the viewer. A viewer is required to look at the piece for its full affect. We could say that the squares in the painting are self-contained.
Xu Bing (Chinese, 1955 -), whose work is marked by rebellious attitude towards conventional relation between language and meaning, is one of the leading artists in Chinese modern art scene. Described himself as belonging to the generation of Chinese artists who have lived through ten years of cultural revolution, ten years of open-door policy, and ten years of living in the West, he constantly questions the idea of communicating meaning through language due to the influence of his personal experience. Since early age, his father had encouraged him writing a page of Chinese characters a day, asking him to not only perfectly copy their form, but also to capture their spirit and essence. This tradition hence built a standard of how he should
The vast army of Terra Cotta Soldiers that surrounds Qin Shi Huangdi tomb is magnificent, not only because of the seven thousand plus soldiers created, but in addition an attention to detail to each individual soldier. With a variety of variation of soldier from kneeling archer to charioteer, there are also terra cotta horses that pulled wooden carts and chariots. The sheer number of individuals is alone breath taking, but than taken in to account that the figures are life size and has many variations from sculpture to sculpture it is hard to imagine that they were produced in 247 to 210 BCE. This work of art as a whole depicts the power and wealth that Qin Shi Huangdi had during his reign over China. Emperor Qin shows his wealth with this
June-May fulfills her mother’s name and life goal, her long-cherished wish. She finally meets her twin sisters and in an essence fulfills and reunites her mother with her daughter through her. For when they are all together they are one; they are their mother. It is here that June-May fulfills the family portion of her Chinese culture of family. In addition, she fully embraces herself as Chinese. She realizes that family is made out of love and that family is the key to being Chinese. “And now I also see what part of me is Chinese. It is so obvious. It is my family. It is in our blood.” (Tan 159). Finally, her mother’s life burden is lifted and June-May’s doubts of being Chinese are set aside or as she says “After all these years, it can finally be let go,” (Tan 159).
Chinese art went through many different stages starting from the year 1842. But the massacre of Tiananmen Square in the year 1989 was a turning point in the political life of China and in the country's art. Until the year 1992 art in China was underground, but it kept expanding. As a result of that, some Chinese artists started to do art works that rebel against their government and express their feelings towards China. One of these artists is the famous Chinese artist Ai Weiwei who expressed in each piece of art he did, his feelings that China should let its people break away from the rotten traditional, in order to express their thoughts freely.
what the text was truly telling me. I came about this text because it was assigned to us as a