ZHANG XIAOGANG (B. 1958)

In Bloodline Series: Child Sitting in a Wooden Chair No. 2 (Lot 411), the only child sits majestically on his chair that serves as a throne. His skin is highlighted in a surrealistic yellow tone, the colour of Emperors. The face seems that of a boy, depicted as oddly mature with a face too old for the rest of his body. But if the spectator observes closely at the genitals on display, he can recognize that she is in fact a girl. The Chinese tradition of zhongnan qingnü preferring sons over daughters was deeply embedded in mindsets, placing on the first-born son the burden of maintaining the family name and legacy. The child's identity is torn between her gender from which she cannot escape and her family's expectation of producing a male heir. There is indeed an awkwardness with the subject, portrayed in a rigid upright posture and direct gaze, one arm resting on the high chair in an almost authoritarian pose, in contradiction with her young age and status.

Zhang's discreet bloodlines wind through the canvas, drawing the figures from his different Bloodline series paintings together and into the broader field of filial and social ties. Chinese filial relationships stretch into the past and the future as the weight of the past is borne by successive generations. Perhaps the strongest desire for every person is the opportunity to forget the burden of family and society, and to live a carefree life that is genuine to oneself.