ZHANG XIAOGANG (CHINA, B. 1958)

Zhang Xiaogang's paintings compel us to question the relics of our past.

The abundant cultural references and ancient myths has inspired Zhang Xiaogang in the early years. Zhang's early readings of Hegel and Plato has given him hope for the independence of the human spirit. Embracing civilization and personal history, Amnesia and Memory: Diary (Lot 209) highlights a lyrical intimate space that portrays the emotions and memories of the artist. Similar to Night No. 4 (1990) (Fig. 1) where the collaged text, faces with doomed expressions and a structurally tilted chair hint a personal interior, the first person perspective of a human writing diary is a literati presentation of a moment of a dialogue with the self.

Part of a larger series of work, Amnesia and Memory: Diary explores the antagonistic dual process of remembering and forgetting. This intimate and signature motif appears here in a similarly dualistic role. While the light bulb is seemingly unplugged, a patch of yellow light appears below it. This light itself then gains a paradoxical nature—both supernaturally uncreated yet intimately related to the existence of the bulb. The paradoxes of the painting give it a dual identity, being simultaneously a picture representing the physical act of journaling and also a meta-critique on the very nature of confronting, negotiating and ultimately creating the memories that define who we are.