Zhang Xiaogang (1958, Kunming, Yunnan province, China) is a contemporary symbolist painter and surrealist.
The artist’s childhood in China coincided with the period of upheavals known as the Cultural Revolution which, according to him, left a deep imprint on his art. In 1980 he graduated from the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts in the city of Chongqing, Sichuan province, and became one of the leaders of the Sichuan School of Painting which was into surrealist, folklore and profoundly psychological art.
Zhang Xiaogang worked in his own unique and recognizable, refined and coloristic style he described as “false portrait”. The series of his portraits based on old family photos dating back to the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s-1970s explore the relationship between private and social life. The series “Bloodline: The Big Family” started in the 1990s has become the hallmark of his style. Presently, Zhang Xiaogang is one of the most renowned and expensive Chinese artists, referred to as the “maitre of Chinese painting”. HeresidesandworksinBeijing.