Ai Weiwei and Zhang Xiaogang are Chinese contemporary artists. While both are leading conceptual artists in the country, they seek to evoke different messages using their art work. Ai Weiwei’s art is motivated by the need to inspire freedom and the expansion of individual space away from government and society. It is therefore the case that Ai Weiwei by virtue of eliciting such emotions practiced artistic activism. On the other hand, Zhang Xiaogang is respected in his own right. His art more or less seeks to evoke memories which he says serve as his greatest inspiration. He especially draws on the memories from the Cultural Revolution that took place in China during the reign of Chairman Mao.
Zhang Xiaogang
As alluded to above, Zhang Xiaogang draws his inspirations from family portraits especially those from the Cultural Revolution era. It is because a majority of such family photos were destroyed during the revolution leaving a great deal of families with no form of artistic reference. He therefore creates artistic works with the hopes of evoking the nostalgic moments of the pre-Cultural Revolution period in order to fill the void left by the destroyed family photos. Xiaogang also seems to draw his inspiration from surrealism; the European tradition that emerged during the twentieth century whose aim is to release the potential of individual’s unconscious and subconscious mind in regard to art and literature.
With family being Xiaogang’s primary theme, he seeks to elicit the ideals of identity as envisaged in collectivism; one of the core influencing cultures of the Chinese. Despite drawing his inspiration from the Cultural Revolution period, Xiaogang appears to create art that is not bound by time. It is perhaps a reflection of the family as a timeless and infinite aspect of the nation’s society. It is especially the case in his pioneering work of art, the Bloodline series. His mastery of the use of color images to create a well-designed distortion to his artwork whether by design or not seems to bring out inherent human physical features as well as the emotional aspects which include birthmarks and stains on the paintings as well as the associated stigma that the Chinese family faced especially during the era of the horrors of the Cultural Revolution.
Xiaogang’s art is quite unique when placed against the backdrop of Chinese art. He manages to make use of charcoal and oil in a traditional Chinese hint which creates juxtaposition in his paintings. For one, such paintings appear lively yet at the same time may appear unresponsive which creates an emotional connection with the audience. Unique to his artistic work is his ability to alter the inherent physical features in order to convey certain emotions. More often he depicts his subjects as having extra-large heads, small hands, long noses and a distortion of the hairstyles. Such distortion in the physical features are intended to provoke a series of psychological thoughts on the part of the audience which ultimately acts as a hint to the kind of emotion that the artist is attempting to express.
In one of the paintings from his acclaimed Bloodline series, he interrogates the issue of differences between humans. There is a father and a daughter in the painting who appear strikingly similar in their resemblance yet they are expressionless. To him, such is the representation of the modern Chinese society that has allowed its culture based on collectivism to be diluted by western ideals. The portrait thus seeks to evoke memories of the past. It is evidenced in his admission that the Chinese society has undergone so much change within a very short period that it has had an adverse effect on the Chinese internally.
Another Xiaogang portrait drawn from the Bloodline; the big family series is the “three comrades”. The painting is illustrative of the contemporary Chinese family following the one-child policy. However, the portrait appears to be that of a revolutionary family during the era of Chairman Mao Zedong. It transcends gender where all individuals; male and female, considered themselves as equals under the dominion of family. In it, Xiaoping appears to decry the loss of unity that was prevalent before the launch of the Cultural Revolution.
Zhang Xiaogang manages to create a sense of nostalgia in his paintings by making use of the ideals of a traditional Chinese artist through the simple yet powerful photograph. In a bid to idealize his subjects, he employs dramatic lighting effects and a flat expressionless background that then allows the subject to be the centre of the artwork. Such a technique enables the audience to concentrate on evaluating the emotions of subjects without any distractions. Ultimately, it is the ability of his artwork to transcend generations and time that makes Zhang Xiaogang on of the great Chinese artists.
Ai Weiwei
Ai Weiwei serves as a classical example of how dissident art has an on the exposition of human freedoms. Weiwei’s art more often than not is inspired by the need to ensure political, social, and economic freedoms for all the people. He is best known for social and performance interventions as well as object based artistry. Through his art, Weiwei expresses his ideals that it is one’s mannerisms that give a glimpse of what a person is like in reality. Therefore no form of authority or person should have the liberty to enforce any form of mannerism into a person against their will since he believed that such an ideal is personal. He believes that art is a better way through which the society can vent its tribulations since as opposed to the media, politics, business, and other spheres of life, it is not constrained for the mind and consciousness of an individual are free.
One of his most prominent works in relation to the calls for expanded freedoms in China is the Sunflower seeds installation at the Tate Modern. The installation is made up of millions of sunflower seeds made out of porcelain. Surprisingly, all the sunflower seeds are handmade rather than being a product of a standardized industrial process. The intention was that each of the seeds should appear unique in a bid to illustrate the differences between individuals’ thoughts and emotions despite the perception of resemblance. It is this industrious nature and personal story in each of the millions of sunflower seeds that make the installation a powerful illustration of the situation of the Chinese.
The sunflower seeds are directly co-related with the Chinese Cultural Revolution undertaken by Chairman Mao. The revolution led to the people in China being denied all their freedoms. Sun flower seeds have a great social and cultural impact on the Chinese for they are considered a snack shared among friends and family hence an important element in their culture. However, it is the symbolic nature of the Sunflower installation that is of great importance. Despite being contained within tough husks, the seeds eventually blossom and produce a sunflower plant. Weiwei hoped that it would be an illustration that the Chinese people would one day be able to break out of the cocoon the government has placed them in and demand for their freedom. Secondly, each of the seeds in the installation was entirely different which is symbolic of the fact that each individual is different. It is therefore unjust for the government to try and instill a common set of mannerisms for all the people by denied them some freedoms.
Weiwei is certainly famed for pulling off huge artistic installations such as the Sunflower seeds installation. Perhaps the conspicuousness of his artistic impressions is meant is a sign of his defiance to the government. Another installation of such a magnitude is his “So sorry” retrospective show in Germany. It involved creating the installation christened “Remembering”. The installation was an illustration of a quote from one of the mothers that had her daughter during the 2008 Sichuan province earthquake. The installation was made out of thousands of children’s backpacks.
During the incident, thousands of students are thought to have lost their lives as a result of poor architectural designs for schools in the province which Weiwei attributed to corruption and government mismanagement. Yet the government was intent on suppressing such stories from coming by barring the media and others from accessing the areas affected by the earthquake. Weiwei then launched a citizens’ investigation initiative that culminated into the “So sorry” show in Germany. It was an effort to bring to fore the lack of human freedoms in China.
In conclusion, it is evident that Ai Weiwei and Zhang Xiaogang have different approaches not only to their artistry but also the messages they intend to evoke. Ai Weiwei favors conspicuous installations with his intention being to attract the world’s attention to the situation of human freedoms in China. On the other hand, Zhang Xiaogang prefers the use of simple family photos with his intention being to evoke revolutionary memories. However, it is clear that the sources of their inspirations draw from a common event, the Chinese Cultural Revolution.
Bibliography
Artoronto.ca. 2016. Profanity and rebellion / Ai Weiwei at the AGO. Artoronto.ca Retrieved
May 10, 2016 from http://www.artoronto.ca/?p=20891
Lines of descent. 2016. Zhang Xiaogang. Visualarts.au Retrieved May 10, 2016 from
http://www.visualarts.qld.gov.au/linesofdescent/works/zhang.html
