Tang Zhigang, oil on canvas, 2003
As the son of a Red Army officer, Zhigang Tang was raised under the strict rules of a highly institutionalized military world. His mother was a prison warden and so as a child he saw the difference between the powerful and the oppressed. After 20 years of service in the Chinese army, he experienced the strict bureaucracy and the imposed propaganda rules of his country. As an artist, he was responsible the setting of the meeting rooms according to instructions and gave art education to children of military personnel while their parents were at those meetings.
His anarchist work called ‘Children in Meeting’ depicts Chinese children whom he puts in a protocol adult scene. The iconography of Zhigang Tang’s paintings is always based on solemn group photos of a serious conference. He thus ironizes the political and social discipline of the bureaucratic system through the presence of toys and childlike behaviour.
– For more works by this artist, contact the gallery. –