Art Escaping Reality: Zhang Linhai’s reflections upon past and present experiences of China through contemporary art
12th January, 2020
Art has been a means by which Chinese creators have been able to respond to social and political states and changes throughout the contemporary era, though not with great success, due to government shutdown and censorship. Zhang Linhai has been a major artist taking on a modernist style, similar to that of Surrealism, to document his experiences of the communist society and harsh injustice faced by many people in China, particularly after the Cultural Revolution and the rule of Mao Zedong. Additionally, he touches on his personal struggles with loneliness, coming from a background as an orphan. An interesting comparison can be drawn to the historical accounts of Surrealist artists who responded eagerly to the Communist Revolution in Russia, with the suggestion that Surrealism would allow your mind to be free, as communism would also bring freedom. He exhibits similar techniques to those used by Surrealists, such as automatism, that allow him to fully express his subconscious in a psychoanalytic way. Some of Zhang’s contemporary political work can also be compared to political artists from the past, such as Honoré Daumier, whose piece Gargantua (1831) draws attention to the corrupt French government of the time. Zhang makes use of his style, incorporating dreamlike depictions with his composition, carefully selected colour palette and subject matter to reflect both personal encounters, as well as national sociopolitical problems.
Zhang Linhai had been through a distressing but miraculous journey before graduating from Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts at 27. At the age of one Zhang was brought to the She County after being orphaned and adopted by a couple, who, whilst kind of heart, were not wealthy. He later contracted a pyemia and femoral infection that resulted in lifelong disability, originating from illness as a child of 4 years old. This serious physical condition has caused significant discrimination, denying access to University entrance examinations as well as limiting employment (Hong 2019).
Having lived through the Cultural Revolution and socialist transformation of China under Mao Zedong, insight into Zhang’s artwork and processes can be gathered from further analysis of the historical and cultural contexts surrounding his childhood. China’s Cultural Revolution and the Mao era was a tumultuous period in China’s political development, and a crucial part of the country Zhang was growing up in. Themes of creating a free communist state were ever present from the Communist Party, in the same vein as Stalin, particularly by Chairman Mao Zedong himself (Schoenhals 2015). In order to make drastic changes to the country, Mao policy involved the repressive treatment of the lower ‘peasant’ class, its “foundation was built upon rural areas subsidizing the cities, depredating agricultural assets” (Gao 2014, p. 62-63). This resulted in extreme class divisions.
Zhang asserts that much of his work draws from experiences in his childhood, living with poverty, disability and being a part of the mass displacement of children in China. He pays particular attention to the ‘left behind children’ from his childhood experience, ‘[…] that’s why I include lots of children’s images in my painting’ (Zhang Linhai 2019). In his piece entitled Paradise #2 , he captures a feeling of isolation or feeling like an outsider, particularly through his use of composition. The piece displays a mountainous setting, with a sky lit from the horizon with a deep red, in front of which sit four pyramidic rows of boys, all dressed identically in collared blue uniform facing toward the beholder, heads bowed. In the foreground stands another boy, with his back to the viewer, also in uniform. The boy appears to have left this group of boys, based on his matching uniform and the space he has left in the middle of the front row, and is now observing or left witnessing their behaviour from an outsider's perspective. This is also evident by this over-the-shoulder position we are being placed in; it is a way of putting us, the beholder, at his level. The segmentation, with the isolated boy in the foreground, whilst the others are fully in unison in the midground, constructs a great distance for the audience, fully isolating the single boy as ‘other’. This work suggests that Zhang felt out of place from those who were subject to the communist regime and followed blindly or took what they were given at face value, without question, whilst he was more skeptical.
Zhang Linhai - Paradise #2, Oil on canvas, 115 x 150.5 cm.
Zhang Linhai - Dust Series - D, acrylic on wooden plate, 47 x 47 cm.
Another more abstract depiction of personal isolation comes through his work in his Dust Series - D , painted on ‘junk wood’, presenting an image of a single loudspeaker pole in a desolate field. The lack of people, juxtaposed with many of his other, crowd-filled works, stands out. The scale of this piece is also greatly different to many of his busier pieces, being much smaller in size to a lot of his more confronting pieces. This was apparent when standing in his studio, a room filled by enormous works, noticing something as small as this felt extremely personal. This feels almost like a cry for help that is heard by none. The loudspeaker standing lonesome where no one is around to hear, no buildings or people, is a reflection of what that level of abandonment and isolation would feel like.
This piece could also be interpreted as a broader commentary on the political state of China, both as a child and in the present day. The loudspeaker pole is the sole focus of the image. The artist has painted it to be very defined, in comparison to the blurred background. It stands strong, illuminated and across the picture plane. Whilst there is no one to be seen, the viewer can imagine the loudspeaker barking orders or propaganda, as if to recognize that the surveillance and control is omnipresent; nowhere, not even the most rural, unpopulated areas are clear from the government. The overbearing loudspeaker also fits into Bentham’s Panopticon Model, a state in which self-discipline would be achieved by prisoners being unable to tell when they are being watched due to the one-way design of the cell (Foucault 2004, p.75). The presence of the loudspeaker, in the same way as security cameras may, gives the impression that they are constantly being overpowered by a force, but in reality, there may not be any form of higher power, or even consequences to not obeying voices. Nevertheless, it is feared. The lack of people and size of the piece also makes it personal in a way that can be feared, as the speaker is subjecting its force to only the viewer, causing a level of discomfort. This is a clear reflection on the authoritative, police state the people of the People’s Republic of China are subject to.
Zhang Linhai, Theatre Series #4, mixed media on board, 120 x 90 cm.
In Theatre Series #4 , Zhang has created a large-scale work depicting an assembly hall, surrounded by hundreds of pale bodies. We are shown naked, vulnerable onlookers who appear to be waiting expectantly for an authority to provide instruction. The scale here is important in highlighting the vulnerability of the people. The middle ground is occupied entirely by a mass of people, drawing attention to their uniformity, and creating a greater impact for the viewer. Zhang (2019) says, ‘I think when the back is facing the audience, a lot of space is left for the audience to interpret themselves. So sometimes I find it is hard to, or I do not want to, just paint the face directly. It’s related to society, sometimes it can be hard to face.’ This decision has the effect of reducing the individual to a number, highlighted by a lack of clothing which further strips them of humanity, their agency removed. This underscores the key features of the communist regime that Zhang has lived through. The only notable colours to feature in the scene, aside from the illuminated bodies of the crowd, are the muted reds which are included on insignia adorning the hall, a single chair which occupies the center of a stage and the drawn curtains which surround it. The red helps to reinforce the theme of Chinese Government as a figure and illustrates the herd-like mentality, a crowd of people displaying a need to be governed.
(Left) Zhang Linhai, Joyful Time, oil on canvas, 115 x 150 cm.
(Right) Honoré Daumier, Gargantua, lithograph print.
A similar political commentary can be viewed in the two works above, by Zhang and Daumier. The iconography of the Great Wall, visible in Joyful Time, allows Zhang to critique China’s reduction of life for infrastructure. In this hyper-realist version, the Great Wall is replaced by children suspended in limbo, uniform in appearance as well as their military dress.
This is mirrored in Daumier’s Gargantua (1831), in which a line of faceless workers feed a fat figurehead in government. This image, a reaction to the government’s gluttonous use of taxes, resulted in him being faced with six months of imprisonment (Childs 1992, p. 26). In their own respective ways, both images de-humanize and depict people assembled into structures, displaying varying levels of expendability. Both artists share similar sociopolitical backgrounds, which is evident in the portrayal of people used as tools of labour. Zhang adopts techniques comparable to automatism, used by notable surrealist painters Breton, Dali and Masson to allow access to their unconscious. Preferring to remove as much of his own involvement in the process as possible, Zhang (2019) states ‘I think the first motivation and the first impulse is very important for me, if I sketch maybe two or three times then I don’t have that impulse.’ Zhang uses these techniques in an attempt to access and reflect his childhood memories, express the oppression of a childhood in communist China.
Through his contemporary art style, Zhang Linhai recreates scenes from his childhood in dynamic, surreal, and often confronting, ways. Themes of crowds of children are common in his work, representing his struggles being involved in mass displacement, as well as images that show feelings of great loneliness and isolation. Aspects of living under a corrupt communist government are evident through specific iconography through visible structures, an oppressive colour palette and recurring themes. His attempts to create from his unconscious memories mean his painting techniques draw parallels with those of the surrealist painting, that is, in an ‘automatic’ style. Therefore, through his unique style in the midst of contemporary China, he is able to respond to the personal and political aspects of the world around him, and the world he grew up in.
Bibliography
Childs, Elizabeth, 1992, Big Trouble: Daumier, ‘Gargantua’, and the Censorship of Political Caricature. Art Journal, Vol 51 (1), pp. 26-31
Foucault, Michel 2004, ‘Chapter 11 Panopticism’ in Schwaertz, Vanessa R. and Przyblyski, Jeannene M., The Nineteenth-Century Visual Culture Reader, pp.73-79. Taylor & Francis Ltd., London, UK.
Gao, Hui Jun 2014, ‘The King on the Shooting Star: My Understanding of Zhang Linhai and His Paintings’ in Zhang Linhai, 张林海, pp. 62-71. Linda Art Center, Singapore.
Hong, Wu 2019, ‘Theatre of the Soul: The Individual, Society, Time and Historical Metaphors in Zhang Linhai’s Work’ in Zhang Linhai, The Temperature of Dust, pp. 21-27. Linda Art Center, Singapore.
Schoenhals, Michael 2015, China’s Cultural Revolution, 1966-69 Not a Dinner Party. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis.
Zhang, Linhai. Interviewed by: UWA student group. (29th June 2019).