  f we take a look back at the literary and art youth’s life in last century’s colleges, we may see, in those days when idealism was still simple and forceful, any literary and art youth shared a similar life: the influence of European and American or Latin American modern literature, the prevalence of rock music, and the influx of existentialism or even post-modernism. Though these youths were pursuing different careers in their fields after graduation, such as painting, sculpture, literature or music, the roots and colors of their spirits were more or less closely related, no matter how different their techniques were.
So, even if Zhang Xiaogang has replaced familiar canvases with clean steel sheets in his latest Green Wall series, and has added diary-like personal writings in his photo works, they turned out to be able to promote the audience’s intimacy with the artist’s spiritual roots even more. Curator Leng Lin saw this way of expression as following the tradition of painting and poem integration. But I disagree, for such an intellectual tradition could be reworded as “whatever a painting falls short of representing can be remedied with a poem” – when ways of representation fall short of expressing one’s idea, one has to add a poem to explicate it, and I believe Emperor Qian Long must have felt strongly about this. Because of this, in plainly-depicted scholar paintings of Song and Yuan Dynasties we seldom see such a technique used, and the information contemporary art contains is far beyond traditional art’s reach, so I’m not inclined to see these writings merely as a supplement to content.
 After nearly a year of renovations, Pace Beijing gallery reopened with Zhang Xiaogang’s solo exhibition "Historical Records." On the scene were lots of sculptural works as well as the “Green Wall” series Zhang had created by use of steel sheets and composite techniques. Twisted fountain pens, wrinkled notebooks, concave light bulbs, and many other old articles once in our mind: the pull-string switch, the thermo flask, the twelve-inch white and black TV set, etc, which contributed to our better understanding of “Historical Records.” However, in my eyes, these sculptural works look more like footnotes to the whole exhibition, where you could see small broken pieces in the artist’s memory, and they are minute, touching, and plainly straightforward.
Contrasted with the former “Family” series, the “Green Wall” series is not more avant-garde and mystical, but they are invested with a warmer and friendlier air, which is not much represented in contemporary art, perhaps because it’s like those pull-string switches: ordinary and conforming not to modern or post-modern approaches. I advise those who have acquired a picture album for the exhibition should have a good reading of Zhang Xiaogang’s own words in it. Are those names he kept to his heart still known to today’s youth: Franz Kafka, Jean Paul Sartre, Leonard Cohen, and Pink Floyd? Only when we find out these could we become aware that what the artist is consuming today remains still the slightly fading passion under the dim lights in the students’ dorms.
Translated: Hu Zhu
Below art part of the images from the exhibition:
Zhang Xiaogang, Historical Records No.1
Zhang Xiaogang, Historical Records No.2
Zhang Xiaogang, Historical Records No.3
Zhang Xiaogang, Historical Records No.4
Zhang Xiaogang, Historical Records No.5
Zhang Xiaogang, Historical Records No.6
Zhang Xiaogang, Historical Records No.7
Zhang Xiaogang, Historical Records No.8
Zhang Xiaogang, Historical Records No.9
Zhang Xiaogang, Historical Records No.10
Zhang Xiaogang, Historical Records No.11
Zhang Xiaogang, Historical Records No.12
Zhang Xiaogang, Historical Records No.13
Zhang Xiaogang, Green Wall: Restaurant, Nook, Bedroom
Zhang Xiaogang, Green Wall: Drawing room
Zhang Xiaogang, Green Wall: Cyan Pinaster
Zhang Xiaogang, Green Wall: Lavatory
Zhang Xiaogang, Green Wall: Lavatory No.2
Zhang Xiaogang, Green Wall: Bathroom
Zhang Xiaogang, Light bulb No.2
Zhang Xiaogang, Candle
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