The "Bloodline Series" by Zhang Xiaogang is part of the artist's legendary oeuvre. The present lot was completed in 2006 and belongs to Zhang's recent Comrade Series of works. Conceived during a period characterized by a deep identity crises in China following the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989, this iconic series has come to embody a certain generational spirit of Chinese avant-garde art.

Inspired by family photos from the Cultural Revolution period, as well as the European tradition of surrealism, Zhang Xiaogang's paintings engage with the notion of identity within the Chinese culture of collectivism. Basing his work around the concept of 'family' – immediate, extended, and societal – the artist's portraits depict an endless genealogy of imagined forebearers and progenitors, each unnervingly similar and distinguished by minute differences. Often painted in black and white, Zhang Xiaogang's portraits translate the language of photography into paint. Drawing from the generic quality of formal photo studio poses and a greyscale palette, Zhang's figures are nameless and timeless: a series of individual histories represented within the strict confines of formula. The occasional splotches of color which interrupt his images create unusual boundaries, reminiscent of birth marks, aged film, social stigma, or a lingering sense of the sitter's self assertion.

Incorporating the aesthetic of traditional Chinese charcoal drawing, Xiaogang's style wavers between the exaggeration of animation and stoic flatness. Muted and compliant, Zhang Xiaogang's extended family convey individual identity through their unalterable physical features: big heads, watery eyes and subtle alterations in hairstyle give clues to intimate characteristics and stifled emotions. These dream-like distortions give a complex psychological dimension to Xiaogang's work, heightening the tension of regulated claustrophobia, and initiating suggestive narrative readings.

Referring to the Bloodline paintings, Zhang noted that old photographs "are a particular visual language" and says: "I am seeking to create an effect of 'false photographs' - to re-embellish already 'embellished' histories and lives." He said: "On the surface the faces in these portraits appear as calm as still water, but underneath there is great emotional turbulence. Within this state of conflict the propagation of obscure and ambiguous destinies is carried on from generation to generation."

Zhang commented that he has carefully selected the colors in his paintings to emphasize the individual's pure essence, pointing to their innocence as they're born into circumstances and obligations beyond their control. This color also highlights tensions between generations brought about by political and practical necessity. In the traditional Chinese family, the younger generation is expected to carry forward the family lineage. At this time in Chinese history, however, the most progressive political position for China's youth was to reject the authority of tradition involving the traditional family structure. In this bundle of contradictory impulses, disingenuous surfaces, and nostalgic sentiments Zhang sees his generation's central conflicts.

The "Bloodline Series" works serve as metaphors for the legacy of China's Maoist era; they are also Zhang's way of expressing the power of transmission from one generation to the next. The biological importance of family genetics is demonstrated through genetic transmission; more intangible is the inter-generational transmission of cultural and social identity. The red bloodlines are the artist's concrete expression of family ties and, more literally, genetic carriers.

Regarding the influences of China's political upheavals on his paintings, Zhang said, "For me, the Cultural Revolution is a psychological state, not a historical fact. It has a very strict connection with my childhood, and I think there are many things linking the psychology of the Chinese people today with the psychology of the Chinese people back then."

The Bloodline concept of Zhang Xiaogang reflects a common characteristic of the time and has won fame for his series in the international artistic world. Critics say Zhang pointed Chinese contemporary art in a new direction; he fused old charcoal-like portraits with modern pop art to create iconic images of the troubled Chinese family. Undoubtedly, Zhang is one of the most outstanding artists in China's avant-garde movement. As in the early 80's, he has been active in the contemporary art scene, he has witnessed the history and projected the development of contemporary art in China over the past twenty years. He took part in many important early Chinese contemporary art exhibitions. Back in 1985, Zhang participated in the "Neo-Realism" exhibition held in Shanghai and Nanjing; in 1989 the "China Avant-Garde" in National Art Museum of China in Beijing; in 1995 the "Bes del Pais del Centre: avantguardesartistiquesxieses" in Barcelona Contemporary Art Museum in Spain and the 46th Venice Biennial held in the same year. In June 2006, Zhang was awarded one of the four "Artist of the Year" at the National Art Museum of Art in China presented by Martell, the well-known French enterprise. Western media gave him the name of "top-selling painter". While in spring 2011, his 1988 triptych oil work 'Forever Lasting Love', of half-naked figures in an arid landscape suffused with mystical symbols, sold for HK$79 million (US$10.1 million), a record auction price for a contemporary artwork from China. In this burst of fame, Zhang Xiaogang has been catapulted into the ranks of the world's best-known living artists, such as Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, Lucian Freud, Jasper Johns, CyTwombly and David Hockney. Collectors throughout the world kept chasing Zhang's works. His works are collected by international organizations including the Guggenheim Museum in New York, foundations and museums in England, The Netherlands and France and many important collectors.

The sensitiveness and ability of profound observation grants the artist the gift to connect his personal life closely with the time and society, which raises him to the heights of art. Now, Zhang Xiaogang is a universally acknowledged successful artist, an artist whose success is far beyond failure.However, the sensational success seems still unable to eliminate the feeling of loneliness deeply rooted within him. He said: "I can never expect to make any sunny and happy paintings. My paintings are all cloudy and melancholic. Maybe it is because of my experience for the relationship between my family and I always display the negative side or dark back of life, never the positive face."