Zhang Xiaogang - till Nov 15

Though not as well known as his other iconic work, this show is now less interesting

Most viewers know Zhang Xiaogang only for his Bloodline series, his pale family portraits, (each face connected with a frail but indistinguishable ‘bloodline’) that rocketed to record prices before the financial crisis took its toll last year.

But Zhang’s less iconic work is just as interesting. Before he had set into the Bloodline series, he was experimenting with a series of religious paintings in the early 1990s that was stimulating, if derivative.

The English title for the current show, ‘The Records’, hints at its diary-like nature. The Chinese title, Shi Ji, evokes a pre-Christian classic from the Western Han Dynasty.

Both titles apply: the original Chinese classic was written in an unadorned style, just as Zhang Xiaogang’s calligraphic musings, inscribed here on stainless-steel plates and juxtaposed with images from the artist’s daily surroundings, are equally prosaic.

Zhang’s calligraphic diaries record the apathy that comes with shuffling between airports and exhibitions: blood-pressure readings and details of his diet; how much alcohol he drinks and how many cigarettes he smokes; and what time he goes to bed.

Sometimes, these ‘records’ are wry, as when he recalls that he missed a rare total eclipse, having only risen from bed at noon. Stainless steel, calligraphic works line the walls, while the interior of the exhibition space is filled with bronze and cement sculptures of familiar objects: fountain pens, books and radios.

The overall impact of the show is archaeological but intimate – flat but honest. ‘The Records’ marks a pleasant rebirth for a man who has never completely gone off the radar in this town – pleasant, too, because while the Bloodline series was good, to see it again would render the viewer pulse-less.

This new work convinces us of its freshness even as it never totally departs from the yearning and lethargy that stained the artist’s previous signature paintings. Stacey Duff