| Zhang Xiaotao was born on 1970 in Hechuan, | | | | Western energy. In the hands of a skillful |
| Chongqing, China, he lives and works in | | | | painter like Zhang, it reflects the character |
| Beijing and Chengdu, China. He is an artist | | | | of an ancient culture while embracing modern |
| full of enthusiasm and good at argument. He | | | | themes and colors. Fish, snakes, human faces, |
| is so talkatively repelling that no one could | | | | beer mugs, condoms-these repeating elements |
| plunge himself into the conversation you | | | | appear in intricate layers of paint that defy |
| could also be able to read his articles about | | | | opacity. The creatures' hues are often the |
| the paintings. Walking into Zhang Xiaotao's | | | | blues and greens of the traditional Chinese |
| "A Joyful Time," where huge oil and | | | | pottery and carvings that abound in jade |
| watercolor paintings invite viewers into a | | | | markets, but placed in front of or behind the |
| bright underwater world of copulating frogs | | | | animals' outlines are shapes and symbols that |
| and intertwined human forms, the reaction | | | | would challenge, if not startle, any |
| "elated and free" comes back to mind. | | | | unsuspecting market habitué. Zhang's |
| Amphibious creatures float unencumbered in | | | | frequently recurring dreams about drowning |
| washes of blue, green, and orange paint, | | | | presumably account for all the water imagery |
| their outlines making whimsical, eye-pleasing | | | | in his work; his preoccupation stems from two |
| shapes. So it is with great surprise that one | | | | swimming accidents when he was seven years |
| learns of the artist's background-that he | | | | old: one happened at the shore of the |
| nearly drowned as a child and is afraid of | | | | powerful Yangtze River, where he was playing |
| water, and that he comes from a country whose | | | | with his companions. His brother's friend had |
| reproductive policies are heavy-handed and | | | | pulled him into the current, teasingly, but |
| punitive. | | | | soon lost control and had to swim ashore. |
| | | | Zhang remained out in the water and was |
| This is Zhang's first exhibit in the United | | | | almost dead before an adult who could brave |
| States, accompanying a month-long residency | | | | the current came to his rescue. That |
| at the Pacific Bridge Gallery, which last | | | | tentative, struggling moment between life and |
| spring garnered attention for its | | | | death informs the artist's work expansively. |
| controversial exhibition of Ho Chi Minh | | | | |
| portraits. Zhang, who is 29, has a degree in | | | | View Zhang Xiaotao paintings, biography, solo |
| oil painting and teaches it at Southwest | | | | exhibitions, group exhibitions and resource |
| Jiaotong University in Chengdu.Among Chinese | | | | of Zhang Xiaotao artist. View art online at |
| artists, oil painting has caught on as a | | | | The Saatchi Gallery - London contemporary art |
| fashionable and innovative expression of | | | | gallery. |