Artwork Description

Title: Red Zhu
Artist: Chang Xiaojun
Date: 2015
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 31.5 x 39.4 in (80 x 100 cm)

Artwork Identification:
Red Zhu presents a haunting and ambiguous narrative scene rendered with a textured, heavily worked surface. Dominated by a vertical crimson element at the center, the composition juxtaposes abstracted human forms and a swelling mass of deep indigo. Loose linear figures, subtle spatial cues, and raw gestural strokes invite open-ended interpretation, hinting at familial ties, concealment, or separation.

Artistic Style and Influences:
Chang Xiaojun’s work is emblematic of postmodern Chinese abstraction, where figuration and symbolism blur under expressive color and coarse materiality. Red Zhu evokes a psychological landscape where form serves metaphor. His work resonates with the influence of Art Brut and Eastern expressionism, pushing emotional resonance through restraint and reduction rather than overt detail.

Historical Context:
Emerging in the early 21st century, Chang Xiaojun is part of a generation of Chinese artists navigating the intersection of contemporary abstraction and traditional thematic undercurrents. His work aligns with broader movements in Chinese oil painting that prioritize introspective expression over political narrative, often addressing memory, identity, and cultural displacement through minimal yet emotionally dense compositions.

Provenance:
Provenance documentation can be provided upon contact.

Condition and Conservation:
The painting is in very good condition. The canvas is stable and taut, with surface textures and impasto preserved intact. No signs of pigment loss or restoration are visible.

Artistic Significance:
With its quiet, fragmented symbolism and masterful balance of texture and form, Red Zhu exemplifies Chang Xiaojun’s poetic visual language. The work stands as a profound meditation on emotional distance and structural isolation, making it a compelling acquisition for collectors of contemporary Chinese abstraction and psychologically charged figuration.