Tang Zhigang  (Chinese, 1959) 

Tang Zhigang (Chinese, b.1959) is a painter best known for depicting imaginary landscapes filled with children wearing military uniforms. Born in Kunming, Yunnan Province, he served in the military for several years before studying oil painting at the People’s Liberation Army Art Institute. Tang’s early work focuses on depictions of the Chinese army, while his more recent work has expanded to social and political issues. While he served in the army, Tang produced a series of realistic portraits of military officers, as well as more fantastical representations of death and alienation. His Children in Meeting series, begun in the early 1990s, depicts children conducting political and business transactions in compositions reminiscent of the staged group photographs taken during communist era China. Tang’s more recent series of Chinese Fairytale paintings, begun in 2004, depicts children in symbolic, Surrealist-inspired settings. Many of his works feature red backdrops, which symbolize the use of red in communist propaganda. Tang has held solo exhibitions at the Red Bridge Gallery in Shanghai, the doArt Gallery in Beijing. He has taught at the Yunnan Institute of Fine Arts since 1996, and currently lives and works in Beijing.