Evolution of a master

Highlights of Zhang's show include My Father (above) and Afternoon No 2 (top). Provided to China Daily

Zhang Xiaogang says his latest show goes beyond intellectual expression - it gets physical, Zhang Zixuan reports.

For the first time, artist Zhang Xiaogang says, he decided to set free his brain and let the hand take control.

The 54-year-old painter has been crowned with many titles, such as "Chinese contemporary art icon" and "China's most expensive living painter".

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Usually dressed in jeans, sneakers and a cap, the low-key artist has never really gotten used to such accolades. What he seeks is the gratification the act of painting brings him.

"When it becomes a physical demand, the drive is infinite," Zhang says.

In a specially built black space within Pace Gallery Beijing, his ongoing solo exhibition features his newest paintings created over the past two years. This time Zhang has refused to be confined by a preset theme, but has been following his body's instruction.

The artist insists he feels and follows the delicate changes in his muscles as he works. He totally indulges himself in the process of art-making, which is "primordial, manual and fascinating" as he describes it - stroke by stroke and piece by piece, without predicting what the next one is going to be like.

He also believes a work has its own life, which is supposed to inspire him.

"When I forgot about (being in the) vanguard and returned to painting itself, all my childhood memories and my feelings toward modern life start to visualize and guide me somewhere, which makes me very excited," he says.