An Interview with Tang Zhigang by Britta Erickson

　　Tang Zhigang grew up in a military family, joined the army as soon as he had finished high school, and then earned a degree from the Oil Painting Department of the People's Liberation Army Art Institute. During his early career as an artist, he was attached to the military. Because his life and work were unusual in this way, he developed as an artist on the periphery of Chinese art circles. This give him a certain independence from the mainstream---an advantage to a situation that does not initially appear to be advantageous. Perhaps had he not been friends with such artists as Zhang Xiaogang and Mao Xuhui, who also hailed from south China, he would have remained isolated on the periphery: as it was, he was connected enough to follow the developments of the 85 Movement, and later to join those art circles following his departure from the PLA. When I interviewed him, I learned how closely tied his life had been to that of the soldiers, and discovered how deeply personal is much of the playful symbolism in his post-PLA paintings.