Translocation 0D
Xiao Yu
萧昱
Production date
2018
Object Detail
Media
bronze
Measurements
171 x 186 x 150 cm
Notes
In the 1990s, a period of dramatic social, economic and cultural change, Xiao Yu gained a reputation as one of China’s leading conceptual artists. At times his work sparked controversy, especially when his macabre installations combined real human and animal body parts. More recently, returning to a minimalist aesthetic and with a revived interest in Buddhism, Xiao’s primary material has been bamboo. He loves bamboo’s suppleness and beauty, as well as its historical associations with ink painting and calligraphy. Imagery of bamboo is so prevalent in Asian art that audiences bring their own memories and experiences to their encounter with his artworks. At the same time, however, Xiao challenges these associations and cultural memories – he strips bamboo of its literary and aesthetic associations to make something very simple and entirely contemporary. By 2010 he was creating sculptural forms by twisting and bending bamboo to the point at which it shredded or snapped. These forms, now cast in bronze, warn us that there is a point at which the natural world can no longer recover from the impact of humanity. Xiao says: ‘An artist can do useless and foolish things. As time advances, an artist can, on the contrary, genuinely approach wisdom.’
Accession number
2018.013