Introduction of the artist:

XIAO Yu(China)

Born in 1965, Inner Mongolia, China. 1989 graduated from the Department of Fresco of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. Currently lives and works in Beijing. Selected solo exhibitions: 2011 Scenery-Xiao Yu Solo Exhibition, aye gallery, Beijing / 2010 Solo exhibition of Xiao Yu - Turn Around, Beijing Commune, Beijing / 2007 A Drama of Materialistic Objects —— One World, Cold or Warm, ARARIO BEIJING, Beijing / Selected group exhibitions: 2010 Great Performances, Pace Beijing, Beijing / 2008 Life- Biomorphic Forms in Sculptures, Kunsthaus Graz, Graz/ 2005 Mahjong Contemporary Chinese Art from the Sigg Collection, Kunstmuseum, Bern / 2004 2004 Shanghai Biennale Techniques of the Visible, Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai / 2003 Alors, La Chine? Centre Pompidou, Paris / 2001 La Biennale di Venezia 49, Venice / 2000 Lyon Biennial, Lyon

Introduction of works:

Popularity No.1, rope, electric machine, steel frame, 150×900cm, 2012

Popularity No.2, tape, Pearl River water, dimensions variable, 2012

Turnaround No.2, bamboo, dimensions variable, 2010

Turnaround No.3, bamboo, 230×920cm, 2010

Turnaround No.4, bamboo, 400×600cm, 2010

In Xiao Yu’s view, it seems that today’s art has to depend on both concepts and excessive theoretical interpretations. Sometimes, it would be enough just to ‘hear’ the project proposal, without its realisation in materials and space. It is too keen on its interactions with politics, philosophy and sociology, to manifest its modernity and its dynamic and disciplinary potential, and at the same time, it seems somehow less confident and lost in identity. It requires its audience to be fully equipped with a variety of cultural backgrounds and academic narratives, so that it becomes ‘stranger’ than ever, compared to how it was perceived in history.

Xiao Yu always thinks from an oriental perspective, consciously or subconsciously. Bamboo, one of the favourable visual vocabularies in Chinese traditional literati art, has played a central role in his most recent solo exhibition. The re-appropriation of bamboo is not an attempt to stamp a logo of ‘Chineseness’ but to explore and visually present the spiritual power inside its visual forms. They are fractured and forcibly bent into various shapes and appearances, demonstrating their forbearance and elegance, and seemingly the pleasing sound of strings. At the same time, they create, accumulate, and store the energy, ready for a war.

The artist’s aesthetic and philosophical propositions can be clearly perceived through the visual work. Similarly, this site-specific installation features a large piece of rope, which is gradually and powerfully twisted by the mechanism. Every time, it can be shaped differently in the air, to visually symbolise the strength in gentleness and the oriental spirit of tenacity.