Xu Bing Opens Solo Show at LACMA
Renowned Chinese artist Xu Bing opens «The Language of Xu Bing,» his first solo presentation in Los Angeles on December 20th, showcasing the varied arc of his two decade-long career.
Trained in printmaking at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, Xu first came to prominence among China’s artistic circles during the mid-1980s with his trademark «Book from the Sky» installation series, comprising books, scrolls, and other paraphernalia of the educated literati class that had been imprinted with more than 4,000 invented, imaginary Chinese characters that challenged perplexed viewers to «read» them as something that straddled text, ideograph, and graphic pattern.
On display here are works including Xu’s video «The Character of Characters,» a personally inflected attempt to explain the unique significance of the Chinese language and its characters through history, and how it exerts an impact on contemporary society. Another highlight is the installation «Square Word Calligraphy Classroom,» which is composed of tracing books printed with Xu’s invented calligraphy in order to help English speakers understand how Chinese calligraphy functions.
«The Language of Xu Bing» runs at the LACMA from December 20th, 2014 through July 26th, 2015.
Xu Bing Opens Solo Show at LACMASource: encn.blouinartinfo.com