LEFT: Book From the Sky RIGHT: Landscript
The third in a series of FIU exhibitions featuring Chinese artists, Writing Between Heaven and Earth, at the Frost Art Museum is a stunner. Artist Xu Bing brings his writing as image into play in a big way. The full 5,000-square-foot museum space is utilized to exhibit the impressively large pieces. Along with the complete works of Book From the Sky, Book From the Ground and installations reflecting the in between, Xu Bing has included pieces not previously exhibited, created for the Frost exhibition.
The artist will be on hand for a lecture before the 5:30 p.m. opening on Saturday, Feb. 21 from 4 to 5 p.m. FIU talks are generally valuable and contemplative, worth the trip out to the western climes of Miami-Dade.
Xu Bing grew up in Beijing during the Cultural Revolution. From this background, the artist became a preservationist of Chinese culture and traditions. Achieving a Master Printmaker title, Xu Bing has the ability to bring his interests, thoughts and passions to our door with precision and accuracy. Book From the Sky features “more than 4,000 illegible Chinese characters invented by the artist, meticulously hand-carved pieces, more than 160 volumes of hand-made woodblock-printed books, huge scrolls hanging from the ceiling and poster-sized wall panels resembling propaganda-style posters,” quotes the Frost Art Museum information tool, which gives form to the ideas put before us.
Lidu Yi, a professor and historian of Chinese art at FIU is curator for the exhibition: “It shocked Heaven and Earth, and made the ghosts and sages weep as the ancient Chinese proverb says,” says Yi. "The thought-provoking artworks of Xu Bing will challenge viewers to reconsider their perceptions about written language and cultural identity. This exhibition focuses on Chinese indigenous heritage, Chinese characters and traditional landscape painting.”
Yi is highly regarded, currently using her time and abilities to research Buddhist art and architecture of pre-modern China as well as being involved in re-examination of the Yungang Caves in China and studying little known caves in Shanxi Province.
I wrangled a few answers to my questions of Lidu Yi:
Artist Xu Bing
IS: Was the artist Xu Bing included in the Frost trilogy Giants of Contemporary Chinese Art specifically or was it the work itself Book From the Sky, Book from the Ground and Landscape Landscript that was the initial draw?
LY: Both the artist Xu Bing, a MacArthur genius award winner, and his works were a draw for us. Xu was recognized for his "originality, creativity, self-direction, and capacity to contribute importantly to society, particularly in printmaking and calligraphy." In Jan. 21, 2015, Xu was given an award by the U.S. Department of States for his goal “Art for the People” in making art.
This solo exhibition features the shu (Shu in ancient Chinese signifies books, written characters, and the act of writing) art of Xu Bing from his Book from the Sky to Book from the Ground and Landscape Landscript in between. These shu masterpieces demonstrate the art of writing as image.
Together they create a Zen-like textual space drawing the audience naturally into an artistic contemplation of the works while arousing their latent cognitive capacity to communicate with the works. The interactive educational work, Square Word Calligraphy, uses components of Chinese characters to transform English words into what look like Chinese characters. The work, created in a classroom setting, is a perfect fusion of Eastern and Western cultures into one harmony. All these thought-provoking works of art will not only challenge the viewers’ preconceptions about written language, cultural identity and cultural issues; they also invite them to interact with the art. The curatorial concept is to design a space to serve and educate people of different cultures and nationalities with his art. Again, it is the audience’s participation that brings his work to completion. The viewers are part of his work. As Xu Bing said, “My aim is to make an art that truly serves the people.”
IS: The exhibition is massive in scale and obviously impressive. How does this work differ as well as reflect the other two exhibitions in this triad?
LY: Simon focuses on horses, as he was born in the year of the horse; Wang Qingsong is concerned with the living environment surrounding him; Xu Bing is enchanted with Chinese written language and his art deals primarily with Chinese indigenous heritage.
IS: What is the "take away" the Frost hopes the public absorbs with the Xu Bing exhibition?
LY: It’s a once-in-a-life time unique museum experience with Xu Bing’s artworks that the audience will remember and will, most importantly, enjoy. It is the audience that completes the work for him by participating in the process of art making (Square Word Calligraphy), trying to decode the characters he invented in the Book from the Sky, or playing with Book from the Ground, which uses computers to convert words into conventional symbols collected from around world.
This exhibition inspires wonder and promotes learning. The Book from the Sky communicates with the audience by not communicating, i.e. no one understands a word in the book, so it is not communicating with the audience, and yet, at the same time, it forces the audience to communicate with the work by arousing their latent cognitive capacity. It’s the spirit of the artist reflected through his work that will influence many young artists in the future.
The recently installed Director of the Frost, Dr. Jordana Pomeroy adds as an overview: “This exhibition crowns the Frost Art Museum’s triumvirate series Three Giants of Contemporary Chinese Art, which began last summer with Simon Ma, continued through Art Basel season with Wang Qingsong, and culminates now with Xu Bing – one of the world’s most acclaimed Chinese artists.”
Pomeroy previously was executive director of Louisiana State University’s Museum of Art before taking charge of the Frost at FIU last month.
Art for the People
Writing Between Heaven and Earth
Opening reception Saturday, Feb. 21 (5:30-7:30 p.m.)
Patricia and Phillip Frost Art Museum
Artist’s Lecture, Saturday, Feb. 21 (4 to 5 p.m.)
University’s Graham Center GC140
Register to guarantee seating: artinfo@fiu.edu
Reception and opening free and open to the public.
Florida International University
10975 SW 17th Street
Miami 33199
thefrost.fiu.edu/museum.htm
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.; Closed Monday
