The Art of Xu Bing: Words Without Meaning, Meaning Without Words

Asian Art & Culture Series #5

by Britta Erickson, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

Xu Bing creates contemporary artworks using Chinese calligraphy and other traditional Chinese media placed within unexpected settings. Erickson, a specialist on contemporary Chinese art, elucidates clearly Bing's iconoclastic and irreverent work, relating it to themes Bing has used elsewhere in his career. This volume accompanies an exhibition held at the Sackler Gallery in Washington DC in 2001. It will be of interest to artists and those interested in the use of word and image in contemporary art. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Genres: Art, Nonfiction

84 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2001

Reviews

[Kiri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent primer on the artist with extensive citations, but would it have killed the author to keep things in chronological order? Some events are referenced multiple times and each time they read as if it's the first time they've been mentioned. For such a short volume, this is really disjointed and jumbled.

The index of Chinese terms in the back is also a bit maddening in that some of it provides a translation and some, only a transliteration.

[McKenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Floating Books exhibition is, to me, one of the most profound that I have seen in recent years. The pig stuff.............was a little lacking in interest for me. Go see Floating Books.

[Dr. Kat]

Authors writes about several themes in Xu Bing's works: language as intellectual game, serve the people, etc.

Has nice photographs that compliment writing.