Xia Xiaowan

XIA XIAOWAN (China, 1959).
"Portrait", 2006.
Painting consisting of 14 overlapping glass plates painted with special pencil.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 60 x 40 cm.

Xia Xiaowan transforms flat images in space using overlapping layers of painted glass in each of his plates. From this laborious work, intriguing figures like the one shown here result: a face with closed eyelids and half-open mouth that seems to float in the mist or emerge like a specter from a deep sea. The contours are blurred, granting the features a ghostly condition, but at the same time preserving a deep carnal presence.

The artist has explained on numerous occasions that he had been concerned for years with the problem of representing three dimensions on a flat surface. For him, the Western solution-with perspective lines converging at a vanishing point-was inadequate. After many experiments, he decided to approach the issue from the opposite direction and build flat 3D images: through translucent layers that convey depth and also the solidity of a living figure.

Xia Xiaowan graduated from the Third Studio of the Oil Painting Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. The following year, he became Art Editor of China Machinery Publishing, a position he left in 1984. Currently, Xia lives in Beijing and works as a lecturer in the scenography department of the Central Academy of Dramatic Art. He is also a member of the China Institute of Oil Painting, the Beijing Artists Association and the Beijing Oil Painting Arts Commission. Exhibitions: 2012 "Xia Xiaowan Solo Exhibition", Museum of Contemporary Art, MoCA, Singapore. 2006 "Hyperdesign - 6th Shanghai Biennale", Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China. 2006 "2006 New York Asia Art Fair", New York, USA. 2006 "2nd Austrian Biennial 2006", Klagenfurt, Austria 2006 "Mahjong - Chinesische Gegenwartskunst aus der Sammlung Sigg", Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany. 2005 "Mahjong - Chinesische Gegenwartskunst aus der Sammlung Sigg", Kunstmuseum. 2005 Bern, Bern, Switzerland 2005 "Yellow River - A Review of New Chinese Oil Painting", National Museum of China, Beijing, China 2005 "Hand in Hand with the New Century - The Third Exhibition of Chinese Oil Painting", National Museum of China, Beijing, China 2005 "2005 - Pingyao International Exhibition of Artistic Photography", Pingyao, China. 2004 "Posers - Courtyard Gallery Artists Group Exhibition", Courtyard Gallery, Beijing Chin.