Art / Xiaoze Xie
- June-August 2008, G.Z.R.B.; 2010; oil on canvas; 80″ x 93″
- June-August 2011, Guangzhou; 2014; oil on canvas; 40″ x 72″
- May 2008, X.X.S.B.; 2010; oil on canvas; 52″ x 81 1/4″
From the Artist
:: Account ::
I am interested in the temporary nature of newspapers as everyday objects loaded with all-encompassing information of changing daily life: from the front-page news to stock market columns to birth announcements and obituaries. Newspapers are recycled. Life goes on. “The Silent Flow of Daily Life” (1998 – ) is a series of paintings that depict newspaper stacks found on the shelves as arranged by librarians, usually marked or labeled with dates. In these paintings, the abstract pattern on the side of a stack gives away no specific information. In the “Fragmentary Views” series (2001– ), the close-up view of the newspaper stack reveals fragmented news pictures and texts of seemingly unrelated events, from the quiet passage of the everyday to the disturbing conflicts and tragedies of our time. The accidental juxtaposition of images and texts suggests, and at the same time conceals, a larger, more complex social picture.
What can you say, in the face of what’s happening every day? Nothing comes as a shock, really. In the newspaper paintings, I am trying to find a way to combine my ideas and interests in the earlier “Library Series” paintings of decaying books and installations dealing with historical events in a simple format.
Xiaoze Xie is an internationally recognized artist who has exhibited extensively in the U.S. and abroad. His work is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Oakland Museum of California, San Jose Museum of Art, and Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art. Xie received the Painters & Sculptors Grant from the Joan Mitchell Foundation (2013) and the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant (2003). Xie is the Paul L. & Phyllis Wattis Professor of Art at Stanford University.