Jing Picks: Artist Liu Xiaodong’s Hotan Project (Beijing)

Exhibition Includes Documentary Film & Four New Works

Launched this month at Beijing’s Today Art Museum, “Liu Xiaodong’s Hotan Project,” curated by Hou Hanru and Ou Ning, presents new works by one of China’s most respected and well-known contemporary artists. The exhibition centers around four new large-scale works created in Xinjiang — “East,” “South,” “West,” and “North” — as well as a documentary film produced by A Cheng and directed by Yang Bo, and includes diaries, manuscripts and other materials from Liu’s time in the plains of northwestern China. Via CAFA:

Liu Xiaodong and his team arrived in Xinjiang on June 22, 2012 and commenced the two-month “Liu Xiaodong’s Hotan Project” documenting the life of jade miners in the region known for reserves of precious stones. Liu carried on in his own unique way of live painting that was established while producing the Three Gorges Series (2004-2005). He set up a temporary studio in his tent to accomplish this elongated project with sketches, diaries, oil paintings and photography. A photography team was also present to create a film documentary of the entire progress. Liu thought that as a painter, erecting a tent on the spot and facing the objects, he could express the most enjoyable and most real part of the painting, beyond the past and common “reading” by artists standing in a superior position.

Liu Xiaodong’s Hotan Project (through February 23, 2013)
Today Art Museum, Floor 2, Hall 1
32 Baiziwan Road, Chaoyang district, Beijing
Hours: 10 am-6 pm daily, except Tuesday
Tel: 010-5876-0600