{"id":33175,"date":"2016-03-01T13:22:47","date_gmt":"2016-03-01T19:22:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=33175"},"modified":"2016-03-01T14:38:17","modified_gmt":"2016-03-01T20:38:17","slug":"chinese-artist-xu-bing-on-inspiration-creativity-and-the-future-of-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chinese-artist-xu-bing-on-inspiration-creativity-and-the-future-of-art\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinese artist Xu Bing on inspiration, creativity and the future of art"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jenny G. Zhang<\/strong><\/p>\n

What is the source of inspiration?<\/p>\n

According to acclaimed Chinese artist Xu Bing<\/a>, the answer is all around us.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur creations will always be a response to the new energy and questions or problems that occur from our social reality,\u201d said Xu, who spoke before a full auditorium at the Art Institute of Chicago on February 22 as part of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago\u2019s Visiting Artists Program<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The school\u2019s Printmedia department partnered with the Art Institute\u2019s Department of Chicago Museum Education to bring the pioneering contemporary artist to Chicago in celebration of the museum\u2019s recent acquisition of \u201cWu Street\u201d (1993), a mixed-media collaboration between Xu and fellow Chinese artist Ai Weiwei that can be seen in Gallery 294 of \u201cThe New Contemporary\u201d collection in the Modern Wing.<\/p>\n

\"xu
Part conceptual project, part elaborate hoax, \u201cWu Street\u201d (1993) consists of four paintings that Xu and Ai found in the trash on a New York City street, coupled with an altered article they translated into Mandarin and published in a prestigious Chinese art magazine for an audience that didn\u2019t know the paintings were abandoned works by an unknown artist. (Jenny G. Zhang\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Xu, known for his printmaking and installations that subvert language, meaning and tradition, told audience members that sociological forces and personal transformations can inspire huge bursts of energy within artists.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs an artist, it\u2019s very important to understand how to transfer that energy into your creative inspiration,\u201d he said in Mandarin, his words then translated into English by an interpreter.<\/p>\n

One of Xu\u2019s most notable works, \u201cBook from the Sky\u201d (1987-1991), was inspired by the rush of energy generated when modern China emerged, ravenous, from the Cultural Revolution and reopened its doors to the rest of the world.<\/p>\n

The artwork, which consists of printed volumes and scrolls filled with thousands of imaginary Chinese characters, was the result of Xu\u2019s discomfort at the time \u2013 a feeling that he likened to the sensation of being gorged after overeating in response to starvation \u2013 and desire to create a book using his own culture.<\/p>\n

More than a decade later, Xu started working on the companion piece, titled \u201cBook from the Ground\u201d (2012), by using recognizable icons to write a book made up entirely of emojis \u2013 a project he could only finish in the past few years because of the increasing availability of emoticons.<\/p>\n

While these two works \u2013 one a book that no one can read, the other a book anyone can read regardless of language \u2013 look completely different, Xu said, they share a lot in common.<\/p>\n

Both transcend geographic and cultural barriers, providing an equal playing field for every viewer. The two books are also the the products of their time–one born in the aftermath of China\u2019s Cultural Revolution, the other from the ’emojification’ of the world.<\/p>\n

In these rapidly changing times, Xu said, the idea of art itself is becoming less and less clear, which is why many of his works can exist in the first place.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe world we\u2019re living in is so rich and changing so quickly and without certainty, that art itself really can\u2019t bear that weight,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

According to Xu, art used to be a traditional system that was defined, categorized and confined to white-walled gallery spaces, but that may no longer be the case as we look forward to a future in which art is disseminated.<\/p>\n

Then, he said, \u201cArt may not look like art, but it grasps the essence of art.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo at top: The artist Xu Bing lived in the U.S. for 18 years and now serves as the vice-president of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. (Photo courtesy of Xu Bing Studio)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jenny G. Zhang What is the source of inspiration? According to acclaimed Chinese artist Xu Bing, the answer is all around us. \u201cOur creations will always be a response to the new energy and questions or problems that occur from our social reality,\u201d said Xu, who spoke before a full auditorium at the Art […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":213,"featured_media":33179,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194,585],"tags":[357,1789,1790,1000,1265,1788],"class_list":["post-33175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-culture","category-winter-2016","tag-art","tag-contemporary-art","tag-installation-art","tag-school-of-the-art-institute-of-chicago","tag-the-art-institute-of-chicago","tag-xu-bing"],"yoast_head":"\nChinese artist Xu Bing on inspiration, creativity and the future of art - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chinese-artist-xu-bing-on-inspiration-creativity-and-the-future-of-art\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chinese artist Xu Bing on inspiration, creativity and the future of art - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Jenny G. Zhang What is the source of inspiration? According to acclaimed Chinese artist Xu Bing, the answer is all around us. \u201cOur creations will always be a response to the new energy and questions or problems that occur from our social reality,\u201d said Xu, who spoke before a full auditorium at the Art […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chinese-artist-xu-bing-on-inspiration-creativity-and-the-future-of-art\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-03-01T19:22:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-03-01T20:38:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/02\/xu-bing-1-crop.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"956\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"jennyzhang\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"jennyzhang\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chinese-artist-xu-bing-on-inspiration-creativity-and-the-future-of-art\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chinese-artist-xu-bing-on-inspiration-creativity-and-the-future-of-art\/\",\"name\":\"Chinese artist Xu Bing on inspiration, creativity and the future of art - Medill Reports Chicago\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chinese-artist-xu-bing-on-inspiration-creativity-and-the-future-of-art\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chinese-artist-xu-bing-on-inspiration-creativity-and-the-future-of-art\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/02\/xu-bing-1-crop.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-03-01T19:22:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-03-01T20:38:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/9914cac0a7b6e94f773830eaab764ee1\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chinese-artist-xu-bing-on-inspiration-creativity-and-the-future-of-art\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chinese-artist-xu-bing-on-inspiration-creativity-and-the-future-of-art\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chinese-artist-xu-bing-on-inspiration-creativity-and-the-future-of-art\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/02\/xu-bing-1-crop.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/02\/xu-bing-1-crop.jpg\",\"width\":1100,\"height\":956,\"caption\":\"The artist Xu Bing lived in the U.S. for 18 years and now serves as the vice-president of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. 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