From East To West

Liu Xiao Xian’s exhibition ‘From East to West’ at the RMIT gallery explored eastern and western culture and how Liu Xiao Xian fit into them. The gallery was set up in three rooms. I didn’t really like this as I felt it disconnected the work but obviously this is just the way the gallery is set up and can’t be helped. I also didn’t like how the work seemed to go backwards in chronological order when you viewed it. His oldest work was in the smallest room which was the one you saw last. I’m not sure if this was the intentional set up but I personally would have preferred to see his early works when there were the government problems in China and he became a refugee, before the others as I think this would have explained his story better.

My favourite work was ‘Our Gods’ created in 2000. The artwork was two large images of Jesus and Buddha made up of 18 panels of lambda prints; each being 300x 300 cm. Jesus’ faces is made up of thousands of tiny Buddha faces and vice versa for the Buddha image. I like the strong colours used in these works also. From looking at these two images, you can see the contrast between the two cultures. Buddha is smiling, like he always is, and Jesus is looking sad obviously as this is an image of him being crucified. The contrast is the views and outlook from the two different cultures and how their followers live their lives.

I also liked the artwork ‘Lock’ made in 1990. This was a series of a photo, mainly in black and white and sepia tones, but also incorporated blues and oranges in them. The photos showed a face with the eye and mouth stitched shut. This was representing him being silenced at the time in China when the communist Mao was in charge. I thought the way he made this artwork was very meaningful as it shows his pain and frustration at the time in China. It must have been horrible to be living there at the time and especially since he was forced to leave as a refugee.

I think the way Liu Xiao Xian went about creating his artwork and expressing his image was very interesting and effective. I liked how he represented the mixture of cultures and him trying to fit in through the family portraits in various western landmarks. I also like his use of various mediums such as film, photography and sculpture. I especially liked the two sculptures of the human body representing the east and west. At first I didn’t understand this but once I was told that the bronze had the pressure point markings used for acupuncture all over I was able to see the contrast between the two cultures he was trying to portray.

Overall, Liu Xiao Xian’s work was very successful, leaving the viewer thinking about the meaning and stories behind what you immediately see.