AH XIAN

Chinese-Australian artist Ah Xian has a profound interest in the human figure. He describes the human figure as, “what we are most familiar with and always fascinated about…we are some of the most beautiful, yet ugly creatures…”1

Ah Xian, born in Beijing in 1960, is all too familiar with the ugliness of humanity, having sought political asylum in Australia following the events of Tiananmen Square in 1989.2 With the political landscape having since settled, he splits his time working between Australia and China, explaining, “If I’m in Australia for a long time –one or two years or even two or three months – I become rather impatient. At the same time, when I’m in China for a couple of months I become so busy trying to deal with so many aspects that I’m not very comfortable, and I feel extremely exhausted and can’t wait to come home and rest.”3

Fittingly, Ah Xian’s sculptures are beautiful vehicles through which he explores the relationship between East and West (most notably in the tension between the sculptural form and the painted or carved surface designs), identity, and the effects of cultural dislocation. To do so, he frequently engages with traditional Chinese media, including porcelain, jade, and lacquerware.

While Ah Xian isn’t directly engaging with tattoo art or techniques, the works take on the appearance of being wrapped or tattooed in his designs. They draw close parallels to the tattoo medium through the use of the human body as a canvas for storytelling and the presentation of culturally significant symbology, and certainly borrow from the permanence associated with tattoo to reinforce the notion of the lasting impact of one’s cultural heritage in spite of any displacement.

He hints at his use of the body as a canvas by explaining his view on the body and art as being joined;

“There are many things one can do as an artist – look at the environment, look at society, at politics – there’s quite a lot of room to play in all of those fields, but the human body is absolutely inexhaustible as a subject. I have never lost interest in the figure…The reason why people are so seduced and drawn to it is not the body itself, but the place where it joins traditional decorative arts, and it is exactly there where the work has its appeal and where it actually succeeds – you pull it apart and it means nothing.”4

Notes

1 Suhanya Raffel and Lynne Seear, ‘Human human’. Ah Xian, Queensland Art Gallery, 2003

2 <http://www.acmi.net.au/2006/artists/ngv/ahxian.html>

Accessed 22 October 2014

3 Devenport, R & Jaivin, L, 2003, Dualism and solitary journeys: An interview with Ah Xian, from Suhanya Raffel and Lynne Seear, ‘Human human’. Ah Xian, Queensland Art Gallery, 2003

4 Devenport, R & Jaivin, L, 2003, Dualism and solitary journeys: An interview with Ah Xian, from Suhanya Raffel and Lynne Seear, ‘Human human’. Ah Xian, Queensland Art Gallery, 2003

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