Da Xiang

Attempts at Subversion and Destruction: New Works by Da Xiang
Feng Boyi

Da Xiang has a forthright and honest manner, and approaches his art with a similar tenacity and sincerity.  Even still, when I encounter his new work, I am surprised at the audacity and radical nature of his artistic ideas and creations. A comprehensive survey of Da Xiang's work must take into account his attitudes, methods, and feelings towards the relationship between traditional classics and contemporary situations.  In his work, these attitudes and methods are carried out through means of "appropriation, distortion, subversion, and destruction."  His destruction, manifested in his use of visual imagery, encompasses several layers of meaning.  First, there is a subversive destruction, demonstrated in his works mounted like traditional scroll paintings.  The readymade records of our daily material consumption—banking records, receipts, and ATM transaction slips—are altered, mounted, and suspended like traditional Chinese paintings.  This process of appropriation and substitution already approaches a "subversion" of literati painting.  Second, there is destruction through distortion, whereby traditional and contemporary symbols and styles are juxtaposed and pieced together to construct absurd and comical visual implications.  Third, there is destruction by “plundering.”  In this example, a scene of two fighting fish is projected onto four sheets of rice paper suspended from the ceiling.  The fish serve as the background image as viewers are invited to shoot them with toy water guns filled with black ink.  These sheets of rice paper, subsequently hung in the gallery, possess an ironic playfulness.  From a distance, they capture the artistic mood of traditional Chinese landscapes, while also resembling Jackson Pollock's abstract drip paintings. 

In general, we are drawn to the artistic allure of classical works that have passed the test of time, and venerate their temporal transcendence.  Thus, the continuity of tradition is an inevitable logic in our artistic creation.  However, in our tradition, there exists another tradition: the anti-tradition.  This kind of tradition developed throughout the twentieth century, to such an extent that the tradition of the anti-tradition is one that cannot be ignored.  In art history, the revision, reinterpretation, elaboration, and even subversion of classics has been an ongoing phenomenon, constituting one facet of cultural transmission. Since the 1990s, Chinese artists have relied more on using methods of deconstruction, dissolution, and the parodying of traditional discourse.  In other words, one characteristic of Chinese avant-garde art is the use of symbols and sources from China's long cultural tradition.  They are manipulated according to contemporary cultural trends and then creatively realized through different mediums.  Sometimes, cultural transmission is not conducted in one fell swoop.  It can also be passed down in a contradictory manner, for example through revision, reinterpretation, elaboration, and subversion.  In some ways, the improvement of society and development of civilization also require the courage to scorn the classics.  Classics aren't formed through man's adherence to and reproduction of his ancestors' achievements.  A classic is the crystallization of a creator’s creativity.  Every artist that revises, reinterprets, elaborates, and subverts the classics not only expands the classical spirit and the expressiveness of art, but also forces us to reconfirm the status of classics within tradition.  In this way, it is not enough "to respect and to fear the classics" because this does not furnish them with a new, meaningful interpretation.  We don't need to consecrate them on an altar.  Rather, it is hoped that they can be a kind of nourishment, to be absorbed and digested, becoming a source of healthy sustenance.  This truly embodies the value of the classics. 

Thus, Da Xiang's new works have created two lines of thinking: one emphasizes the absurdity of tradition, while the other conveys a metaphor for reality.  In the visual path of absurdity, we can see a kind of appropriation and imagination of the classics.  In particular, the placement of "secretions—calligraphy—machine-printed slips" in the middle of an exhibition hall, transposed with daily objects from a supermarket.  This jumbling between the self and the viewer, between history's poetics and reality's predicaments, forms a kind of hypertext pieced together to result in a parody of sorts.  If we examine this from the perspective of visual art, his use of these kinds of methods and symbols transform the classics and shape a new style and form of tradition.  He employs periodized themes from classical subject matters, while also implying a kind of absurd situation.  In reality, Da Xiang's experiments turn that which is familiar into the unfamiliar.  By controlling viewers’ expectations and allowing them to experience a new mode and surprisingly new perspective, he lets them enjoy the freedom of breaking away from the rules and regulations of the classics.  When the viewer starts to inspect the work, s/he begins to recognize that the text that s/he is reading is already no longer a traditional visual image, but rather has been subjected to Da Xiang's distortion and destruction.  Visual texts are already deeply embedded with his individual mark.  From a sociological perspective, an analysis of his works is in actuality an analysis of our own social phenomena.  These works are our cultural way of life, the historical process and contemporary state of social reform, a real reflection of the blending of Western and Eastern, and a confused mix of conditions under a so-called postmodern society.    

In Da Xiang’s metaphorical line of thinking, the greatest occurrence of distortion can be found in his conscious comicalization of everyday objects and symbols.  In his installations, he presents expressions and metaphors of his understanding and evaluations of contemporary society.  These kinds of multilayered associations are not only interwoven into one form, but also give a concrete focus for the realistic portrayals of culture found in his works.  Perhaps, we have no choice but to acknowledge the penetration and expansion of information technology into society, the fetishization of money, and the prevalence of consumerism, etc.  All of these factors lead to the increasingly difficult emergence of self-initiated innovation in the field of cultural production.  We see a greater contention for profit from all sides, trendier fashions, more sensational effects, and the collapse of the cultural value bubble.  In truth, Da Xiang's subversions, destructions, and satirizations are all very cold; they’re unfair and they’re disdainful.  In the postmodern context of our society and culture, to be dissatisfied, to be suspicious, to ask rhetorical questions, and to transcend are all reactions that can bring about a new cultural production.  It is possible that they can engender a new value, a timely, proper cultural criticism, a re-examination of cultural history, and a bringing together of social reality with a new recognition.  They can bring about a much-needed path for new thought, even if it is at the expense of dividing, reconstructing, indiscriminately applying, or even deconstructing and subverting traditional cultural products.  In our respect towards history, and respect towards its conditions, it is possible to take alternate or counter-routes to give birth to new ideas and concepts, to generate new aesthetics, and to realize the joy of breaking taboos.   

As the intersection between the culturalization of materials and the materialization of culture becomes increasingly apparent, the derivative and marginal effects of social and cultural production enact improvements on all of society.  Here, besides subversion, destruction, and the game of satirization, there are still many more urgent self-initiated innovations and creations waiting for people to unearth and practice.  Da Xiang's works embody just such a practice of experimentation and criticism.  This pursuit, I believe, on the one hand grants a kind of pluralistic approach to understanding history and newly recognizing our society.  On the other hand, it is also implies that under the wave of deconstruction since the twentieth century, the essence of classical cultural tradition has persevered.  And, in this perseverance, there is the hope and expectation for the growth of new meaning. 

Writing, in the Eye of ‘Social Man’
Huang Yan

One of the significant differences between modern industrial society and agrarian society is the disappearance of so-called ‘natural man’. Since humanity left cultivated land behind and entered the city, labour differentiation has become more and more refined. We have developed the need for social labels that mark our identities. Now that we have moved into a consumer world, we have started to exchange money for different kinds of receipts to mark the different activities we undertake. These are still mostly printed receipts, at least until electronic ones become widely available. These receipts, either in paper or card form, affect the consumptive behaviour of city dwellers. As soon as you walk out of the door of your home, you are obliged to interact with receipts of various kinds. They become the traces you leave behind on your travels. Together with ID cards, household registration booklets and passports, they have become a necessity of everyday life. Even at home, we are unable to escape the invasion of bills and forms, such as telephone bills and service adverts that have been delivered through our doors. All of these are the traces of consumption that we carry with us everyday.

However, written the characters on these printed receipts are not the same characters that the Chinese people have know through their history. They are no longer the written words that were supposed to uphold moral values and assist the governance of a nation. They have become a type of symbol, a symbol of a language system, and nothing else. They are no longer the sentimental carrier of traditional values and meanings. This is entirely opposite to the spirit of written words in the tradition of calligraphy - a tradition in which the beauty of written words alone has sustained lifelong pursuits of generations of calligraphers. But when Da Xiang, an artist from Hangzhou, sees written receipts as a model for his calligraphy, the traditional structure of knowledge and value is shattered. In his calligraphic work, lifeless written characters as seen in printed receipts are turned into an object of emulation – a betrayal of the spirit of calligraphy in its essence. But Da Xiang’s calligraphically written printed receipts have their sociological value. They are not just copies of the words on printed receipts. They also capture the style and flavour of typewriting. When a contemporary calligrapher dumps all calligraphic classics and turns to machine-printed characters for his copying practice, it signals a turn in which humanity begins to learn from their own creation, i.e. machines. The cold and unsentimental written words on printed receipts are indeed an apt reflection of what writing is about in today’s consumer society. Da Xiang’s calligraphy is no doubt a ruthless blow to traditional calligraphy. And that is not all. It also subverts the ‘cultural calligraphy’ represented by Xu Bin and Gu Wenda’s artworks.

Biography

Name: Da Xiang
Birth date: 12.Dec.1975
Birth place: ChangChun

Education Background

1999 Bachelor Degree Art Education from Northeast Teachers Training University, Art Department.
2002 China Academy of Fine Art’s Sculpture Studio 4, to study for Master’s Degree

Solo Show 2007

Da Xiang Painting and Sculptures Solo Show, F2 Gallery, Beijing

Exhibitions

2006

Refrigerate through medium, Yokohama New Media Festival, Japan
Beaming 1&2,Hangzhou Wuxi 
Opportunity, Common’s Place, Hangzhou

2005

Detoured, European Capital of Culture Project, Weights & Measures Building, Cork, Ireland
Terminal, European Capital of Culture Project, Triskel Art Center, Cork, Ireland
Ceramics - MUST BE Contemporary ART Center, Beijing Launch Exhibition Beijing Long March Space
Transparent Box, Beijing Soho Shopping Center, Beijing
One Idea has been Understood, Conceptual Painting Exhibition, Hangzhou Teachers College, Hangzhou
Double Reading, Directions Art Gallery, Hangzhou

2004

Labrinth, China New Media Art Festival, China Academy of Art, Hangzhou
Format, #31Art Space, Hangzhou
Enclosure   Image Exhibition, Hangzhou
Rain Turns Clear, Hangzhou
Concrete, Hangzhou
Replacement, Hangzhou

2003       

Home, Shanghai Art and Design Major Exhibition, Shanghai Art Museum
International City Sculpture Exhibition, Student with Great Potential, Gold Medal, Shanghai

2002

Huang Yong Ping’s Contemporary Art Seminar    China Academy of Fine Art Museum

1999       

International Modern Conceptual Furniture Exhibition, Beijing
9^th National Fine Arts Exhibition, Changchun Far East Art Museum, Changchun
Pottery, Contemporary Art Exhibition, Changchun Industrial Design Institute Art Museum

Co-Founder and Co-organizer of Art Activities

2006 Beaming, Hangzhou, Wuxi
2005    Double Reading, Directions Art Gallery, Hangzhou
2004    Rain Turns Clear, Hangzhou
Concrete, Hangzhou
Replacement, Hangzhou
2003    Just start Like this, Hangzhou
August 8^th Action, Shaoxing