Artist: Xu, Bing
Title: Vegetable Fields
Audio:
Date: 1983
Dimensions: 28″ x 36″
Location in Library: First floor
Media: Woodcut
works on paper
Owner: The Brooklyn College Library Collection. Purchased with Dormitory Authority of New York Art Acquisition Funds. © Xu Bing
Description:
The Chinese Communist Movement promoted the traditional art of printmaking, especially the woodcut, as a valuable form of communication that could be cheaply produced, easily distributed, and broadly appealing. In 1974, as part of Mao Zedong’s “rustification” program, Bing was sent to work in a small farming community. His experience there is reflected in this woodcut, one of his earliest pieces as a printmaker. The work was considered radical at the time because it depicts a personal view of the countryside without any overt political content.
Related Websites
– Xu Bing’s Website
– CNN Article about Chinese Art
– “Artist Xu Bing: Creating English Words from Chinese Pictograms” from The Times
– Xu Bing at Metropolitan Museum of Art
Suggested Readings
– Ching, Dora C.Y. and Jerome Silbergeld. Persistence-Transformation: Text as Image in the Art of Xu Bing, 2005.
Call Number: N7349 .X8 P47 2005
– Erickson, Britta. The Art of Xu Bing: Words without Meaning, Meaning without Words, 2001.
Call Number: N7349 .X8 A4 2001
