Chinese printmaker xu bing is a teacher at beijings prestigious central academy of fine arts and a respected practitioner. Book from the sky, a monumental installation by celebrated chinese artist xu bing. Xu bing had no quarrel with this criticism, and used it as the title of this worka play on words, as the word for build can also mean pound. Regarded as one of the masterpieces of twentiethcentury chinese art, book from the sky ushered in the avantgarde movement in postmao era china.
Pages containing columns and columns of chinese text are surrounding us on the walls, hanging from the ceiling, and also on the floor in the open book pages from volumes that he has hand bound in the form of traditional chinese book art. He moved to the united states in 1990 but returned to china in 2008 to teach at his alma mater. Installation of books and scrolls printed from carved wood types of invented characters, ink on paper, dimensions. Being a compendium for the use of students and practitioners of. The blanton museum of art at the university of texas at austin presents xu bing.
Xu bing book from the sky, 19871991, installation of handprinted books and ceiling and wall scrolls printed from wood letterpress type, ink. A book from the sky is the title of a book produced by chinese artist xu bing in the style of fine editions from the song and ming dynasties, but filled entirely with. For when man achieved the photograph he took almost as important a step forward as when he discovered how to make tire. This set of four books forms part of an eponymous installation first displayed in beijing in 1988. The book, which consists of four volumes totaling 604 pages, was printed in a single print run of 126 copies between 1987 and 1991, and was first publicly exhibited in october 1988, in beijings china art gallery. Easyphpalbum, an easy to use single script photo, music and movie album with lots of features. If youre behind a web filter, please make sure that the domains. Users can enter words either in english or in chinese. Born in sichuan province, xu bing studied printmaking at the central academy of fine arts in beijing. Chinese characters are above us, theyre below us, and theyre on either side of us. England home i felt the impulse of humanity and the greatness of.
In the radicals book, the students will be attracted by the rich content of culture and art embodied in chinese characters, which, instead of being the stumbling blocks they have often been considered, become magnets drawng them step by step to the nnermost charm of the chinese language. Book from the sky and other projects have brought him considerable international renown. The data is only saved locally on your computer and never transferred to us. A book from the sky is the title of a book produced by chinese artist xu bing in the style of fine editions from the song and ming dynasties, but filled entirely with meaningless glyphs designed to resemble traditional chinese characters. The epithet was hurled at xu bing by viewers who found book of the sky incomprehensible.
419 449 1223 640 439 192 587 902 1189 798 858 1079 904 996 230 303 1392 1371 63 47 1467 391 99 1240 303 1570 404 138 1636 807 711 605 919 1251 942 5 201 447 715 111 739 978