“Gu Xiong: A Journey Exposed,” a mixed-media installation, solo exhibition at the Gordon Smith Gallery of Canadian Art, North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, 2014
Some of the prints included in this exhibition are now part of the permanent collection of Washington State Arts Commission. Please visit Washington State Arts Commission’s website for more information.
Installation
Artwork included in the installation
Photographs included in the installation
Exposed (2014) is a collection of artworks in which Gu Xiong uses repeated exposure of our memories to gain new insights, with the struggle between individuality and globalization as a central theme. Crushed Coca-Cola Cans symbolizes rebirth as the mass-produced can, in the process of being destroyed, finds a new life as a unique object. Garbage relates the act of garbage disposal to the cleaning and improvement of our inner self. Mass-produced Food beckons the viewer to question our consumerist reality and to create our own reality. Drowning alludes to globalization; globalizing ideas drown individuals, but by staying afloat we are subsequently maintaining our individuality amidst this globalization. Floating Pigs comments on the deterioration of the environment and implores the viewer to rebuild our environment through careful reflection and measured action.
Exposed includes a wide array of artworks but they are unified by their interest in our individual voice in an increasingly globalized society.
Gu Xiong
2014