Artists' deep interpretation and creative elements of their own art
On the afternoon of June 5th, the "Imagined Realm" solo exhibition by Xu Xiya opened at the Changsha Geometric Art Center, showcasing a series of nearly 30 acrylic, oil paintings, prints, and installation works created by artist Xu Xiya from 2020 to 2023. On the opening day, an exhibition with the theme of "Reappearance of Dreams and Subconscious Scenery" was held for discussion. Huang Jia, the academic host and director of the Collection Department of Hunan Art Museum, Yang Tao, the manager of Geometry Bookstore, and artist Xu Xiya discussed and exchanged ideas on the original intention of the exhibition, the creative experience of the exhibited works, and the current situation of young artists.
Exhibition conversation site
Xu Xiya graduated from Hunan Normal University with a major in Art and Design. She currently lives and oil painting reproductions works in Changsha, where she has worked in design, commercial exhibitions, and other fields. In 2020, she picked up her paintbrush and started creating again during the pandemic. She has always been very fond of surrealism, and that kind of open-minded, magical, and mysterious deeply attracts her. Affected by this, Xu Xiya began to record the moments of her brain burst, and then combined her own perception and emotional wandering to create a series of images.
At the exhibition site, it can be seen that most of the works from 2020 to 2022 are based on surrealist prints, and in the visual elements, the influence of multiple surrealist masters such as Jeronimus Bosch, Dali, and Rene Margaret can be clearly seen; In 2023, most of the works are oil paintings based on flowers, as well as installation works born to explore more art forms.
Science fiction, mystery, ritual, dreams, and silence constitute the key words for interpreting this exhibition and Xu Xiya's works. The exhibition explores the inner unknown spiritual world around the subconscious and imagined world. The exhibition scene revolves around the reproduction of dreams and subconscious images, using canvases, installations, and colors to mysteriously showcase the absurdity of the world, the mystery of the universe, the fantasy of the journey, and the unfathomable poetry of the heart, constructing a spiritual landscape world belonging to artist Xu Xiya.
This is Xu Xiya's first solo exhibition. When it comes to the reason for placing the exhibition at the Geometric Art Center, Xu Xiya said that she was deeply moved by this space when inspecting the site at that time. The geometric shaped roof and spatial structure here are very consistent with the content she wants to convey in her work, and she hopes that the work can have a communication and resonance with this space. At that time, I had a picture of the exhibition in my mind and the execution was very smooth
Academic support Huang Jia stated that the exhibition is titled "The Realm of Imagination" and is a very interesting theme. From a surrealist perspective, there is a saying that perhaps our so-called reality may be just an illusion, while dreams are precisely a form of reality. This "surreal" dream and illusion is the source of artistic creation, providing artists with a continuous stream of inspiration and materials. Compared to the printmaking series that pays tribute custom oil portrait to others, Huang Jia appreciates Xu Xiya's new flower series completed this year more. Because these works cast aside the shadows of their predecessors, the artist has their own language and way to showcase her unique dreams and reality.
Xu Xiya talked about the reason for the change: "Once a style is painted smoothly, it is difficult to get out of the comfort zone. However, the topic of art is to let us go out of the comfort zone and do what you want to do and be happy. The current style is more inclined to express, not limited to form, but more conveying the creator's original feelings and emotions that want to be expressed
Xu Xiya still works in commercial exhibition and design, and she also enjoys the process of letting herself go, abandoning rules and constraints, and imagining freely in her creations. In the eyes of Yang Tao, the manager of Geometry Bookstore, custom oil painting all artistic behaviors are interconnected. From a conceptual perspective, commercial aesthetic design, as a part of practical art, is itself one of the expressions of artistic creation. Design creation symbiosis, as a creative act, is also one of the expressions of artistic creation.
The exhibition will continue until August 6th.