XUE SONG (1965-)

MONUMENT ON GREY BACKGROUND

A Chinese painting, mixed media on canvas, signed Song 98, with inscriptions on the back dated 1998 and signed in Chinese, Xue Song 1998, 180cm x 150 cm.

Provenance: from an English private collection, acquired from ShanghART Shanghai on 10th October 1999 for

7,000, a copy of the original invoice is available.

Experiences are often the source of artistic creation. When Xue Song's studio burned to the ground, the accident inspired him to use ash and soot as a symbol of rebirth in his art. Xue uses charred and burned fragments of his previous works, newspapers and books to create collages of iconic politicians, calligraphy, Western art icons and pieces inspired by classical Chinese watercolour paintings. In Monument on Grey Background, Xue draws from one of Xu Beihong's famous horse paintings, reconstructing its iconic imagery using hundreds of prints of historically and politically famous figures, whilst prints of early Chinese stone rubbings are used for the background. In doing so, Xue attempts to generate a conversation with the old masters, creating a discourse between the old and the new, and building bridges between the East and the West.