PRESS RELEASE

Poly 2007 Evening Sale: Xia Xing, Perfume in February

2007-05-22 14:32:38

Xia Xing is a student of Jin Shangyi, one of the most important painters in modern China. He has inherited Jin Shangyi¡¯s perfect skills, while his style is totally different from his teacher. Most of Xia Xing¡¯s paintings are splendid and mysterious. Take the Perfume in February for example. It is a realistic painting, depicting a beautiful female nude. But further reading would make us aware of the fact that we have almost no idea of the theme of the painting. The action of the female protagonist is unnatural and uncomfortable. What is she doing? And what does Xia Xing mean by depicting such a strange action? Is the woman a real person, or is she a symbol of a certain idea? What¡¯s more, the background in the painting makes the scene even more mysterious. The waving bamboo curtain is too big, compared with the woman and the room. It makes the room a stage rather than a real space. In a word, the scene could not exist in reality. It could only exist in one¡¯s dream or unconscious. The title of the painting tells nothing about the idea behind the scene. In fact, what it tells is that the painting would remain a myth and resist any attempt of interpret. It is right to think that the artist himself could not explain the painting to his audiences too. He might not mean to produce a myth. But he has produced a myth even in his own eyes.