28 Chinese

Spread B-051
2010
by Xu Zhen (Chinese, b. 1977)
Embroidery on canvas

Courtesy of Rubell Family Collection, Miami.
© Xu Zhen.

Working across many art forms since 1997, Xu Zhen explores cultural assumptions, politics, and art world conventions, often with a satirical tone that has been described "irreverent." In 2009 he founded and named himself CEO of MadeIn, a "contemporary art creation company," which subsequently launched the "Xu Zhen" brand as its own product. MadeIn skeptically calls attention to the relationship between artists and the broader art world. This work was produced by MadeIn for a group exhibition of fictional West Asian artists that explored the politics and translatability of viewing art from a culture not one's own.

"The series of works, Spread, started in 2009 with the exhibition Seeing One's Own Eyes—Middle East Contemporary Art Exhibition and consists of pictorial scenes combining international political cartoons, caricatures, medieval images, exotic bestiaries, and other imagery in the form of cloth collages, installations, and paintings." —Xu Zhen