#xia xiaowan

Xia Xiaowan (Chinese, b. 1959)

Earth and Sky - Skyfall at the Edge of the World, 1983

Selected Works by Xia Xiaowan. 2006 (upper row) and 2009.

Born in 1959, Xia Xiaowan is a 1982 graduate of the Third Studio of Oil Painting Department of the China’s Central Academy of Fine Art. Xia currently lives in his native Beijing, working as a professor in the stagecraft department of the Central Academy of Drama  He is also a member of the China Oil Painting Institute, Beijing Artists Association and Beijing Arts of Oil Painting Commission.

Xia etches each piece with special pencils onto tinted glass panels, each 6 mm thick, which are arranged to create individual, three-dimensional images. Expressing that he once had “problems expressing space in flat paintings”, he decided to associate the process of painting with CAT scans involved in medical technology. His depiction of monstrous, fleshy and grotesque forms - which nevertheless manage to retain human resemblance - reflects his preoccupation with the ideas and images of humanity present in classical European art.

Xia Xiaowan (Chinese, b. 1959)

The Classic of Mountains and Seas - Xing Tian 山海经之刑天门, 2015