Xie Nanxing

executed in 2003

Galerie Urs Meile, Beijing and Lucerne
Acquired by the present owner from the above

China, Beijing, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Our Future: The Guy & Myriam Ullens Foundation Collection, 19 July - 12 October, 2008, pp. 140-141

Xie Nanxing Paintings: 1992-2004, Timezone 8, Beijing, China, 2004, pp. 112-113
Xie Nanxing Paintings: 1992-2008, Timezone 8, Beijing, China, 2008, p. 143
China! New Art & Artists, Schiffer Publishing Ltd., New York, USA, 2005, p. 88

This work is generally in good condition. Having examined the work under ultraviolet light, there appears to be no evidence of ultraviolet light.
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Deciphering Paint and Film 
Xie Nanxing

To Xie Nanxing, the way a painting is painted and the presentation of its effect are more important than the motif itself.  From 2000 onwards, his works have evolved from portraiture and Realism to the reinterpretation of images.  The exploration of paintality through abstraction is the creation issue that he is most concerned about.  Painted in 2003, the Untitled Series exemplifies his most thorough exploration of paintality.  It comprises six paintings, every one of which is very delicate and rich in layers.  In terms of motif, all six pieces are variations of the same video clip.  To the artist, the series is a game with neither beginning nor end.  He changes the sequence of incidents and creates new compositions in order to find the meaning of painting.  The Untitled Series is a milestone in his creative life.  Showcasing breathtaking techniques, Untitled No. 3 (Lot 792) is part of this crucial series.

The artist spent one and a half years on the whole Untitled series.  In his entire creative life, this was the only time that he used the same motif on as many as six paintings.  Seemingly originated from a closed circuit television clip, the tableau shows a corner of a room.  In the far end is a big window, through which light comes in and spills onto the floor.  In three of the six paintings, a body of unidentifiable gender is found lying on the floor.  The body is absent in the other three paintings.  The interiors also vary.  While the last painting displays an empty space, the other five rooms have furniture in them, including chairs and tables in different locations and of varying in quantity.  In Untitled No. 3, the room has nobody but two chairs and one table.  The scene seems a bit shaky, blurring the images of the table and chairs.  As for colour, unlike the other five pieces, this painting is more inclined towards red and green.  If we take a careful look at Xie Nanxing’s works, we can see how beautifully they have been painted.  When compared with his Photorealistic works of 2000, the Untitled series of 2003, after two years of exploration, the artist employs more abstract elements to express his feeling about images.  This probe into painting language has later intensified and extended into Xie’s latest works, thus demonstrating the significance of the Untitled Series.  The artist has mentioned this series in many interviews.  In his own words, he wants to “play with the feeling of time and space”.¹ The appearance and disappearance of people from the axis of time also change the space.  The artist’s rehandling of the interpretation of space and time allows viewers to look at the images afresh.

For the artist, creating these six pieces was an extremely painful challenge.  The focus on details entailed a considerably long working time.  Moreover, the artist also had to come up with diverse variations of the same motif.  “I was totally exhausted after completing the series because I had to constantly and strictly control the expression in each painting so as to prevent too many changes happening in them.  It was too hard.  When it comes to feeling, it was also difficult.  How can a man be immersed in the same feeling for such a long time?”²

Born in 1970, Xie Nanxing is an important representative of China’s young artists.  The series of portraits he showed at the Venice Biennale in 1999 was his earliest works that drew international attention.  Since then he has been exhibiting in various countries in Europe.  Xie has always been innovative in terms of oil painting techniques, including a new painting method called Canvas Prints which requires the placing of a coarse cloth between the brush and the canvas.  The final product is a hazy image, an alternative presentation of the original painting.  From this we can see how explorative the artist is.

¹ Xiaohing, "Untitled: an Improved visual languae - An Essay on Xie Nanxing's 2002-2003 works and series", p. 112

² Refer to 1