Xu Jie: The Innocent Gaze
SATURDAY, 18 SEP 2010 - SATURDAY, 09 OCT 2010
White Canvas Gallery presented Xu Jie’s Singapore debut of ten selections from her “Chinese Boys and Girls” series of oil paintings on canvas in a private preview on 17 September 2010 amidst the mid-autumn celebrations. Various Chinese teas, mooncakes and pomelos were served alongside the stunning work of Xu Jie, with music from the era of the Shanghai divas like Bai Kwong and Chow Hsuan.
In every canvas she paints, Xu Jie puts the gaze of her subjects squarely on the viewer. Beady eyes look upon you, turning the act of observation on its head — one cannot help but become the subject of their scrutiny and wonder, “What is it they see?”
In a telling recount of her childhood, she refers to the boys she played with as “wild children”, and how their carefree disregard for the sun “turned our fair skin to a shade of tan and our cheeks to tomato red”. To her, those years were “a perfect dream” and she relives them on the easel in lovingly layered strokes of richly toned oil paint in the colours of her memories.
The imagery evoked is a blend between her childhood and her desire to recapture the very spirit of happiness, one that is derived from being appreciative of what one already has.
The multiplicity of children in her oeuvre is elucidated by the artist’s confession of being afraid of loneliness both for herself and her only son. This desire to have a large family might explain why few of her subjects stand alone. When so, the faces seem to take on a look of quiet longing.
In every canvas she paints, Xu Jie puts the gaze of her subjects squarely on the viewer. Beady eyes look upon you, turning the act of observation on its head — one cannot help but become the subject of their scrutiny and wonder, “What is it they see?”
In a telling recount of her childhood, she refers to the boys she played with as “wild children”, and how their carefree disregard for the sun “turned our fair skin to a shade of tan and our cheeks to tomato red”. To her, those years were “a perfect dream” and she relives them on the easel in lovingly layered strokes of richly toned oil paint in the colours of her memories.
The imagery evoked is a blend between her childhood and her desire to recapture the very spirit of happiness, one that is derived from being appreciative of what one already has.
The multiplicity of children in her oeuvre is elucidated by the artist’s confession of being afraid of loneliness both for herself and her only son. This desire to have a large family might explain why few of her subjects stand alone. When so, the faces seem to take on a look of quiet longing.
Chinese Boys and Girls Series no. 2
420 x 500 cm
oil on canvas
SGD 3, 500
420 x 500 cm
oil on canvas
SGD 3, 500
