Posted on Dec. 7: Museum of Art presents photographer Gu Xiong

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BY McMaster Museum of Art

January 7, 2003

The merging of cultures, blurring of borders and camouflaging of history are explored in the critical and often humorous photographs of Gu Xiong, presented by the McMaster Museum of Art, Jan. 5 to Feb. 23.

Entitled FLOW, the exhibit is curated by artist/curator Andrew Hunter. The presentation includes a series of Xiong's photographs taken over the past two years in China and across Canada, including such images as Starbucks in the Forbidden City, Mount Rushmore in Chongquing, Bruce Lee trinkets and portraits of Mao and Audrey Hepburn side by side in a funeral supply storefront. The series provides a contemporary view of the dialogue between two cultural forces.

Born in Chongquing, Sichuan Province in 1953, Xiong received his MFA from the Sichuan Institute of Fine Arts and spent a year in residence at the Banff School of Fine Arts in 1986. When he returned to China, he joined the Contemporary Art Movement and, with his fellow students, protested for freedom and democracy.

However, the government crackdown on Tiananmen Square in 1989 convinced Xiong that his future as a contemporary artist in China was not secure. He immigrated to Canada in 1989 and is now a professor at the University of British Columbia, and an acclaimed contemporary artist. In 1989, when he first returned to China, he was ill prepared for the changes in his former homeland. The FLOW exhibition includes images from that visit.

A lunchtime talk will take place Wednesday, Jan. 8 at 12:30 p.m. with a public reception on Thursday, Jan 9 from 7 to 9 p.m. He will provide a talk on Friday, Jan. 10 at 2:30 p.m.

The event is co-sponsored by the Institute on Globalization, the Canadian Association of Cultural Studies and McMaster University's School of the Arts.

The McMaster Museum of Art is located on the campus of McMaster University at the corner of Sterling Street and University Avenue. Admission to the Museum and this special presentation is pay-what-you-can with a suggested donation of $2. Students, seniors and members are free. Museum Hours: Tuesday to Friday 11-6; Thursday 7-9; Sunday 12-5.