Xu Bing is a visual artist internationally recognized for his experiments with written script. Xu garnered international attention in the late 1980s for his experiments with the Chinese written script created using woodblock carving and printing to produce a series of nonsensical characters. Since then, Xu has explored the ways in which the written script bridges different systems of writing and engages audiences across different cultures. His work incorporates a wide variety of media including ink rubbings, stencils, scrolls, computer manipulations, organic materials and living animals.

Xu has received the MacArthur Fellowship, Fukuoka Asian Culture Award, Artes Mundi Prize, a lifetime achievement award from the Southern Graphics Council and the U.S. State Department Medal of Arts. His work has been included in the 45th, 51st and 56th Venice Biennials,  Sydney Biennial, and Johannesburg Biennial, amongst other international exhibitions.

Xu was born in Chongqing, China in 1955. He received his BFA and MFA from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. He moved to the United States in 1990 and moved back to China in 2007. From 2008 to 2014, Xu served as the Vice President of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, where he is now a professor and the director of the Academic Committee. He lives and works in Beijing and New York.

Xu Bing is the fall quarter spotlight artist in residence in The California Studio: Manetti Shrem Artist Residencies. The talk is organized by The California Studio and co-sponsored by the Department of Art and Art History, East Asian Studies and Global Affairs. 

WHEN: Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 4:30 p.m.

WHERE: Wyatt Pavilion Theatre

Sponsored by UC Davis College of Letters and Science, UC Davis Global Affairs, and the UC Davis departments of Art and Art History, Cinema and Digital Media, East Asian Studies, and East Asian Languages and Cultures.

In conjunction with the California Studio Manetti Shrem Artist Residencies program, there will be a special screening of Xu Bing’s acclaimed film Dragonfly Eyes. The screening will be held on Nov. 1 in the Main Theatre, Wright Hall, at 4:30 p.m (doors open at 4:00 p.m.). The event is free and open to the public. 

Xu Bing’s first feature film stitches together surveillance footage collected from the Internet to create a fictional tale about a young woman traversing life in modern China. The result is a provocative tale as mundane, surreal, and outlandish as reality itself. 

View the trailer for Dragonfly Eyes. 

WHEN: Tuesday, November 1, 2022 at 4:30 p.m.

WHERE: Main Theatre, Wright Hall