XU BING 徐冰 (b. 1955 Chongqing) is best known for his style of hybrid characters christened Square Word Calligraphy. It is best described as characters that on the surface look like classical Chinese calligraphy used in seals but on closer inspection are actually English words and letters.
Xu developed this unique and exceptional style to express his disorientation between English and Chinese when he moved to the United States in 1991 not speaking any English. This script has become a tool that reflects cross-cultural understanding and the interplay between languages, cultures, identities and prose.
Xu is also a digital artist, sculptor and does wood block carving. In 1987 he received an MFA in printmaking from the Central Academy of Fine Arts and was later vice-president from 2008-2014.
The academically controversial installation Book From the Sky (1988-89) in Beijing’s China Art Gallery attracted attention in the Western art world because Chinese authorities did not approve of the use of the 4000 Chinese characters that did not exist and that did not make sense.
Xu’s work has been shown in museums worldwide, including the British Museum; Victoria and Albert Museum; Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology; Asia Society New York; Asian Art Museum, San Francisco and the Museum of Modern Art, New York. His two monumental phoenixes made from discarded construction materials were shown at Massachusetts MOCA in 2012, the Cathedral of St John the Divine in Manhattan in 2014, and at the Arsenale for the Venice Biennale in 2015.
He lives and works in Beijing and New York.
