Hu Xiaoyuan: States of tension

Flash Art Books is pleased to announce States of tension, an English monograph on the work of Chinese artist Hu Xiaoyuan, featuring an essay by Nicolas Bourriaud and a conversation between Gea Politi and the artist. A panel discussion between the authors will be presented at Westbund Art & Design, Shanghai on November 9 at 1pm, as well as a Q&A with the audience.

“What is the major art issue of our day and age? In the eclectic proliferation of present-day artistic output, most commentators have given up asking themselves this question… In the classical aesthetics hailing from the Greco-Latin philosophical realm, the Beautiful never comes from matter, but from form: it is a principle of unification, a process aimed at rendering the world intelligible, once grasped within an “idea” or a geometry capable of reinstating its coherence. This is tantamount to saying that, when confronted with the question of multitude, which is a global issue, Western thinking finds itself in an awkward position. And that the Chinese “great form” has many things to bring to it.” —Excerpt from the essay by Nicolas Bourriaud