Human human - cloisonné bust 3

Born in Beijing in 1960, Ah Xian first came to Australia in 1989 as a visiting artist at the University of Tasmania and now divides his time between his home in Sydney and a studio in Beijing. Throughout his artistic career, Ah Xian has continued to explore his cultural hybridity, traversing his Chinese heritage in his chosen homeland  of Australia.  

The figure has been a key concern for Ah Xian throughout his thirty-year career in Australia, and he is best known for his numerous life-sized porcelain busts, often decorated with traditional Chinese motifs and techniques. This cloisonné work continues Ah Xian’s interest in the human form but introduces a new medium to his oeuvre. Cloisonné originated in the Islamic world and was introduced to China during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and today pieces created during the Ming dynasty are some of the most highly regarded examples of this technique in the world.

This bust is decorated in a traditional design known as ten thousand flowers, with the flamboyant peony taking centre stage. Despite the beauty and opulence of the decoration, the work exudes an unease: with its closed eyes and expressionless visage, this sculpture feels more like posthumous portrait, a death mask. The extensive floral decoration is slightly cloying, an attempt to camouflage the truth by diverting the viewer with its beauty.

Tansy Curtin, Curator, International Art pre-1980