Artist tackles weighty issue

An Laishun, vice-president of the International Council of Museums, who attended the exhibition's opening, says the show underlines four keywords of Xu's output, which are "joy, a right that people deserve anytime; humor, which makes people optimistic of life; well-being and love".

"His works show art and culture as the means to cure people, and to benefit people's mental health, especially during the current COVID-19 pandemic," An says.

An says Xu is a cultural ambassador communicating Chinese people's take on life to the world.

"Hilarity, fun and love are universal languages, and so it is with the art of sculpture, which does not need to be translated," Xu says. "My works present the brightness and self-esteem of China in a new era, and create a friendly and animated image of our people to the world."

The exhibition also shows works that address Xu's social responsibility, including those documenting the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, held earlier this year, and the fight against the pandemic.

Hailing from a village in Guangdong province, Xu also shows works reflecting the simplicity of rural life and vitality in the countryside.

He held an outdoor exhibition in a remote village, primarily inhabited by people of the Yao ethnic group, in northwestern Guangdong, in 2009. Villagers helped transport the sculptures, which depicted their day-to-day moments, and installed them at the site. The experience impressed local residents and Xu himself, who afterward continued to make works themed on rural life.

He took these sculptures to dozens of villages across the country in 2020, in a gesture to promote rural vitalization and tourism. Some of the works, on a smaller scale, are also on show at the National Center for the Performing Arts.

"As an artist, I hope that through my works, people can feel the pulse of the time," Xu says.