三, Three

NotesBorn into the post-80s generation, Xu Cong is an avant-garde Chinese artist whose works are slowly gaining international recognition. After graduating from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, Xu deviated from the traditional artistic discipline to embrace the contemporary art movement. However, vestiges of her classical Chinese ink painting training are still apparent in her paintings upon close observation. Xu is a multidisciplinary artist whose living environment confers the core elements of the artistic beauty in her works. Like many artists in the New Generation, she explores the intersection between the environment and self. However, her visual language is distinct and replete with contradictions. Cleverly disguised by an abstract representation of landscape, Xu quietly expresses her violent rejection of the influx of urban modernization that she believes is irreconcilable with existing historic relics.