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Hu Xiaoyuan seated in her studio
Still from the Smart Museum's interview with Hu Xiaoyuan.

Hu Xiaoyuan 胡晓媛

Chinese, born 1977

Artist Profile

Hu Xiaoyuan gained international attention for her work A Keepsake I Cannot Give Away (2005–6), which features delicate silk embroidery. Expanding her material explorations shortly thereafter, Hu had a breakthrough with her 2008 Wood series, which juxtaposed silk, wood, and nails.

In these works, Hu placed a piece of silk on top of a board and meticulously traced all of the visible wood grain onto the silk. Then, she put the silk aside and covered the wood surface with white paint, obscuring the grain. Finally, she framed the silk over the board using tiny nails, as if stretching a canvas on a wooden frame. Deceptively simple, these finely painted objects require careful scrutiny to uncover the subtle contradictions between representation and reality.

In the two geometric sculptures Ant Bone IV and V Hu employed traditional mortise-and-tenon joints used for centuries in Chinese woodworking and architecture. On each form’s interior, Hu carefully covered the wood with her signature paintings on silk. The interplay between the wood, silk, and nails draws out the tensions between what is hard and soft, real and fake, old and new.

Hu Xiaoyuan. Photo courtesy of the artist.
“We all know that spinning silk is the last stage of the silkworm’s life cycle . . . so the animal nature of silk implies a feeling of life and death.”
—Hu Xiaoyuan 1

Footnotes

  • 1

    Interview with Hu Xiaoyuan, July 17, 2019, conducted by Nancy P. Lin, translated by Greg Young.

Works on View

Wrightwood 659

Ant Bone IV, 2015

Wood, ink, raw silk (xiao), paint, and iron nails
82 11/16 x 126 x 23 7/16 in. (210 x 320 x 59.5 cm)

Courtesy of the artist and Beijing Commune

Hu Xiaoyuan, Ant Bone IV, 2015. Installation view, The Allure of Matter: Material Art from China, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2019–2020. Photo: © Museum Associates/LACMA.
Hu Xiaoyuan, Ant Bone IV, 2015. Installation view, The Allure of Matter: Material Art from China, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2019–20. Photo © Museum Associates/LACMA.
Wrightwood 659

Ant Bone V, 2015

Wood, ink, raw silk (xiao), paint, and iron nails
73 7/16 x 31 7/8 x 75 3/16 in. (186.5 x 81 x 191 cm)

Courtesy of the artist and Beijing Commune

Hu Xiaoyuan, Ant Bone V, 2015. Photo courtesy of Hu Xiaoyuan and Beijing Commune.
Hu Xiaoyuan, Ant Bone V, 2015. Photo courtesy of Hu Xiaoyuan and Beijing Commune.

Working Process

Works in progress in Hu Xiaoyuan's studio. Photo commissioned by the Smart Museum of Art during an artist interview. Photo by Yaya Rotem.
Works in progress in Hu Xiaoyuan's studio. Photo commissioned by the Smart Museum of Art during an artist interview. Photo by Yaya Rotem.
Rolls of silk in Hu Xiaoyuan's studio. Photo commissioned by the Smart Museum of Art during an artist interview. Photo by Yaya Rotem.
Rolls of silk in Hu Xiaoyuan's studio. Photo commissioned by the Smart Museum of Art during an artist interview. Photo by Yaya Rotem.
Painted raw silk affixed to a wooden block, a work in progress in Hu Xiaoyuan's studio. Photo courtesy of Hu Xiaoyuan and Beijing Commune.
Painted raw silk affixed to a wooden block—a work in progress in Hu Xiaoyuan's studio. Photo courtesy of Hu Xiaoyuan and Beijing Commune.
Painted raw silk, a work in progress in Hu Xiaoyuan's studio. Photo courtesy of Hu Xiaoyuan and Beijing Commune.
Painted raw silk—a work in progress in Hu Xiaoyuan's studio. Photo courtesy of Hu Xiaoyuan and Beijing Commune.
Painted raw silk affixed to a wooden block, a work in progress in Hu Xiaoyuan's studio. Photo courtesy of Hu Xiaoyuan and Beijing Commune.
Painted raw silk affixed to a wooden block—a work in progress in Hu Xiaoyuan's studio. Photo courtesy of Hu Xiaoyuan and Beijing Commune.