Xia Jiunn-na's
Since then, Xia's works have been regulars at major auctions and become part of museum collections in China and abroad. Her works so enthralled the Chinese art world that she was praised by the Chinese media in the same breath as Xu Bei-hung
PHOTO COURTESY OF CHIN DER JYU GALLERYN
Xsia's trademark paintings of pensive fair-skinned young women wearing elaborate dresses and lounging inside splendid chambers has come to Taipei's Chin Der Jyu Gallery
The first aspect of Xsia's work that is likely to intrigue viewers is the ostensibly European subject matter and technique, unusual for a Beijing-based Inner Mongolian who attribute her inspiration to daily life as a housewife. What saves Xia's works from being mere replicas of Renoir and Balthus, whose influenced Xia acknowledges, is her emphasis on atmosphere and the projection of her own character onto the canvas, which is a quintessentially Chinese concept.
Still, Xsia's subject matter does set her apart from her contemporaries in China whose works more often focus on society.
"The modernity of Xia's paintings does not lie in the desire to shock or to express bitterness but in providing a respite for people leading a busy life. People who are drawn to her paintings long for a world of tranquility and grandeur they cannot find in real life. One look at the young girl with a poodle will make them smile," said Lee Shu-fang
Xia says her life and work remained unaffected by this sudden rise to fame, like the imperturbable world in her paintings. Xia's round-faced young women, their wavy dresses adorned with pearls and lace, seem to be eternally reading or enjoying afternoon tea. Xia's sunlight is always hazy and diffuses warmly through a window or garden shades. A lone woman, or sometimes one accompanied by a female friend, is always surrounded by wildly blooming flowers.
For Xia, who paints on fleeting intuition, these subjects express best her moods and thoughts. "Although I've also painted men and landscapes, I prefer painting women. I feel very close to them, as if I can confide in them my every passing thought," Xia told the Taipei Times. "Also, I just find girls and flowers beautiful. They are pleasing to the eye."
These subjects are also mysterious to Xia. She describes her painting process as being spurred on and controlled by a supernatural power to lay brush after brush on canvas until an ethereal background is born, at which point she is lead to reveal the people already hidden among the brush strokes. The world in which her subjects blissfully dwell, Xia said, is created by a will not of her own.
Xia sees painting as a way to satisfy her perpetual need for conversation with herself. If her monologues happen to express beauty and comfort, it's just another lucky coincidence in the history of art.
What: A Classic New Visual Field - Xia Jiunn-na's Art Show
Where: Chin Der Jyu Gallery, 14, Lane 199, Hsinyi Rd., Sec. 4
When: until Dec. 8
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