Miao Xiaochun has claimed international acclaim over the years. He is currently teaching at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. It is not hard to draw parallels with his work and Chi Peng’s, who happens to be Miao’s student. Digital manipulation, the traditional ‘vertical scroll’ format and the obsession with expressing one’s alter ego through photography and contrasting that with Chinese society are all hallmarks of his works.
In his current work, he appropriates Western art and recreates them in the computer. Shown here is his 2006 work, The Last Judgement in Cyberspace.
© Miao Xiaochun
From the Saatchi Gallery:
In his latest body of work, The Last Judgement in Cyberspace, Miao Xiaochun appropriates Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel fresco as territory for similar provocation. Developed on computer, Miao has built a virtual model of the Apocalypse, architecturally structuring the tiers of Christian afterlife.
The distinction between photograph and 3D illustration is blurred in his works. I’m not sure why they are termed photographic as the resemblance to a video game is so strong. It reminds me of machinima. Does the printing of one’s work using photographic processes define it as photography?
© Miao Xiao Chun
It is interesting to note that in his earlier series, he uses digital manipulations to recreate reality, albeit similar to what Gursky does. The flattening of a three-dimensional space into two dimensions and presenting them as an alternate reality. Questions about the rapidly growing China society are raised. it seems like many Chinese photographers are preoccupied with that (and also the rest of the world), which makes it even harder for one to be original.
More of his works can be seen here. Some interesting reads of his exhibitions and works can be found here.
I saw some an exhibition of his while in Beijing. It left me a little unsettled, I’m not sure why or if it was necessarily a good or bad thing.
But obviously it was at least memorable.