-021 Xu Guanyu
If there is one thing that you can change in a previous project of yours, what would it be?
When my works are shown in the public domain, I no longer consider modifying them. If I do modify them, it's probably a new iteration. However, there are instances where I want to expand a project. For example, I would like to expand “One Land To Another” to include more locations and with different people. However, I do not believe that this is feasible at this time. Another example is “Failed Remedies for Ignorance.” I have additional ideas for this project, but I lack the resources to execute them. It is possible that I will revisit this project in the future.
About Xu Guanyu
徐冠宇 Guanyu Xu (b.1993 Beijing) is an artist currently based in Chicago and Beijing. Influenced by the production of hegemonic ideology in American visual culture and his upbringing in Beijing, his practice extends from examining the production of power in image culture to the question of personal freedom and its relationship to political regimes. Xu negotiates this from his perspective as a Chinese gay man and an immigrant in the US. In his work, he migrates between mediums like photography, new media, and installation. These movements operate similarly to his displaced and fractured identity. In Xu's art practice, he strives to understand the politics between the U.S. and China, on both personal and transnational levels. Xu proposes a transnational position for viewers to examine and negotiate the interconnected oppressions in this contemporary moment of supposed freedom.
He is the recipient of the Illinois Arts Council Creative Projects Grant, Chicago DCASE Artist Grant, CENTER Development Grant, Hyéres International Festival Prize, PHOTOFAIRS Shanghai Exposure Award, Philadelphia Photo Arts Center Annual Competition, and Kodak Film Photo Award. He has received artist residencies including ACRE (Steuben, WI), Light Work (Syracuse, NY), Latitude (Chicago, IL), Pioneer Works (New York, NY), and Swatch Art Peace Hotel (Shanghai, China).
His works have been exhibited and screened internationally including the Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge; International Center of Photography, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; New Orlean Museum of Art, New Orleans; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco; UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing; Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland; 36th Kasseler Dokfest, Germany, and others. His work can be found in public collections including San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Harvard Art Museums, Museum of Contemporary Photography Chicago, New Orleans Museum of Art, among others. His works have been featured in numerous publications including The New York Times, Phaidon, Thames & Hudson, ArtAsiaPacific, The New Yorker, Harper's Magazine, Dazed, and China Photographic Publishing House.
All images courtesy of the artist
www.xuguanyu.com