山水 Shanshui, mixed media painting and collage on paper, 2015 – 2020, 35 x 73 cm, courtesy of the artist and Each Modern
“ShanShui”（山水: landscape）Xu Jiong
Life, for many people, can be divided into “before 2020” or “after 2020”. However, it has not changed that much for me after 2020. I stay at home, I read, I write, I drink tea, I grow flowers.
I envy a friend who lives in the west (you can see the mountains from the west of Beijing).
I say she can see the mountains every day. The high northern mountains are always fascinating to people. She says mountains are just like that. If we don’t excavate, they will always look like that. She says she envies me, for I was born in Jiangnan. It is a humid city full of accents from Wu and Nong in the air. It is just like a movie. I say Jiangnan is great, but I am not moving back.
My lover lives beside the sea. Sometimes I ask him if he goes to the beach before it gets too hot. The answer is always no.
The house I am living in now faces the East and the West. When the sun fills my room in the mornings and evenings, different lights and shadows appear in my room. They change and disappear in seconds. Sometimes I look up and they are gone.
Although there is mourning, and grief, the spring has come. Seasons are still distinct, and now the spring is leaving.
Xu Jiong／許炯
Chinese artist Xu Jiong (1983) was born in HangZhou, China, and currently lives and works in Beijing. His painting practice utilizes the materials and techniques of traditional Chinese calligraphy – the artist majored in calligraphy at the China Academy of Art. As a practice with strict compositional rules, Chinese calligraphy speaks to a set of traditional aesthetic values that often sit outside our context. Xu’s practice continues beyond these conventions into the space of the contemporary, mixing abstract line, recurring symbols, calligraphic characters, and graffiti, while also engaging in a dialogue with the traditional, cultural, and personal. Important solo exhibitions include “Self-Portrait” Each Modern, Taipei, in 2019; “I saw Jia Dao” aura gallery, Taipei, and “I saw Jia Dao” CANS Art Space, Taipei, in 2017; “Wind in the Pines” CANS Art Space, Taipei in 2016; “All Things are in Me” aura gallery, Taipei in 2015; “Da Gaun” aura gallery, Beijing, 2014; in 2015, aurastudio published the artist’s book, “All Things are in Me”.
山水 Shanshui, mixed media painting and collage on canvas, 2015 – 2020, 30 x 40 cm, courtesy of the artist and Each Modern
山水 Shanshui, mixed media sculpture from paper, 2020, 32 x 18 cm, courtesy of the artist and Each Modern
“ShanShui”（山水: landscape）Xu Jiong
Life, for many people, can be divided into “before 2020” or “after 2020”. However, it has not changed that much for me after 2020. I stay at home, I read, I write, I drink tea, I grow flowers.
I envy a friend who lives in the west (you can see the mountains from the west of Beijing).
I say she can see the mountains every day. The high northern mountains are always fascinating to people. She says mountains are just like that. If we don’t excavate, they will always look like that. She says she envies me, for I was born in Jiangnan. It is a humid city full of accents from Wu and Nong in the air. It is just like a movie. I say Jiangnan is great, but I am not moving back.
My lover lives beside the sea. Sometimes I ask him if he goes to the beach before it gets too hot. The answer is always no.
The house I am living in now faces the East and the West. When the sun fills my room in the mornings and evenings, different lights and shadows appear in my room. They change and disappear in seconds. Sometimes I look up and they are gone.
Although there is mourning, and grief, the spring has come. Seasons are still distinct, and now the spring is leaving.
Xu Jiong／許炯
Chinese artist Xu Jiong (1983) was born in HangZhou, China, and currently lives and works in Beijing. His painting practice utilizes the materials and techniques of traditional Chinese calligraphy – the artist majored in calligraphy at the China Academy of Art. As a practice with strict compositional rules, Chinese calligraphy speaks to a set of traditional aesthetic values that often sit outside our context. Xu’s practice continues beyond these conventions into the space of the contemporary, mixing abstract line, recurring symbols, calligraphic characters, and graffiti, while also engaging in a dialogue with the traditional, cultural, and personal. Important solo exhibitions include “Self-Portrait” Each Modern, Taipei, in 2019; “I saw Jia Dao” aura gallery, Taipei, and “I saw Jia Dao” CANS Art Space, Taipei, in 2017; “Wind in the Pines” CANS Art Space, Taipei in 2016; “All Things are in Me” aura gallery, Taipei in 2015; “Da Gaun” aura gallery, Beijing, 2014; in 2015, aurastudio published the artist’s book, “All Things are in Me”.
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