Gao Xiaowu: addressing serious questions gently
From Standard Times to Rebirth, Gao Xiaowu uses sculpture, exaggeration and metaphor to address social life without relying on aggressive imagery.
Working through series
Trained in sculpture and based in Beijing, Gao works through series including Standard Times, City Dreams, Our Generation, Soft Violence, In and Out, Rebirth and Common Ground.
How Rebirth uses natural forms
Rebirth uses birds, aquatic animals and plants, transformed through scale and metaphor. Instead of catastrophic imagery, it asks how development and human relationships with nature might be reconsidered.
Gentleness is not avoidance
Humour and gentleness regulate the viewer's distance: approachable forms allow questions to emerge gradually. Price information in a sales file should remain separate from interpreting the work.
There is no need to choose between approachable and critical. Ask how gentle form keeps difficult questions visible.