Page from Book from the Sky, Xu Bing

Artwork Overview

Xu Bing, Page from Book from the Sky
Xu Bing, Page from Book from the Sky
Xu Bing
Page from Book from the Sky
1987–1991
Xu Bing
born 1955
Page from Book from the Sky, 1987–1991
Material/technique: woodcut
Dimensions:
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 298.45 x 635 mm
Frame Dimensions (Height x Width x Depth): 24 1/4 x 32 1/2 x 1 in
Weight (Weight): 8 lbs
Credit line: Museum purchase: Gift of Arthur Neis
Accession number: 2008.0332
Not on display
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Images

Label texts

Cryptograph: An Exhibition for Alan Turing
First exhibited in China in 1988 and 1989, Book from the Sky (evoked here by a page proof) is an undertaking of epic proportions that addresses the relationship between language and authority and expresses the artist’s conflicted feelings toward words and books in post-Cultural-Revolution China. Xu Bing designed 4,000 characters, carved them in wooden blocks, and used them to print the four volumes of Book from the Sky with painstaking attention to traditional methods of printing and binding. However, the seemingly authentic Chinese characters are inventions of the artist and cannot be read. Although illegible, the work does carry a powerful message, as Xu Bing himself noted, “to change the written word is to strike at the very foundation of a culture.”
Exhibition Label: "Cryptograph: An Exhibition for Alan Turing," Mar-2012, Stephen Goddard First exhibited in China in 1988 and 1989, Book from the Sky (evoked here by a page proof) is an undertaking of epic 43 proportions that addresses the relationship between language and authority and expresses the artist’s conflicted feelings toward words and books in post-Cultural-Revolution China. Xu Bing designed 4,000 characters, carved them in wooden blocks, and used them to print the four volumes of Book from the Sky with painstaking attention to traditional methods of printing and binding. However, the seemingly authentic Chinese characters are inventions of the artist and cannot be read. Although illegible, the work does carry a powerful message, as Xu Bing himself noted, “to change the written word is to strike at the very foundation of a culture.”

Exhibitions

Cryptograph: An Exhibition for Alan Turing
Stephen Goddard, curator
2012

Citations

Blackledge, Lee, ed., Register. 8, no. 1 (2008-2009): 152.