Money raised supports the acquisition of Xiaoze Xie’s “Order (The Red Guards)“ for the permanent collection.
EUGENE, Ore. -- (August 19, 2013) – In celebration of the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art’s 80th anniversary, the museum is raising donations to acquire Chinese artist Xiaoze Xie’s “Order (The Red Guards)” for its permanent collection. This work will enhance the JSMA’s historic Chinese collection, build cross-cultural connections with international contemporary art and support the teaching and training of UO students.
In 2011, “Order” was featured in the traveling exhibition “Xiaoze Xie: Amplified Moments,” a retrospective of paintings, installations, and videos produced by the multi-talented Xie between 1993 and 2008. Currently on loan from the artist, the piece is on view in the JSMA’s Soreng Gallery of Chinese art.
Born in Guangdong in 1966, Xie is one of today’s most prominent America-based Chinese contemporary artists. As a student in his homeland in the 1980s he had intended to pursue a career in architecture but was compelled to shift to painting as a result of the violent military response to the June 4, 1989, student protests in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. Xie left China in 1992, after completing a Master of Arts degree from Central Academy of Arts and Design in Beijing, and then in 1996, received a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of North Texas, Denton. He taught at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, for a number of years, before moving to Stanford University, where he is currently the Paul L. and Phyllis Wattis Professor in Art.
The powerful installation piece that the JSMA hopes to acquire is comprised of a monumental hanging scroll emblazoned with a roughly brushed image documenting the destruction of books during China’s Cultural Revolution, which occurred between 1966 and 1976. The scroll extends ten feet down the wall and then, surprisingly, two feet across the floor. A series of large metal squares spaced in three horizontal rows impale the scroll and continue along the wall. Since most of the squares are painted fire-engine red, they suggest the little “Red Treasure Book” of quotations from Communist leader Mao Zedong, a volume cherished by many of the Red Guards who participated in acts such as that whose aftermath is pictured in the painting.
“Xie’s work deftly re-appropriates aspects of traditional Chinese art and combines them with selected Western influences and modern political subject matter to produce a thought-provoking installation that encourages viewers to meditate on the vulnerability of historical memory,” says Anne Rose Kitagawa, JSMA Chief Curator.
“We’d love to keep this work in Eugene,” says JSMA executive director Jill Hartz. “Our staff and visitors fell in love with it when it was here a few years ago, both because it’s a fantastic work of art and because it connects our past with our vision for today and tomorrow.”
Xiaoze Xie’s art is represented in numerous national and international museum collections, as well as several distinguished corporate and private collections. If you would like to receive information about how to help the JSMA acquire this magnificent work, please contact Tom Jackson at tomjack@uoregon.edu or call 541-346-7476.
About the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art
The University of Oregon's Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art is a premier Pacific Northwest museum for exhibitions and collections of historic and contemporary art based in a major university setting. The mission of the museum is to enhance the University of Oregon’s academic mission and to further the appreciation and enjoyment of the visual arts for the general public. The JSMA features significant collections galleries devoted to art from China, Korea, Japan, America, Europe and elsewhere as well as changing special exhibition galleries. The JSMA is one of six museums in the state of Oregon—and the only university museum--accredited by the American Alliance of Museums.
The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art is located on the University of Oregon campus at 1430 Johnson Lane. Museum hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesdays, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays through Sundays. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for senior citizens. Free admission is given to ages 18 and under, JSMA members, college students with ID, and University of Oregon faculty, staff and students. For information, contact the JSMA, 541-346-3027.
About the University of Oregon
The University of Oregon is among the 108 institutions chosen from 4,633 U.S. universities for top-tier designation of "Very High Research Activity" in the 2010 Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. The UO also is one of two Pacific Northwest members of the Association of American Universities.
Contact: Debbie Williamson Smith, 541-346-0942, debbiews@uoregon.edu
Links: Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, http://jsma.uoregon.edu
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