XIAOZE XIE
Chinese Library No. 46, 2010
Oil on canvas
36 x 54 inches
Courtesy of Chambers Fine Art
Untitled #3, 2010
Oil on canvas
20 x 30 inches
Courtesy of Chambers Fine Art
Xiaoze Xie contemplates the relationship between history, media and time in photo-based paintings that reflect on the conditions of materials in libraries and historical events. Painted after photographs that he has taken in libraries, Chinese Library No. 46 depicts the edges of stacked manuscripts in full decay. Untitled #3 is painted after stills from the documentary Degenerate Art (1993), and presents a detail from a scene on book burning under the Nazi regime during the 1930s.