'The paintings in this exhibition are collectively known as the Three Gorges Project. In 2003 Liu began working on a series mostly of large-scale canvases in which the massive Three Gorges Dam, whose construction on the Yangzi River in Hubei province is well underway, serves as an emblem of the spiritual cost of material progress... For Liu the Three Gorges Dam is "a typically grand-scale Chinese project without human feeling." A faceless feat of engineering, it warps, donminates, and finally replaces the landscape around it, and often it cannot be seen from one end to the other in the haze. It is not beautiful, neither inspired nor inspiring, but only big - impressive in its way - seeming less like an object or a body than a barren horizon - or an immense government edifice. In this way it is more like an absence than a presence, having been figured forth as a soulless character in the theater of national pride.' - extracted from essay by Jeff Kelley. With artist biography.
Access level

Onsite

Location code
MON.LXD
Language

English

Publication/Creation date

2006

ISBN / ISSN

Nil

No of copies

2

Content type

artist monograph, 

catalogue

Chapter headings

Art as Complaint - Jeff KELLEY

On the River - William L. FOX

The Three Gorges Project: Paintings by Liu Xiaodong
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The Three Gorges Project: Paintings by Liu Xiaodong