World leaders come together in ceramic exhibition
TEMPE, Ariz. – Osama bin Laden and George Bush. Tony Blair and Saddam Hussein. Yasser Arafat and Ariel Sharon. Imagine these world leaders in the same room, then add many others, including the UN's Kofi Annan, Russia's Vladimir Putin and Libya's Moammar Gadhafi. A recipe for disaster … or perhaps reconciliation?
On Oct. 3, 20 world political leaders – or their ceramic likenesses – will come together at ASU Art Museum's Ceramics Research Center in the exhibition Luo Xiaoping: The Time Square Series. The ceramic figures by Chinese artist Luo are part portrait, part caricature and will bring audiences face to face with the leaders who are shaping our global community.
Luo describes his approximately two-feet-tall sculptures of some of the world’s most powerful people as “a political image spectrum installed on the Square of Time.” His work provides an opportunity for both artist and viewer to enjoy a somewhat lighter perspective on world affairs than recent events have allowed.
“Some of these figures may never, in reality, stand together, but today I have brought them together on a single stage,” Luo says. “Here, I can scoff at them, myself and the world.”
Luo is an internationally renowned ceramic artist who divides his time between Yixing – his home in China’s Jiangsu Province – and Arizona. He has participated in dozens of exhibitions at home and abroad, and held solo exhibitions in the United States, New Zealand and China. He has also been the recipient of many domestic and international prizes for his work.
Luo Xiaoping was born in Jiangxi, China, in 1960. He attended the Sculpture Department of Jingdezhen Ceramics College in 1983 and became a teacher on the architecture faculty of Tongji University, Shanghai, after graduation. After five years, he resigned from the university and set up Xiaoping Studio in Yixing, where he has hosted ceramic artists from around the world, exposing them to the rich pottery traditions of Yixing.
The Time Square Series will run Oct. 3, 2003 – Feb. 7, 2004 at the Ceramics Research Center. A free public reception sponsored by Desert Jade Women’s Group of Phoenix will be held from 7-9 p.m., Oct. 3, to open the exhibition. A lecture by Claudia Brown, professor in ASU’s Herberger College of Fine Arts and director of ASU’s Center for Asian Studies, is scheduled for 8 p.m., Oct. 3, at the CRC.
The ASU Art Museum is a division of The Katherine K. Herberger College of Fine Arts at Arizona State University. The Ceramics Research Center is located on the northeast corner of Mill Avenue and 10th Street, Tempe. For more information, please call (480) 965-2787 or visit the museum online at http://asuartmuseum.asu.edu.
| When You Go: | |
| Location: | Ceramics Research Center, corner Mill Avenue and 10th Street, Tempe. |
| Date & Time: | Luo Xiaoping: The Time Square Series will run Oct. 3, 2003 – Feb. 7, 2004. A free public reception from 7-9 p.m., Oct. 3, will open Luo Xiaoping: The Time Square Series. A lecture by Claudia Brown, professor in ASU’s Herberger College of Fine Arts and director of ASU’s Center for Asian Studies, is scheduled for 8 p.m., Oct. 3, at the CRC. |
| Parking: | Free parking is available in ASU Art Museum-marked spaces at the south end of Tempe Center, located at the NE corner of Mill Avenue and 10th Street. Visitors using museum spaces must sign in at the front desk in the lobby of the Nelson Fine Arts Center. ASU parking is also free on weekends and after 7 p.m. on weeknights. |
Website: | http://asuartmuseum.asu.edu |
| Cost: | Free |
Media Contact:
Jennifer Pringle
480-965-8795
jennifer.pringle@asu.edu