.. writes Xu Jingyu (许静宇) with a few other notes in a computer document, which is built up only by few short terms and phrases. Her working steps and traceable thoughts appear to be almost invisible, as from angel’s hands and still, in the end there stands a result on its own where nothing is missing: a result in form of an installation in different media.

​

Her objects and installations every time seem to come out of drawings and conceptual writings, which are other than in the computer document often included into the drawings. She uses different languages, during the year she lived in Lyon (France) often French, English or Chinese. Different languages are relevant to say different things.

​

Her writings seem to represent one half of “the plan”, the other half exists only for the artist herself, who is taking the decision of what will be visible and what should be left unseen.

​

The written phrases are furthermore absorbing the atmosphere and describing a certain feeling, which is surrounding the process. These sentiments remain there up to the finished work, they fill the space of the installation in the same way than they coloured the drawings.

​

Even though Xu Jingyu’s works are appearing to be personal, she is not working in a character of documenting her life and analysing her feelings. Her works do not have the character of a dairy. They can be rather compared with a theatre play, where she is the director and selects characters to give them certain roles and moods. Her final set up is containing her staging like a “total art” where different media are included and the impression emerges from the entirety. The shown scenes may or may not have any personal relation with the artist.

​

In “Ansaicilayoyo's world” (安塞希腊佑佑的世界), 2011 Xu Jingyu creates a very clean space of total absorbance of the materials. The space is all in white, like a room which has been neutralized of colours, as a chamber for medical therapy. White is associated with chasteness and purity, it could as well be given a certain ability of healing.

​

With the materials she is using, she creates a conflict, the mirrors out of glass are something not solid, something that can easily break and loose its elegant flow and become sharp and dangerous broken pieces, so from one false step or one heavy falling object “Ansaicilayoyo's world” could be transformed into an horror space where walking barefoot would be very painful. The rest of the material is soft fabric, making a strong contrast to the glass. If one is not considering the transformation of the mirrors to broken pieces of glass, “Ansaicilayoyo's world” can be considered as a clean, soft and careful space of imagination.

​

Comparing this recent work from 2011 with her works from the last few years, this contrast of warm and cold, soft and hard, beautiful and cruel are always there. Xu Jingyu likes to confront different materials in her installations and has been using fabric in many ways of sewing, binding and covering it. “Ansaicilayoyo's world” is maybe enhancing the materials in a very special way.

 

The same as with “Ansaicilayoyo's world” Xu Jingyu’s oeuvre doesn’t dictate any feeling. They can all be seen as beautiful and inviting, all by being abyssal.

Xu Jingyu’s work is another proof that beauty and abyssal are lying close together.

 

What is often reproached to woman artist is a certain weakness, the fact of being too much driven by feelings and not enough genius and ego of creation. Weakness is certainly the last thing, which can be found in Xu Jingyu’s work, in opposite; they are brilliant through a very strong sharpness.

 

- Alexandra Grimmer, April 2012