Comments about Xu Jingyu’s recent work Ansaicilayoyo’s world
„先穿一串叶“
“First make a string of leaves..”
.. 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
许静宇近作《安塞希腊佑佑的世界》观感
“先穿一串叶”
“先穿一串叶……”许静宇在一个电脑文档里写下了这句话及其他几条札记，全是简短的片言只语。她的工作步骤和思想轨道几乎没有痕迹可追循，仿佛出自天使之手，但最终诞生的不同介质的装置作品却兀然独立，没有任何缺失。她每一次创作的物件和装置看上去均源于素描和构思笔记，这些笔记往往不写入电脑文档，而是包含在素描的画面中。她使用多种语言，旅居法国里昂的一年里常用的是法文、英文或中文。不同语言，便于指称不同的事物。
她的文字似乎只代表“计划”的一半，另一半惟独对艺术家本人才存在：是她决定着让什么显现，什么隐而不见。写出的片语令氛围更加浸润，描绘着某种萦绕创作过程的感觉。这些抒发情绪的字句待到作品完成仍然留存在那里，充盈装置作品的空间，正如它们给了草图以感情色调一样。
尽管许静宇的作品具有个人化的外表，她并不把自我投射为作品人物，记录生活并分析感情。她的作品不带日记性质，毋宁比作一出舞台剧，她是当中的导演，选取不同人物来让他们扮演角色，抒发情绪。她所完成的场景像是一种“整体艺术”（total art）般包含了她的导演过程，其中囊括着多种媒介，观众便从这个整体中得出印象。被呈现的场景与艺术家之间既可能存在、也可能不存在私人关系。
在《安塞希腊佑佑的世界》（2011）中，许静宇创造了一个非常干净的、材料完全融合的空间，里面一片素白，像一个剥离了色彩的房间，譬如说医学治疗的场所。白色关乎贞洁与纯净，同时也可以被赋予某种疗伤之效。
她借助于所使用的材料营造了一种冲突；玻璃制成的镜子并非坚实之物，它容易破裂，随时可能丧失其优雅流畅，变为尖锐而危险的碎片，因此只要踏错一步或有某件东西沉重地坠落，《安塞希腊佑佑的世界》便可能化为一个凶恶之地，令赤足行走变得痛苦。其他材料是柔软的织物，与玻璃对比鲜明。假如不去考虑镜子转化为玻璃渣的潜能，那么《安塞希腊佑佑的世界》可以看成是一个清洁、柔软而细致的想象空间。
把这件2011年的近作和过去数年来的作品相比，始终不变的是暖与冷、软与硬、美与残酷的对照。许静宇喜欢在她的装置中处理犯冲的材料，她对织物的运用手法多种多样，时而缝纫、时而捆扎、时而覆盖。《安塞希腊佑佑的世界》或许是以一种独特的方式升华了所应用的材料。
正如《安塞希腊佑佑的世界》所提示的那样，许静宇的作品不流露感情。它们的样子是美丽迷人的，却也是深渊般不可窥测的。
美与深渊是近邻，许静宇的作品再次证明了这一点。
不时会听见有人指责女性艺术家的作品带有某种软弱性，说她们任由情感驱使，而不是充分调动创造之灵与艺术自我。然而在许静宇的作品中根本无法发现软弱的端倪；恰恰相反：它们因强大的锐气而光华熠熠。
亚历山大·格林姆，2012年4月
（郑远涛 译）