Head 1 (from 'China. China' series) 1997
Porcelain body-cast, with hand painted underglaze blue and overglaze decoration in yellow, orange and green.
41 x 20 x 22cm (approx., irreg.)
Collection: The artist

Bust 1 (from 'China. China' series) 1998
Porcelain body-cast with hand painted underglaze blue decoration
30 x 20 x 41.5cm (approx., irreg.)
Collection: The artist

Bust 2 (from 'China. China' series) 1998
Porcelain body-cast with hand painted underglaze blue and copper red decoration
31.5 x 20 x 40.5cm (approx., irreg.)
Collection: The artist

Bust 3 (from 'China. China' series) 1998
Porcelain body-cast with hand painted underglaze blue and copper red decoration
28.5 x 32.5 x 21cm (approx., irreg.)
Collection: The artist

Bust 4 (from 'China. China' series) 1998
Porcelain body-cast with hand painted underglaze blue and copper red decoration
30.5 x 19 x 35.5cm (approx., irreg.)
Collection: The artist

Bust 10 (from 'China. China' series) 1999
Porcelain body-cast with hand painted underglaze blue decoration
29.5 x 21.5 x 39.5cm (approx., irreg.)
Collection: The artist

Ah Xian’s 'China. China' works are porcelain body copies cast from life models, which the artist has painted with traditional Chinese porcelain designs in underglaze, and some in overglaze enamels. The brilliant white busts display intimate individual details. They recall death masks that function as reminders of a life that is past. There is a curious incongruity in the pairing of figures and pattern, suggesting oppositions of life and death, art and craft, the old and the new, rational and emotional expression. In 1997 and 1999 Ah Xian revisited China to develop his technical knowledge of porcelain at the kilns and workshops in Jingdezhen, which for centuries produced fine porcelain for the Chinese court. Ah Xian says: ‘As I am weary of, and question globalisation and the inundation of "international art", I therefore devote myself to following with interest and introspection the ancient art and culture of China, which has been in existence for thousands of years.’

Extract from article 'Self-exile of the soul' by Ah Xian which appeared in TAASA Review Vol. 8, No.1 :

"Here are some brief notes on myself:

1) I am a perfectionist, as a result, I am also a pessimist. I have always tried to visualise a perfect world, but it has never been one as a matter of fact. Naturally, perfection and immortality oppose decline and death and these opposite, but closely related pairs of themes, are the major elements that my recent works China, China and Fading Book were focussed on.

2) I have experienced many international art forms such as 'conceptual art', 'installation', 'performance', 'happenings', 'video art', 'multi-media' and so on which are mostly established and developed upon the basis of Western capital, technology and the cultural system. From the beginning of modernism up to the present, these art forms have been interpreted globally by using various languages in a variety of versions.

3) As I am weary of, and question globalisation and the inundation of 'international art', I therefore devote myself to following with interest and introspection the ancient art and culture of China, which has been in existence for thousands of years. By the perspective of today's world, the ancient art and culture of China may be considered overdetermined, ossified and even antiquated and worn out - things such as Chinese ink painting, Peking opera, pottery, and other folk-art forms. Are these once splendid forms of art and culture able to be revived after their decline?

4) To be nurtured and educated under Chinese culture for about half of my life, for better or worse, whatever is deposited in my bones is unchangeable. Twenty years after the Cultural Revolution and after China has opened its door to the world, we as artists with a Chinese background, should have learned and been sufficiently influenced by Western philosophy, art and the culture as a whole to attain a level of confidence and capability to tell stories about ourselves by using our own languages. If eel that we should not need to tell stories about the Chinese situation only through the foreign languages that we have learnt.