Gao Xiaowu was born in Fujian Province, China in 1976, and graduated from Xia Men Art Academy majored in sculpture in 1999. He graduated from the sculpture department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 2004.Master of Film Business and Management at the Catalan School of Film and Audiovisual Studies (ESCAC), Spain. And he lives and works in Beijing ever since.

His artistic notion is “the moment that is”. He practiced a kind of “popular art”, believing that art belongs to the common people. Gao Xiaowu’s works mostly reveal metaphorical and non-extreme rational thinking in a humorous, gentle and non-hostile way, expressing his concern, criticism and reflection on society. His early works include such series as Standard Age, City Dreams, Our Generation, Soft Violence and Discrepancy. His recent series of works, such as the Rebirth and the Shared Environment, focus on “everyday” phenomena, in which the artist invites the public with an equal mindset, “to awake the primitive nature through rebirth”, and “human beings and nature coexist in harmony”. He uses a variety of ingenious creative means from the heart, and communicates with the public in a flexible and individualized way, trying to maximize the effectiveness of art in society.

Rebirth Dragonfly
stainless steel,Painted
2020
53×38×57cm

Gao Xiaowu’s “Rebirth” series is intended to raise up such questions as of how human beings should be by a gentle, sincere way to reveal hidden, non extreme and rational contemplation; as of how to make a development more healthy. It is aimed to express the artist’s concern, criticism and rethinking towards the issues of a society today.

To call upon the rebirth of primitive nature is the core concept of Gao Xiaowu’s “Rebirth” series. The series of his work depicts the subject matter of flying and water animals in the natural world as its image, by their poetic and tranquil motion and ways of exaggeration and metaphor to express a diversity and illusion of the natural world. In such a context, one is neither able to see the critical attitude through a direct visual expression, nor to evoke a sense of insecurity under pressure. Thus it is to call upon humans’ dream and expectation towards the original nature by the beauty “Rebirth” series has illustrated.

Shared environment Egret
stainless steel
2020
21×16×45cm

Shared environment means the state of sharing and mutualism. Every object in the universe is interacting with each other, and depending on each other. The existence and development of every life is the accumulation and gathering of numerous karma. Hence, seeing is not necessarily true, which means not to be overly obsessed with the recognition of the appearance of things, but to focus the integrated causes and conditions that are closed related with what you see, therefore, to reach the realm of me in you, and you in me. Only in this way can we arouse the power of inner peace, and then get along with the world better!