The Charisma of Xie Ke

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2010-08-16

The Charisma of Xie Ke


By Gu Zhenqing


Xie Ke, a Hongkongese who used to run the sounding Ke Gallery for over ten years in Singapore, is now living in Beijing. Due to the previous role as a graphic designer, Xie Ke is quite good at exploring the contexts of ornamental paintings and sculptural skills. Consequently, he does not merely have mighty ability of practice and exquisite handcraft experience, but also the re-thinking habit towards culture.


Early during the study in mainland, China, Xie Ke went around various places to investigate folk-custom of China. He is one of the clerisy who had cultural conscienceresponsibility and suffering consciousness of the development of China; meanwhile, he tried to visit what others didnt go and see what others didnt see in order to explore peculiar Chinese folk architecture and ornamental art. Accordingly, Xie Ke has experienced accumulate steadily Chinese art spirit, which is beyond the limit of time, with the recognition of self-culture custom.


Xie Ke does not only travel
regularly among mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan, but also visits other cultural areas in Southeast Asia such as Singapore. Every time when he departs and leaves from Kai Tak Airport, watching the skyscrapers over the window, he is experiencing the term “Internationalization”.


Resulting from the particularity of the history and terrain, Hong Kong is filled with macro atmosphere in terms of intercultural contexts. The inter-coastal politic and economic conflict have been always tensed Hongkongese. Therefore, the cultural situation that Xie Ke was involved in equipped him extraordinary potential.


Xie Ke criticizes himself macroscopically and his lingual contexts are diverse and compatible. Accordingly, the Charisma
of Xie Ke represents the international compatibility of inter-social-system and various cultural structure.


The paintings and sculptures of Xie Ke present the grace in terms of an graphic designerarchitect. The simple construction of his paintings explores the moral and symbolism. Meanwhile, he is good at switching between traditional contexts and elaborate skills. Every tiny little details, such as subjective formation and subtle alternations in Xies paintings can reveal his precise thinking; and the graphic-style stressed of Xies artworks is toppling over the tradition of academisms focusing skills rather than spiritual thinkings. 


In the perspective of contemporary art, Xie Ke understands that the dedication and elaboration of paintings and sculptures rely on whether the skills can express spirits, rather than merely skills.


The artworks of Xie Ke are meaningful, the purpose is to remind the public of focusing the concept of paintings and sculptures. Therefore, charisma of Xie Ke is expressed by the visual alternation to present critical reality and cultural re-thinking, which is the compatibility of an artist in terms of seeking for contemporary innovate spirit in self-criticizing