A keen mushroom hunter with her husband Bruce, Xue braved the forest both literally and metaphorically to bring her autumn collection to life. Along with classic tales like The Ugly Duckling, the artist has explored the literary nonsense genre with Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and even created her own fairy tale. Xue paints at home, with her dog Kuma and daughter Macey – who she jokes is sometimes a little too helpful! Using oil paint for meticulous brushwork, she applies multiple layers of glaze and allows the carved
frames to lend her work a Baroque aesthetic. Inspired by the pop surrealism movement of the 1970s, her art is intertwined with themes of dolls, toys, funfairs and Victoriana. Now she has a young child, the mum- of-one is determined to use fairy tales as a tool to empower. “I didn’t want to make Little Red Riding Hood a submissive ingénue to the predatory wolf,” she says. “The autumn scene is dark and earthy as the seductive wolf lures his intended victim. But he has a nasty surprise waiting…”
FINE ART COLLECTOR AUTUMN 2018 73
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