Editorial Feature
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darkness utilising Hitchcock’s studio lighting effect to accentuate each figure. Xue says her favourite work in the collection is ‘Narcissess’ as it questions how appearances can deceive. “This one really nails the theme of female vanity for me. The mirror world throws back a startling reflection of things which might be. It strips off the superficial veneer of beauty to reveal a more disturbing interior parallel reality.” she explains. Xue works from her London studio on several paintings at a time, using oil on board, rather than canvas which she finds an easier medium to work on when producing meticulous attention to detail. A late riser (although she would admit this habit has changed since the arrival of her first baby just three months ago!) she likes to work at long stretches. Despite what she describes as a ‘butterfly mind’ that flits from one thing to another in every other aspect of life, she says she can concentrate on her art for prolonged periods of time and spends over one hundred hours on each canvas. Will motherhood change her outlook or ideas about content? “I still like to sit amongst my stuffed cobra, a fox skull and a box of dead bumble bees and I don’t think I will ever stop painting images that challenge on some level” she says, (although she admits to becoming drawn to landscapes recently), before adding “but the old fashioned interiors and isolated figures are part of my psyche so they will always be there.” GALLERY The new collection fromXue Wang is available now. Viewonline at washingtongreen.co.uk
� StraightNoGnashers Gicléeeditionof95 ImageSize13”x10” FramedSize28”x241/2” Framed£350 Canvaseditionof50 ImageSize131/2”x101/2” FramedSize201/2”x171/2” Framed£295 Gicléeeditionof95 ImageSize18”x143/4” FramedSize33”x291/2” Framed£475 Canvaseditionof50 ImageSize181/2”x151/4” FramedSize251/2”x221/2” Framed£395 � Narcissess
In brief Who is your favourite artist andwhy? Frida Kahlo – female, independent and wonderful use of colour. But can I add in Victorian painter Albert Kubin and the god of pop surrealismMark Rayden too! What is your ambition artistically? To keep painting and for mywork to influence people. What do you like best about living in London? The diversity of the city and there always being something new to do or discover. I never ever get bored here. And the shopping! I love to shop! Is being a child or an adultmost fun? I loved being a child. I only have happy memories and it was always ‘sunshine’ in mymind. Having no responsibilities is a wonderful thing you only appreciatewhen you become an adult.
the city. I was brought up in an industrial city in China and now live in London. It’s where I feel comfortable. Where did you last go onholiday? China – I always go somewhere new in China after visitingmy family. China is a big country and my (British) husbandwants to seemore than just my hometown each timewe visit! What is your favouritefilm? Rear Window by Alfred Hitchcock. Book or Kindle? I amembarrassed to admit it but I don’t read. I like to imagine in pictures and not text. I cannot concentrate to read. I havewhat I call a ‘butterflymind.” Cat or Dog? Dogs! I have a little black doggy called Kuma. What do youmissmost about China? Easy – family and food in that order!
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Are you a City or a Country girl? It has to be
AUTUMN2014 FIN e ARTC o LL e CT o R 9
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