XUE MU 牟雪

Introduction

Xue Mu (1979) is a visual artist based in Amsterdam and Berlin whose multifaceted practice consists of drawing, photography, site-specific installation, performance and art in public space. She completed her residency at de Rijksakademie Amsterdam in 2012. Prior to that, she studied at Dutch Art Institute (MFA 2006), Gerrit Rietveld Academy (BA 2009), and Nanjing University of the Arts (BA 2002). Mu was awarded by AFK Project Fonds (2012-2014), Prof. Augustus Allebé Fonds / Willem F.C. Uriôtfonds Fellowship (2012), and Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, Peter Paul Peterich Fonds (2011). She is an acclaimed teacher since 2013, and spent 5 years tutoring at The Royal Academy of Art Den Haag (2017-2023). Her projects have been presented by institutions and Galleries across Europe and Asia, examples are De Appel Arts Centre, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, He Xiangning Museum Shenzhen, and Kunstverein Salzburg. Xue Mu is frequently commissioned for public art projects, notably the permanent drawing installation Black Diamond_Panorama at the Province House of Friesland.

Using elliptical strategies, the artist highlights the paradoxical coexistence of the insignificant and the sublime. In her work, you won't find conventional notions of values often obscured by daily politics, technology, or belief systems. With a perceptual acuity and a childlike sense of wonder, the artist scrutinizes the common cultural frameworks and daily life experiences. A key characteristic of the Xue Mu’s practice is her emphasize on unrecognized and overlooked matter, examining its vulnerability and silent power, which she designates as ‘Super Ghosts’, a counterpoint to the Superheroes. Edified by humanity studies and sociology, Xue Mu explores themes of individuation and the collective unconscious, visualizing a mental landscape that reflects the ever changing, non-hierarchical dynamics of being.

Mu’s large drawing series, The Black Diamond, emerges from synesthetic observation and delves into human existence into the total biosphere. Xue Mu: "Abstraction is a presentation of the unknown itself, a precise language to confront and value indescribable matter. However, I hesitate to use the word 'language' - it suggests a vehicle, a step in between. Abstract art is a presentation rather than a representation. I'd say: abstraction ís." Standing in front of her drawings, what we see is not a two-dimensional illusion of space; we are, instead, drawn into the multidimensionality of an unexperienced reality. Here, the eyes are not deceived but get to perceive what had not been visible before. A metamorphosis of being. This is what Xue Mu considers abstraction.