Music

Xiyadie

BornNationalityBased In
1963ChineseN/A
Biography

Xiyadie is a self-taught traditional Chinese papercut artist who starting creating works with homoerotic themes to tell his narrative of transformation. Xiyadie means Siberian Butterfly, a name he chose after his move to Beijing as a migrant worker in 2005, where he found an accepting community in the burgeoning gay subcultural scene. As he relates, the Siberian Butterfly is a northern creature. Surviving in the harshest conditions, it maintains its vanity and pursuit of freedom in an environment that does not lend political agency or representation to queer-identifying people. In the late 1980s, his native Shaanxi Province was a centre for the preservation of folk arts including papercutting, which originates in the Eastern Han Dynasty (25–220 CE). Xiyadie subverts this historical form by depicting scenes of queer eroticism, where human beings are fused with nature and gay virility combines with the fertility of gardens and animal life. Due to the thinness of Chinese rice paper traditionally used for this craft, each work is made in editions, though the artist also works with materials like newspaper and silk, intricately cut and dyed by hand. ...

Selected Artworks
Boiling (A boiling pot resembles helplessness and suffering of humanity)
Xiyadie
Boiling (A boiling pot resembles helplessness and suffering of humanity), 2018
29.5 x 29.5cm
Double happiness (Lovers are often together)
Xiyadie
Double happiness (Lovers are often together), 2018
20 x 20cm
Fish on a chopping board
Xiyadie
Fish on a chopping board, 2018
28.5 x 30cm
Gate
Xiyadie
Gate, 2016
140 x 140cm
Butterfly
Xiyadie
Butterfly, 2006
26 x 26cm
Door
Xiyadie
Door, 1982
20 x 20cm
Joy
Xiyadie
Joy, 1982
29.5 x 29.5cm
Fish on a chopping board (Human suffering, depression and helplessness are like a beheaded fish on a chopping board, but at this very moment we are still happy)
Xiyadie
Fish on a chopping board (Human suffering, depression and helplessness are like a beheaded fish on a chopping board, but at this very moment we are still happy), 2018
20 x 20cm
Flowerpot
Xiyadie
Flowerpot, 1991
140 x 140cm
Gate
Xiyadie
Gate, 1992
140 x 140cm
Gate
Xiyadie
Gate, 1999
140 x 140cm
Joy
Joy
Xiyadie
Joy, 1999
140 x 140cm
Joy (乐)
Joy (乐)
Xiyadie
Joy (乐), 1999
20 x 20cm
Joy (乐)
Xiyadie
Joy (乐), 2005
20 x 20cm
Joy(乐)
Joy(乐)
Sorting sweet potatoes (Dad, don’t yell, we’re in the cellar sorting sweet potatoes)
Xiyadie
Sorting sweet potatoes (Dad, don’t yell, we’re in the cellar sorting sweet potatoes), 2019
140 x 140cm
Sorting sweet potatos (Dad, don’t yell, we’re in the cellar sorting sweet potatoes)
Xiyadie
Sorting sweet potatos (Dad, don’t yell, we’re in the cellar sorting sweet potatoes), 1999
30 x 30.5cm
Your lightbulb is fine (Such natural mutual love is part of human nature)
Xiyadie
Your lightbulb is fine (Such natural mutual love is part of human nature), 2018
20 x 20cm
Music
Xiyadie
Music, 2016
30 x 30cm
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