Information

This article was written on 28 Oct 2013, and is filled under Miao Jiaxin (China).

Current post is tagged

Lone Star Explosion 2012, Miao Jiaxin (China), performance art

Miao Jiaxin

Ass print studio, Image Courtesy of the Artist

From his early practice, starting as a street photographer tracking Shanghai prostitutes to the development of a pseudo-transvestite web celebrity, Miao Jiaxin has evolved an edgy and protean practice. Beginning in Shanghai, Miao then immigrated to New York, expanding his view of urban streets towards a more conceptual public stage, where his works travel across different media. Initiated from universal themes of existentialism, Miao’s works tend to be politically participating in contemporary events, yet still expressing the universal theme of urban angst. Among his performative practices, he has blended his naked body into the bleak streets of a midnight New York City, traveled inside a suitcase hauled by his mother through urban crowds, did live-feed erotic performances on an interactive pornographic broadcasting website, and dressed as a Chinese businessman for a year when working towards his MFA at School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Miao’s works often express the ambivalent and sometimes antagonistic tension that always exists between the individual and governing or cultural authorities, questioning assumptions about power in relation to individual identity, race, gender, sexuality and social class. He posits the artist’s nature as one who transgresses boundaries, challenges consensus, and stays distance from authorities.