In his early bodies of paintings, such as the ‘Pay Attention to Security’ series dating to the mid 1980s, Ah Xian produced edgy domestic interiors ‘invaded’ by aspects of public space. This included one instance of a sitting room cut through by a pedestrian road crossing and stop sign. The collapse of the public and the private was suggestive of wider social anxieties, especially in China during the Reform and Opening Up Period. Overtime, however, existential disquiet gave way to forms signifying conditions of innate serenity. Peering into the glazed surfaces of Ah Xian’s blue and white porcelain busts, for instance, the sense of ‘being’ untrammelled by external realities is impossible to ignore. The closed eyes of the figures convey a feeling that the contents of the sleeper’s dreams are made visible.

Importantly, for an artist who came of age following the Cultural Revolution, a period in which traditional cultural forms were especially difficult to access, the importance of pre-modern culture cannot be understated. Rather than a simple return to a halcyon past, however, Ah Xian has come to grips with a profound cultural legacy while also transforming aspects of that inheritance into something that is expressive of contemporary bi-cultural life. In particular his adoption of the three-dimensional portrait bust, being an entirely Western device, which Ah Xian has then intertwined with Chinese forms and motifs, speaks to an internationalist perspective. In order to achieve this synthesis, Ah Xian has worked with and directed artisans of outstanding capacity, guided however by instinct rather than technique or tradition alone. Ah Xian has referred to his methodology as akin to the multilayered aspects of filmmaking, in which different elements are brought together to produce a holistic work of art.  Image and text, the pregnant pause of white space and the punctuating emphasis of a carefully placed seal are just some of the elements here. And just as film stock is an essential aspect of cinematography, so too for Ah Xian is the choice of papers relative to the selected image. For instance, in ‘Fledging No.6’ the gold leaf that covers the centralised torso is echoed by the scattering of gold and mica flecks that form part of and glisten within the paper substrate.

The images featured in the ‘Fledging’ suite constitute a diverse array of sculptures from Ah Xian’s major bodies of works. Erotic and sensuous qualities are apparent in the imagery traversing the bodies and faces of his subjects. Yet far from being an unbridled outpouring, such images are counterpoised by an aesthetics of attenuated restraint. For instance, Ah Xian’s preference for classical kǎishū script (楷書) rather than the cursive cǎoshū (草書) script is indicative of just such a balance.

In terms of poetry, which has been a long-held fascination for the artist, classical modes of ‘fixed length’ five and seven-character length stanzas has been adopted, as well as modern free form poetry. The gambit of conflating poetical verse and imagery is something of a mainstay of Chinese painting. Yet in Ah Xian’s work the form is extended into photographic montage, again playing on the cinematic interplay of image and text. As the poetry is hand-written by the artist, there are subtle variations across the edition, in effect making each work a ‘Unique State’ print. Equally important are the application of seal stamps, also carved by the artist. Akin to miniature engravings, the seals feature tightly configured hanzi (漢字) logograms. The seals designed by Ah Xian include such terms as ‘freedom’(自由), ‘fledging’ (羽化) and ‘Repentance is salvation’ (回头是岸). Seal cutting, or zhuanke (篆刻), has a long history in China. Finely crafted seals are prized as works of art and the placement of the red seal mark on an artwork is seen as an important part of the composition, without which, the work would not be complete.

Ah Xian is now widely recognised, both internationally and in Australia as an artist of singular importance. His works can be found in major public collections in Australia; he was the winner of the inaugural National Sculpture Prize offered by the National Gallery of Australia and he has been honoured with a solo exhibition at New York’s prestigious Asia Society Galleries, amongst many other accolades. In 2015, I had the pleasure of visiting Ah Xian’s studio in Beijing, where, in the dim light of the warehouse, the golden sculptures emerged as beguiling introspective presences, each conveying the impression of monks in deep meditation. The stone elements balancing atop his subjects appeared to defy gravity, playing to the somnolent expressions. The gold leaf finish and crepuscular light again amplified the dreamscape. It was an entrancing encounter with the work of a remarkable artist. Here is a maker whose capacity to conflate and balance the elemental forms and media of his practice has given rise to countless poetical works. His ‘Fledging’ series of limited edition prints marks a significant addition to that oeuvre.

Dr Damian Smith is the president of Australian Chinese Art Research Institute, secretary of AICA Australia (International Association of Art Critics, UNESCO sponsored).