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CATEGORIES
    • Xu Bing Art Satellite Creative Residency...
    • 卫星上的湖泊
    • "Xu Bing Tianshu" Rocket Crater
  • PRINTMAKING
    • Series of Repetitions
    • Mustard Seed Garden Landscape Scroll
    • Ghosts Pounding the Wall
    • Lost Letters
    • My Book
    • Five Series of Repetitions
    • Bustling Village on the Water
    • Shattered Jade
    • Big Tire
    • Brilliant Mountain Flowers Magazine
  • CHARACTER
    • The Seven-Character Poetry Collection of...
    • The Genetics of Reading Image
    • Tobacco Project I: Miscellaneous Book
    • Tobacco Project I: Match Book
    • Tobacco Project I: Longing
    • Tobacco Project I: Daodejing
    • Silkworm Book: The Analects of Confucius
    • Stone Path
    • Forest Project
    • Book from the Ground
    • Living Word
    • Book from the Sky
    • Square Word Calligraphy
    • Square Word Calligraphy Classroom
    • The Character of Characters
    • Mustard Seed Garden Landscape Scroll
    • Landscript
    • Art for the People
    • The Tide's Story
    • The Glassy Surface of a Lake
    • Bird Language
    • Excuse Me Sir, Can You Tell Me How to Ge...
    • Body Outside of Body
    • Lost Letters
    • Telephone
    • Brailliterate
    • Post Testament
    • A, B, C...
    • Monkeys Grasp for the Moon
  • ARTIST BOOKS
    • The Seven-Character Poetry Collection of...
    • Tobacco Project I: Reel Book
    • Tobacco Project I: Miscellaneous Book
    • Tobacco Project I: Match Book
    • Tobacco Project I: Calendar Book
    • Silkworm Book: The Analects of Confucius
    • Book from the Sky
    • Square Word Calligraphy Classroom
    • The Foolish Old Man Who Tried to Remove ...
    • Body Outside of Body
    • Cultural Negotiations
    • Post Testament
  • ANIMALS
    • Silkworm Book: The Analects of Confucius
    • A Case Study of Transference: Times Over...
    • Phoenix
    • Living Word
    • American Silkworm Series
    • Cultural Animal
    • Bird Language
    • Wild Zebra
    • Panda Zoo
    • The Leash
    • The Net
    • The Parrot
  • INSTALLATION
    • The Wall and the Road
    • The Genetics of Reading Image
    • Gravitational Arena
    • Tobacco Project I: Longing
    • Silkworm Book: The Analects of Confucius
    • A Case Study of Transference: Times Over...
    • Phoenix
    • Stone Path
    • Background Story
    • Book from the Ground
    • Living Word
    • Book from the Sky
    • Square Word Calligraphy Classroom
    • Travelling to the Wonderland
    • Where Does the Dust Itself Collect?
    • Landscript
    • Art for the People
    • Ghosts Pounding the Wall
    • Purple Breeze Comes from the East
    • Ergo Dynamic Desktop
    • The Well of Truth
    • The Glassy Surface of a Lake
    • Bird Language
    • Excuse Me Sir, Can You Tell Me How to Ge...
    • The Foolish Old Man Who Tried to Remove ...
    • Body Outside of Body
    • Cultural Negotiations
    • Brailliterate
    • Post Testament
    • A, B, C...
    • Big Tire
    • Air Memorial
    • Wild Zebra
    • Panda Zoo
    • The Leash
    • The Net
    • The Parrot
    • Tobacco Project III: Richmond
    • Tobacco Project II: Shanghai
    • Tobacco Project I: Durham
    • Monkeys Grasp for the Moon
  • NEW MEDIA
    • Artificial Intelligence Infinite Film (A...
    • Book from the Ground
    • The Character of Characters
    • Nokia: Connect to Art
  • FILM
    • 卫星上的湖泊
    • Artificial Intelligence Infinite Film (A...
    • Dragonfly Eyes
  • SOCIAL PROGRAMS
    • Forest Project
    • Wu Street
    • Ghosts Pounding the Wall
    • A Consideration of Golden Apples
......
PROJECTS
  • The Wall and the Road
  • Xu Bing Art Satellite Creative Residency...
  • Xu Bing Tianshu Rocket
  • Book from the Ground Pop-up Book (2014 E...
  • The Seven-Character Poetry Collection of...
  • 卫星上的湖泊
  • Artificial Intelligence Infinite Film (A...
  • The Genetics of Reading Image
  • Gravitational Arena
  • Where Are We?
  • "Xu Bing Tianshu" Rocket Crater
  • A Case Study of Transference: Times Over...
  • Dragonfly Eyes
  • Phoenix
  • Stone Path
  • Forest Project
  • Background Story
  • Book from the Ground
  • Living Word
  • Book from the Sky
  • Square Word Calligraphy
  • Square Word Calligraphy Classroom
  • Travelling to the Wonderland
  • The Character of Characters
  • Where Does the Dust Itself Collect?
  • Landscript
  • Art for the People
  • American Silkworm Series
  • Cultural Animal
  • Purple Breeze Comes from the East
  • The Tide's Story
  • A Consideration of Golden Apples
  • Excuse Me Sir, Can You Tell Me How to Ge...
  • Telephone
  • Cultural Negotiations
  • Five Series of Repetitions
  • A, B, C...
  • Air Memorial
  • Tobacco Project III: Richmond
  • Tobacco Project II: Shanghai
  • Tobacco Project I: Durham
  • Monkeys Grasp for the Moon
......
Back Home

Tobacco Project III: Tobacco Book (2011)

Tobacco Project III: Tobacco Book (2011)

Tobacco Project III: Tobacco Book (2011)

Tobacco Project III: Tobacco Book (2011)

PHOTO|VIDEO

2011


Medium: Tobacco leaves, paper, cardboard, rubber-stamped with passge from A True Discourse on the Present State of Virginia by Ralph Hamor (1615)

Dimensions: 53 3/4 x 39 3/4 x 3 7/8 in

Exhibition: Tobacco Project 3, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia, USA, 2011

Tobacco Project III: Puff Choice

Tobacco Project III: Puff Choice

Tobacco Project III: Puff Choice

Trade Cards for Tobacco Project III: Puff Choice

PHOTO|VIDEO

2011


Medium: Hinged wooden box with rubber-stamp printing, double cigarettes, foil, and five trade cards by Xu Bing

Size: Box (closed): 7/8 x 7 9/16 x 7 3/16 in

Exhibition: Tobacco Project 3, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia, USA, 2011

Tobacco Project III: Match Flower (2011)

Tobacco Project III: Match Flower (2011)

Tobacco Project III: Match Flower (2011)

PHOTO|VIDEO

2011


Medium: Branches, red match-head paste, vase

Size: Approx. 60 in

Exhibition: Tobacco Project 3, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia, USA, 2011

Tobacco Project III: Light as Smoke

Tobacco Project III: Light as Smoke

Tobacco Project III: Light as Smoke

PHOTO|VIDEO

2011


Medium: 440-lb. compressed block of tobacco with raised text: Light as Smoke
Size: 24 x 43 x 26 in

Exhibition: Tobacco Project 3, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia, USA, 2011

Tobacco Project III: Backbone

Tobacco Project III: Backbone

Tobacco Project III: Backbone

Tobacco Project III: Backbone

Tobacco Project III: Backbone

PHOTO|VIDEO

2011


Medium: Bound book, printed in offset lithography on cigarette paper

Size: 11 1⁄2 x 13 in, 158 pages

Exhibition: Tobacco Project 3, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia, USA, 2011

Tobacco Project III: 1st Class

Tobacco Project III: 1st Class

Tobacco Project III: 1st Class

Detail of Tobacco Project III: 1st Class

Detail of Tobacco Project III: 1st Class

PHOTO|VIDEO

2011


Medium: 500,000 "1st Class" brand cigarettes, adhesive, carpet

Size: Approx 480 x 180 in

Exhibition: Tobacco Project 3, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia, USA, 2011

Background Story 7

Background Story 7,London,2011

Background Story 7,London,2011

Background Story 7,London,2011

Background Story 7,London,2011

Background Story 7,London,2011

Background Story 7,London,2011

Background Story 7,London,2011

PHOTO|VIDEO

2011


Materials: Natural debris attached to frosted glass panel, 430 x 200 cm

Location: British Museum, London, United Kingdom


INSTALLATION

Tobacco Project III: Richmond

Installation view

Installation view

Tobacco Book

Reel Book

Front: Light as Smoke; Middle: Match Flowers; Back: Backbone

Light as Smoke

Match Flowers

Match Flowers

Backbone

1st Class

1st Class

1st Class

PHOTO|VIDEO

2011


Location: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia, USA
Medium: Mixed media installation/ Tobacco leaves, live tobacco plants, various tobacco related materials


As an extension of the ongoing Tobacco Project series, which explores the long and entangled relationship between humans and tobacco, Xu Bing embarked on a site-specific endeavor.

 

After executing the project in Durham (2000) and Shanghai (2004), Xu Bing chose Richmond, Virginia as the next significant city associated with tobacco. Richmond is home to Philip Morris, the parent company of the famous Marlboro cigarette brand. During his residency, Xu Bing studied tobacco's intimate relationship with the American continent, as well as its historical ties to early immigrants. In addition to Tobacco Book, Traveling Down the River, 1st Class (another "tiger-skin carpet" composed of over 500,000 "first class" brand cigarettes), and various works created during the initial phases of the Tobacco Project, Xu Bing expanded his art project on tobacco to include print works. These works raise profound questions about history and reality, global capital, cultural immersion, and labor market.


Selected work description: 

Backbone, 2011

It is a book composed of early tobacco brand designs that Xu Bing collected in Virginia. He then asked his friend Rene Balcer, a writer, director, and filmmaker, to write a blues poem incorporating tobacco brand slogans. It is titled Backbone after an early brand of tobacco. 

INSTALLATION

Living Word 3

Installation view at Xu Bing: The Living Word,The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, 2011

Installation view at Xu Bing: The Living Word,The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, 2011

Installation view at Xu Bing: The Living Word,The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, 2011

Installation view at Xu Bing: The Living Word, The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, 2011

Installation view at Xu Bing: The Living Word, The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, 2011

Installation view at Xu Bing: The Living Word, The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, 2011

Work in progress, The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, 2011

Xu Bing at the exhibit, The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, 2011

PHOTO|VIDEO

2011

Materials: Cut and painted acrylic 

Location: The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, USA


CHARACTER ANIMALS INSTALLATION