#274 Eternity-Buddha in Nirvana | 永生–涅槃佛

Greetings everyone! Inspired by @kus-knee's "The Weird is Good Art Contest", I'm showing you a piece of artwork I saw last year.

It was displayed at the Triennial exhibition in the Melbourne NGV (National Gallery of Victoria), Australia's oldest public art museum. The exhibition was showcasing contemporary artworks of over 100 artists and designers from 32 countries.

This sculptural installation was created by Chinese artist Xu Zhen, a leading figure among the younger contemporary artists in China. He is also a curator and entrepreneur, having worked across photography, video, painting and performance art. Except for the replication of the famous reclining buddha statue here, you can see different sculptural figures from Greek and Roman mythology on and around it. The entire work is over 15 metres long.

Xu Zhen explored his Buddhist heritage and attempted to address barriers by bringing Eastern and Western cultural traditions together. In his own words:

I have always been curious about the differences between cultures and the alienation between them. And yet, misconceptions can be the beginning of awareness and understanding.

I actually feel the same. What do you think of this artwork? Have you seen any cross-culture artworks that you would love to share?

I once did a post about another artwork from the same exhibition:
以前发过篇同一展览中一个日本艺术团体的作品：

A Magical Light Show of Vortices Created by Movement 酷炫奇幻的漩涡光影秀

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今天分享的是在墨尔本的维州国立美术馆NGV看到的一件中国艺术家的雕塑作品：徐震的《永生 – 涅槃佛》。

NGV是澳洲历史最悠久的公共艺术馆，这场持续5个月的三年展占据了整个国际馆的四层楼，来自世界各地100多位艺术家的作品不仅让我大饱眼福，也让我有机会亲身体验了很多有意思的交互展品。包括前沿技术、建筑、动画、表演、电影、绘画、素描、时尚设计、挂毯和雕塑等。其中还有另外一位中国设计师的作品：郭培设计的高级定制礼服。

徐震特别为这次NGV三年展创作了这件雕塑作品，在著名的唐代大卧佛身上还有四周，有很多古希腊古罗马的经典雕塑：垂死的高卢人、法尔内塞赫拉克勒斯、夜、昼、受伤的阿喀琉斯、波斯战士、酒神女祭司、克里斯托弗·德的陵墓雕塑、跳舞的农牧之神、蹲着的阿弗洛狄忒、那耳喀索斯、垂死的斯巴达、坠落的伊卡洛斯、河流、克罗托的米罗。

这件宏大的雕塑总长超过15米，结合了东西方的宗教经典，试图探索文化差异，寻求沟通和对话。徐震说自己一直对文化间的差别和异化充满好奇，而迷思则可以作为认知和理解的开端。你对此又是怎么看的呢？

^{All content by @itchyfeetdonica
图文 by Donica多}

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Thank you for reading. Please tell me what you think in the comments. Until next time! =)

感谢阅读！你的关注/点赞/留言/转发就是对我最好的支持~ 下次见！:)

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