Exhibit: The Cards Playing Era – Secret Meeting

Artist: Xiaoping Luo of the Shanghai College of Fine Arts Academy and Mesa Community College

Location: Hayden Library Rotunda

Available: March 16 though April 12, 2009, during normal library hours

Peter Held, Curator of Ceramics, ASU Art Museum Ceramics Research Center says,  “In his latest series Playing Cards, the artist shuffles our notion of playing cards with iconic portraits of movie stars, politicians and other glitterati embedded in global pop culture. Balancing the fragility of life and the delicate nature of porcelain, the cards mix and match personas, cultures, and eras into a new world order. Through a magician’s slight of hand, he points to a better place.”

Artist Statement:

The playing card is for gambling and all the people around the world like playing cards. Today, you may find people playing cards and gambling in pursuit of fame and wealth in all corners of China. The playing card is not only a symbol of gambling and competition, but also a symbol of our life of struggle. Gambling is an instinctive element in our life as it is none other than a game of chance.

For the past three years, I have taken the playing card as one of the elements in my works. By combining the cards with the public figures and their professions, I have created the connection between their public image and their value as a brand name entity; I have created daily-life wares and taken it into the living environment. The things in our lives, inanimate objects such as furniture, and house wares are brought to life by our endeavors to grow, advance and take risks. I will take objects and installations of cards into our life and make it as one; because where there are people, there is gambling and competition. Individuals make plans that involve risk because the future is uncertain. Life is a continuing game full of risks large and small.

- Xiaoping Luo