"Nature’s Contribution", 2011 and "Match Flower", 2011
Xu Bing, one of China's most acclaimed contemporary artists, is known especially for his exploration of language. In Tobacco Project he furthers that interest, presenting the culture of tobacco as a far-reaching system of signs and symbols. Using tobacco as both subject and object, the exhibition includes Xu Bing's adaptations of historical texts and graphics: a book made of whole tobacco leaves and printed with an early-seventeenth-century account of Jamestown, Virginia; a poem composed from historical tobacco brand names and printed on cigarette paper; and Chinese cigarettes printed with selections from Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung (the "Little Red Book").

Tobacco Book, 2011; Tobacco leaves, rubber-stamped with passage from "A True Discourse on the Present State of Virginia" by Ralph Hamor (1615) ; Tobacco leaf courtesy of Marvin Coghill; fabrication assisted by Jillian Dy, Yi Sheng, Sayaka Suzuki, and Yao Xin
"Light as Smoke", 2011; Block of compressed tobacco with raised text; Tobacco leaf courtesy of Marvin Coghill; fabrication assisted by Michael Muelhaupt
Class, 2011; 500,000 “1st Class” cigarettes, adhesive, carpet; Fabrication assisted by Taylor Baldwin, Anna Bushman,Jillian Dy, Michael Muelhaupt, Yi Sheng, Sayaka Suzuki,Yao Xin, and numerous others
Class, 2011; 500,000 “1st Class” cigarettes, adhesive, carpet; Fabrication assisted by Taylor Baldwin, Anna Bushman,Jillian Dy, Michael Muelhaupt, Yi Sheng, Sayaka Suzuki,Yao Xin, and numerous others
The dramatic centerpiece of the project is the work 1st Class, a carpet-like sculpture resembling a tigerskin rug that has been made from nearly half a million cigarettes. His new works include Traveling Down the River, a sculpture which includes a thirty-four-foot-long cigarette which is ignited on a reproduction of a famous Chinese scroll painting by Xhang Zeduan, commenting on the way tobacco culture spread into China. John B. Ravenal, Sydney and Frances Lewis Family Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, said, “Xu Bing brings his usual wit and insight to his work with tobacco, as well as his sense of craft and showmanship. The exhibition is a stunning and thought-provoking display of Xu Bing’s innovative art.” Richard Klein, exhibitions director at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, adds, “We are very pleased to bring this important exhibition—one of Xu Bing’s most ambitious undertakings—to Ridgefield, especially as Connecticut shares Virginia’s history of tobacco production, with the Connecticut River valley being the only region in the United States that produces premium cigar wrapper tobacco.”
Visit aldrichart.org for more details.
Reports related to this:
1. Xu Bing: Tobacco by John Ravenal
2. Exhibition on the production and culture of tobacco as seen through the eyes of Xu Bing by artdaily.com
3. Xu Bing: Tobacco Project by The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum