Humor, lightness, and grace characterize the works of Kan Xuan, running alongside a deep sense of critical irony. Born in 1972 in Anhui and having practiced intensively in the Netherlands, she is simultaneously one of the most worldly and distinctively local artists currently working in China and abroad.

Although she realizes photographs, installations and performance, she mainly works in video, and is now considered one of the most important female video artists in China. Her videos highlight the trivial elements, feelings, and sensations that we experience daily but often rarely notice. Reproducing them as directly as possible, her work is striking for its imagination, relevance, and exactitude. She indulges in a honing of the techniques of the observer, but transforms this passive observation into active performance in her video pieces.

Video is, for Kan Xuan, the only palatable form of a diary, of a record of her daily experiences. Indeed, the mediation of the lens is utilized to maintain a certain distance from fleshy reality. The actions documented in her video are often tedious and technically complicated, despite the simple result; this is a form of self-discipline imposed on the artist’s wandering mind.

Her recent work has involved body-oriented performance and image manipulation. The themes appear strikingly simple, but, for Kan Xuan, simplicity and naiveté are a form of freedom. This quest for directness is ultimately a search for an origin that could provide an easier understanding of life.