Discovery Series
Gu Xiong
Crushed Coca Cola Cans
Crushed Coca Cola Can, 2014
Gu Xiong’s Crushed Coca Cola Cans embodies the contrast
of his Chinese heritage and the cultural transformation
he experienced after moving to Canada in 1989, with the
universally recognizable cola cans showing both English and
Chinese text. This installation speaks to the individual as
part of a group or community.
These works are connected by their use of repetition, pattern
and context as artworks that force us to imagine the personal
connection between waste and the human experience.
The Cafeteria Series shows how Xiong’s early experiences
as a Canadian are intimately tied to the litter of consumer
consumption.
Questions
• What do you think of the Coke can artwork?
• Do you have a positive or negative feeling towards this
brand or logo?
• How are these crushed cans different than the ones you
see on the store shelf?
Crushed Coca
Cola Cans
Activities:
In the Gallery:
• Colour the Coke can template.
• Cut it out. Now crumple it. How has your can changed?
• Crumple another can. Is it different from your first can?
At home:
Collect clean, recycled bottles, cans and containers.
• Create a ‘sculpture’ by placing them together to form a
new shape.
• Draw this shape. What does it look like?
• Take a photo of your work and share it with us by
posting it on our Gordon Smith Gallery Facebook page.
Photo by: Luke Potter, taken in Gu Xiong’s studio
About the artist
Gu Xiong was born in 1953 in China. He entered the Sichuan
Fine Arts Institute, specialized in printmaking, received an
MFA in 1985 and immediately became a drawing instructor
at the Sichuan Institute. Gu Xiong was also a central figure
in China’s pro-democracy Avant Garde art movement.
Xiong attended the Banff Centre for the Arts for a yearlong
artist residency from 1986 to 1987 and was inspired by life
in Canada. In June 1989, he was witness to the Tiananmen
Square student protests in Beijing. Following this event,
he emigrated to Canada and settled in Vancouver with
dreams of continuing his art and teaching career in a country
where artistic and intellectual freedom is encouraged. His
provocative painting, printmaking, sculpture, photography,
installation and performance art have earned him a
reputation as one of Canada’s elite contemporary artists.