He has been doing clerical service

1

From the Book of Heaven to the Book of Earth, Xu Bing worked on the creation of Chinese characters like the contemporary Cangjie (the historical officer who created Chinese characters during the Yellow Emperor's period). His interest in writing was preordained, and his work in writing was more meritorious than hard work.

To "the book of the ground", Xu Bing perhaps soaked a hundred white shirts.

For nine years, I never stopped collecting materials, constantly deliberating, improving, and adjusting until the seventh edition. Four months before publication, I edited and revised it day and night... All details to be hands-on, xu, is the most difficult in the daily life is the riskiest behavior - and what a good idea to entwine, to implement it into a contemporary hieroglyphs system, a book without the traditional text reading, a beyond existing knowledge classification and regional culture of communication, natural reproduction of art projects.

Everyone said he was clever, and everyone said he was difficult to understand. His cleverness lies in that he regards all the prosperous fetters as nourishment, and never thinks simply from the Angle of art; It's hard to know because of his stubbornness -- from the moment he saw that "Three ICONS tell one thing" chewing gum wrapper in 2003, he didn't let go for a minute of what many thoughts was a crazy idea to "tell a whole story in graphic symbols."

"The fate of the work depends on the attitude of the production process. The strength of the art will emerge when the fake is done to an incredible degree." Xu Bing used this sentence to say "the book of heaven", now used in "the book of the earth" appropriate.

2

At 9 PM on April 20, 2012, on the eve of the opening of Xu Bing Solo Exhibition: The Book of the Earth, it suddenly began to rain heavily in Shanghai. The wind also blew hard.

On the third floor of the Hushen Gallery, Xu Bing stood in the middle of two Americans -- assistant Jesse and gallery director Matthew, looking at the most half of the copied Earthwork studio. "How much of the sketch on the wall is repetitive?" "He asked, after squinting for a moment. He sounded low and tired, but his hands did not stop sorting the stationery and papers on the table.

Every day, various stories are played on the Bund. Some people take a look at the Oriental Pearl and sip good wine. Some people shed a liter of tears in the Huangpu River one night. "Tomorrow, there will be an animation here with projections," Mr. Xu said, pointing to a window with a view of the Bund. "When the animation is combined with the scenery outside, many little ICONS are walking around, just like the people outside, they all have stories."

At noon, as the rain grew heavier and the lights went out on the Bund, there was an accident downstairs that stopped traffic and someone honked their car horn. But Mr. Xu didn't seem to realize it. He sat down on a chair and instructed his assistant to adjust the Tower of Babel, without even glancing out the window.

3

Garden xu to book the studio was wangling brewery art studio, an area, there is often confetti, shear and scissors shear used at the same time, computer science and liberal arts male cooperation, to book, xu and his aides stayed up to more than one hundred times, there to discuss, layout, programming, drink coffee, sleep... Mr. Xu travels a lot, but even when he lands at the Capital airport late at night, he always heads first into the Earthwork studio to check his progress before returning home.

In January 2012, Xu decided to make the Chinese mainland debut of the book in Shanghai, and after inspecting the gallery's 1,200 square meters of space, he decided to replicate the studio in Beijing.

In addition to the Earth book Studio, the solo exhibition also includes the exhibition of seven versions of Earthbook, the Tower of Babel formed by Earthbook, the page-by-page display of Earthbook content, the use of Earth book character library software, the animation of Earthbook content and the Bund landscape, and the derivative products of Earthbook, etc.

Previously, the Earthwork Studio was exhibited at Esprit Gallery in Taipei, but the Shanghai press conference had already begun on the afternoon of April 21, and the exhibition had not yet been completed. Xu Bing admits that he is a picky perfectionist, in his hands, things must be infinitely close to the good before giving up.

In early 2012, when he had an exhibition in Taipei, after several rounds of contacts, the gallery ladies gave him the nickname "Xu Bai" -- white wall, white linen, white frame... Everything needs to be white. "White is the least error-prone, and it's hard to keep people from thinking what you think, so go with the basics and the safest." "Xu explained.

Xu Bing, who demands perfection in everything, is very careless about himself. He brought a formal suit to Shanghai to wear at the opening ceremony. Because he was busy, he had time to change after the opening ceremony was over.

In THE OPENING EXHIBITION, EARTHWORK STUDIO ALLOWS THE audience to enter and browse the materials on the table at will. Is it because there is nothing to be afraid of losing? Of course NOT, IN the corner of a humble folder, there is Xu Bing in 2007 with "the book" to write a daughter's greeting card.

4

The first time I read the book of Earth in 2012, it was very similar to how I felt when I started reading my first fairy tale book in 1989.

The pages of the most popular stories in the revisited fairy tale, such as "The Daughter of the Sea," were stained with orange juice and chocolate chips, and the pages were a little loose. It's a similar story to "The Book of the Earth," a bedtime read with a snow-white cover stained with hand cream, mosquito repellent, and the scars of eyeglasses.

Xu Bing, who wrote "The Book of the Earth", is like a vivid novelist, who, like Andersen, has an insight into the world and is good at describing it, so that when we read, we seem to become a child again -- a child who loves reading and reads just for fun. Although his self-modesty "is not a very good story maker", "Black Mr. Story" children understand: "it is a man looking for a woman."

Xu Bing was happy for several days for the children's summary of this sentence.

The trick to reading the Book of the Earth is to relax your sense of power, preferably to the point of being illiterate, to prevent arrogance or fear from affecting comprehension. "The ability to read it depends on how involved the reader is in contemporary life," Xu said.

On the one hand, the readability of the book comes from the story. The reader sees an interesting collection of the daily experiences of white-collar workers. On the other hand, it does not have a word form: those we are familiar with, cute little ICONS together, can express such a rich meaning, joy, sorrow, eating and drinking, death, friendship, and love...... Xu Bing said this was not enough: "It has been able to express the extent of our understanding is not."

One day, perhaps the book will become a practical tool, a bridge between different cultures, and perhaps there will be a writer who will supplement the book with more delicate and refined expressions.

For his part, physicist Stephen Hawking has been experimenting with iBrain, a neural device that reads brain waves, in an attempt to "talk" with them. One day, writing "ground books" may also be done directly through brain waves.

5

A lover of Beijing's murky air, a doctoral tutor, and a busy vice president of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Xu Bing is as orthodox, modest, and punctual as a clock. However, the Book of Earth is a controversial work. Some people even say that he has changed, starting to learn the Martian language in the post-90s.

"I want to submit a book to the world that anyone can read." This is Xu Bing's "ambition" about the Book of the Earth.

Xu Bing has been "playing" with words, and never changed. His works are consistent, yet strongly distinct from each other. In the 1970s, he used wax paper to print the publication "Brilliant Mountain Flowers" when he cut in line at the grain harvest ditch; In 1987, alone in his room, he worked hard to carve more than 4,000 fake Chinese characters, the Book of Heaven, which no one could read. In 1994, he invented new English calligraphy. In 1999, he sat on a hillside and sketched with words.

Today's Book of the Earth is a milestone in Xu Bing's literal-related creation. He wrote the story directly in graphic symbols, and the Chinese version was later "translated" by someone, with a total of 14,000 words.

Good artists do not rely on skill alone. They work with both skill and conviction. Xu Bing's strength is that he can always sit back at his desk and work alone for long periods as if he were doing literal servitude. When he's focused, he only picks up signals that relate to what he's thinking about. For example, when watching a play, he would think that theater masks are symbols that can be organized to express emotions.

Xu Bing was too slow. It took him seven or eight years to launch the Book of Earth. But he is too fast, some people in their life can not do work as well as the Book of Earth.

As an artist and a Chinese, and living in an era of new respect for artists and Chinese people, he was hurt and now he is loved. The love and fear hidden in his heart may never be spoken openly, but each piece of work expresses him boldly and directly. From the Book of Earth, you can't see a word about Xu Bing, but you can read everything about him.

"Ground BOOK" FIRST PRINT 7000 COPIES, half a month on the market has not much, the press is ready to print.