知道李枭的人可能会想到兵马俑。确实，自从我2000年来北京开始当职业艺术家到2010年左右，我做过的《战士》、《众生》、《现代战士》等系列，创作主要以兵马俑为原型，有评论家认为我在利用一个中国历史或传统文化的符号来迎合西方的异国情调。

其实，兵马俑真正打动我的地方并不是所谓的中国符号，而是那种深邃的凝望，经过时光洗礼后岁月留下的痕迹，还有隐藏在碎片和黄土下面那种若有若无的感觉。

我的《凝》系列就是要把这种凝望的神情转移到不同的现代人身上，包括小孩和女人，把她们凝固成雕塑，拥有像兵马俑一样的平静、空洞、悠远的眼神。

此外，兵马俑本来光滑、新鲜的面孔经过时间的冲击后变得破碎、溃烂，有融化掉的感觉。我的《破》系列就是想表现这种时间的飞逝，绘画的兴趣也逐渐从题材转移到技巧上面，以一种快速、模糊、破碎的笔触来表现一种抽象和残缺美。

这个展览包括了《凝》与《破》两个系列的作品。

Those who know Li Xiao may think about the Chinese Terracotta Warriors.　Indeed, from year 2000 when I became a professional artist in Beijing until around year 2010, I have had paintings exhibited under the names of “Warriors”, “Face Off” and “Modern Warriors”, etc. where images of the Warriors are used as the model.　Some critics thought that I was making use of a Chinese historical or cultural symbol to please the Western audience.

Actually, it is not the so-called Chinese symbol that the Warriors have touched me;　What touches me is their profound gaze, the traces of time left on the human faces, and a blurred and fragmented appearance hidden behind the yellow earth.

The “Gaze” series portray that profound gaze in the people around us, including children and women, today.　I do so by turning them into sculpture-like, with a calm, hollow and profound gaze, just like that of the Warriors.

The “Broken” series is to show the passage of time, that smooth and fresh human faces become broken, fragmented and disintegrated, just like that of the Warriors.　My focus here changes from the choice of models to the complexity of painting techniques, that rapid, blurred and broken brushstrokes are used to show the beauty of the abstract and the imperfect.

Both the “Gaze” and “Broken” series are shown in this exhibtion.