Xue Ruozhe

Ruozhe Xue straddles the thin line between realism and dreamlike, surreal imagery. His canvasses are pervaded by a cryptic aura, skillfully emphasized through the use of dark tones that cast a sense of timelessness and suspension upon the figures. The missing context, very often hidden or dissipating into vagueness, eludes any plausible attempt to unravel the enigma. Xue inevitably reflects on his own culture in his works and the attempt in China in the quite recent past to mould the very great differences in human character into a highly regimented and controlled society notwithstanding the raw material is so hugely complex and varying. Throughout his career Xue has been fascinated by the tension created between the dual image of certain individuals, often situated in a timeless and alienating landscape which, on a superficial first viewing, merely appears a little odd yet, little by little, reveals its total strangeness to our knowledge of the world.