C. X. Silver Gallery, Brattleboro, Vermont: fine art of local, regional and international artists

<< to start page for Le Xi
LIFE ON LINE is a multimedia project and exhibition, created by China-born, New York resident Le Xi (surname pronounced shee.). life on line consists of several videos, drawing on yards of black plastic sheeting, and there is also sculpture and ceramics. The video pieces frequently have an accompanying soundtrack created by the artist. The sounds come from indoor and outdoor everyday life, his own sounds, as well as sampling of sounds gleaned from the internet, all transformed into reduplicated looped motifs. Sources of these sounds include the crinkling of plastic wrap, blowing into a microphone and the ambient sound in subway stations. The artist, Le Xi (also Lee Xi), grew up in China and now resides in New York. Le Xi's life on line encourages the viewer's divergent thinking as the viewer interacts with the art according to the viewer's perceptions and conceptions. life on line could be associated in many ways according to the viewer's experience. It could be life as it is lived online with all the time spent online these days. It could be life on the line- sort of like life on the edge.' It could be life 'through' line, the linear depiction of life. It could be life 'of' the line and lines shown in the art itself, as if the line has 'a life of its own.' In describing life on line, Le Xi thinks of this work as the interaction of 'plus' and 'minus' - positive and negative markings, positive and negative space, on and off, the 1 and 0 of binary systems. "It is a simplification of a wide array of choices presented to us in life from moment to moment, from decision to decision, focusing on plus and minus." 'life on line', which began its installation in New York in Chelsea early in 2009, has traveled to the C.X. Silver Gallery in Brattleboro, Vermont, in May 2009, during the Spring, continues its video presentation throughout the summer, and returns to New York for further exhibitions and installations. For further information, contact Adam Silver, cxsilvergallery@myfairpoint.net; (802) 257-7898, ext. 2.
'Untitled 1' a video by Le Xi

'Untitled 1' shows two people interacting, moving about each other, could be dancing or wrestling or both or neither. The body movements have a circular, spiral, feel. The human movement spreads to take up the entire video screen, becomes a pulsing grid as if becoming breathing rows and columns of tiny Chinese characters. The lit forms invert themselves from white on black to black on white. The motion then resolves itself into two dogs interacting with each other in a circular, occasionally rocking motion. Watch this video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIVjdO4PZew.
'Crouch' a video by Le Xi

Crouch begins with a single figure doing repetitive knee bends, moving in between standing and crouching positions in a rhythm that oscillates in a faster, then slower, pace. A close up of the figure in motion resolves into a single dog trotting in place, tail up and wagging. The scene switches to the person again in the crouching rhythm only this time cloned into a series of persons crouching in a wave rhythm in the foreground, another row of these crouching clones receding into the background. This grouping of two rows, one near and the other farther, multiplies into a pulsing set of four, and then nine and then sixteen. Finally the pulsing movement resolves itself into white and fades into dark. Le has created a soundtrack to go with these images that combines electronic sounds with electronically manipulated sounds from daily life. The sound loop features a beat that some may even find danceable. Watch this video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTsPmZmpfwg.
'Drift' a video by Le Xi

Drift starts with a single barren - almost branchless - tree buffeted about, bending way over. Particles drift swiftly across. The stream of particles swells to fill the video screen. All of sudden, the tree bends way over and does not come back. The particles - left over - hang briefly in the air, swell and circulate randomly, then resolve themselves into a revolving vortex that briefly forms geometric patterns and otherwise continues a dance all about the video screen. This dance resolves itself into the foliage of a tree. This tree is buffeted about, now and then, bending way over. This time the tree - with its foliage - has a shining trunk - shining like a bolt of lightning. Then, this tree multiplies into many rows of trees, these rows filling the video screen, and rotating in one overall motion. This rotating forest resolves itself into a single leaf which spins away into the center. Watch this video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZviIdA90B0.
'Smoke' a video by Le Xi

Smoke begins with three smokestack-like spouters. These turn into the trousers of a figure. The whole figure is then seen standing having a smoke, one hand cocked, the corresponding arm supported at the elbow by the other arm. The figure takes several puffs of the cigarette, exhales, coughs, and - now and then - gesticulates. All the while, smoke eddies about the video screen, eventually filling up the screen. The smoke resolves into to a lit circle full of lines that turns to the side into the lit end of a cigarette. The smoker then comes into view. As in other videos, the figures head revolves. The soundtrack has the feel of ambient machinery in continual motion. . Watch this video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=_V2z1yHLwd0.
'Haring and Fish' a video by Le Xi

Haring and Fish is - yes - a reference to Keith Haring and his vision of figures. The fish, like other images in the video, have an archetypal quality that allows for multiple meanings according to viewers individual experiences. This video begins with branching lines into a screen full of small geometric compartments that resolves itself into a pulsing heart that ends up flashing alternately with a jumping figure. As the pulsing heart begins to revolve, it changes into buildings, a pair of revolving towers. The heart and towers alternate with each other and pulse together. As the forms spin, they change into two fish, spinning nose to nose. The fish separate, become rotating balls of light. A spinning television set appears. Lastly, the vision becomes a rotating nova-like ball of light. The sound track for Haring and Fish combines the swiftness of a moving train and a syncopated drum, punctuated by Doppler-effect traffic sounds, electronic arpeggio, and tuning squeaks. Watch this video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FE3kUVjGHg.
<< to start page for Le Xi