The Other Shore

Mixed media installation, variable size, village of Shangyuan, Beijing, 2010.

Work on two old boats found at antiques fairs, readymade glass spheres, animals bones found in Tibet, dried flowers, neon text on glass.

 

 

 

 

Gao Bo continues his exploration of the theme of the crossing in The Other Shore, an installation featuring boats cut in two and two neon signs saying “the other shore” on twin glass panels, amid animal bones and mysterious glass spheres. The artist reveals the other side of each element using a process of reversal. The other shore cannot be reached: it is an illusion. Each broken boat points to the impossibility of such a crossing. The position of the artist is that of an eternal ferryman trapped between two shores, two worlds, who tries to achieve the crossing through his art without sinking. Between life and death, Gao Bo’s work always teeters on the edge of the abyss, in a fragile intermediate state that seems to be the place where creation takes place.