10 January 2024
Artist Highlight - Xuanbo Cao
Interview and Review
Xuanbo Cao is an art worker based in London, her inspirations are all from nature, plants and daily life, from where collect colours, shapes and compositions. She is trying to find the balance between representation and abstract art and combine different materials to make works more creative. Vivid colours and lively shapes are her unique style in her works.
ARTIST INTERVIEW
1. Your postgraduate degree in illustration from Kingston University has been a significant part of your artistic journey. How has this academic background shaped your approach to painting and expressing hidden emotions through your art?
During my studies, my logical thinking became more rigorous. I questioned every detail, understanding the "why" behind each decision. I believe this forms the essential foundation for any project or painting. However, painting is often a spontaneous act, so while creating, I let go of certain fixed logical patterns, striving to achieve a balanced relationship between rationality and emotion.
2. The inspiration for your work comes from plants, life, and personal emotions. Could you delve into how these elements converge in your artistic process to create pieces that resonate with viewers?
Life and emotions are frequently discussed topics. I enjoy extracting the most special, minute details from ordinary things and emotions, magnifying them. Observing marine life in an aquarium is a common daily activity where people admire creatures unseen on land, gaining knowledge about the ocean. Some may feel these beings are imprisoned. While observing, I contemplate the fact that once we leave Earth, we face life-threatening situations. Oxygen, sunlight, rainwater, the food chain – Earth resembles a vast ecological bottle. We watch captive creatures; who beyond our universe watches us? Or perhaps no one does, and we're merely imagining it.
3. "Gentle Prison" is a thought-provoking series that reflects on the concept of cages in various contexts. Could you share the symbolic significance behind these cages and how they relate to the emotions and experiences you aim to convey?
This cage represents Earth, where gravity confines us. We lose access to oxygen and the ability to breathe beyond this boundary, risking our lives if we venture outside. While Earth offers mountains, rivers, land, plants, animals, and human consciousness, we are equally subject to natural disasters. Ecology achieves balance, and within this Earthly enclosure, we find self-sustenance and entertainment, propagating our species.
4. Your description of the ocean as an irregularly shaped enclosure and the Earth as a combination of multiple enclosures is intriguing. How do these perceptions influence your portrayal of nature and the universe in your art?
Because Earth's organisms, including humans, are minuscule, we can only move freely within a limited range. Even if we create spacecraft, we must carry pre-prepared oxygen and fuel, emphasising our Earthly captivity.
5. The concept of sounds being confined within the "cage" of Earth, while the universe remains silent, is evocative. How do you explore this dichotomy between internal and external experiences through your artistic representation?
I believe that expressing sound relies on the environment. During exhibitions, when viewers approach the artwork, sounds like the rustling of clothing, footsteps, breathing, the placement of glasses, and widened eyes can be heard beyond the glass of the painting. However, passersby outside remain unaware and indifferent, much like the universe's attitude toward Earth.
6. Could you provide insight into your artistic process? How do you translate complex concepts like cages and confinement into visual imagery that resonates with your audience?
I prepare the necessary pigments on a separate piece of paper. I lightly apply a small amount of pigment with my fingertip to the painting surface, establishing the overall colour scheme. Then, I deepen the colours, leaving blank spaces for detailing. Coloured pencils are used for fine-tuning. I perceive the paper as a confined space, and I draw a frame within, further restricting the imprisoned creatures. Beautiful landscapes are encapsulated and framed within a small canvas, as if preserving cherished memories.
7. "Gentle Prison" offers a unique perspective on our relationship with the environment and the cosmos. What impact do you hope your art will have on viewers' perceptions of the world around them and their place within it?
I hope my work evokes a sense of serenity. I also wish that viewers won't feel compelled to interpret my artwork solely based on my descriptions. Simultaneously, I hope viewers can provide me with diverse feedback, as everyone's visual experience yields unique stories and perspectives. Different ages and professions have provided me with distinct viewpoints during exhibitions.
INSIDE THE SOFT BOUNDARY
Review by Chih-Yang Chen, Art Director
Xuanbo Cao’s work feels bright at first. Colourful, playful, almost light. But stay with it a little longer, and something quieter begins to surface underneath.
In Gentle Prison, the idea of the cage is not harsh or aggressive. It’s soft, almost comforting. The kind of enclosure you don’t immediately question. That’s what makes it unsettling.
The imagery draws from plants, marine life, and small observations from daily life. These elements are familiar, even soothing. But they are often framed, contained, or subtly restricted within the composition. A space within a space. A world held inside another.
There’s a strong sense of contrast between what is seen and what is implied. The colours are vivid, the forms feel alive, yet the structures around them suggest limitation. It’s not a prison you resist. It’s one you live inside without noticing.
Her background in illustration comes through in the clarity of composition. Each element feels considered, even when the process itself remains intuitive. There’s a balance between control and release. The image doesn’t feel overworked, but it doesn’t drift either.
The use of framing is particularly effective. The paper itself becomes a boundary, then within it, another frame appears. This layering of edges quietly reinforces the idea of containment. Not just physically, but mentally.
What’s interesting is how the work expands from something small into something much larger. A fish in a tank becomes a reflection on Earth. A landscape becomes a contained system. The logic is simple, but the implication stretches far beyond the image.
There is also a subtle sensitivity to how viewers encounter the work. Sound, movement, presence. These are not directly depicted, but they are considered. The idea that experience changes depending on where you stand, inside or outside, aware or unaware.
Xuanbo doesn’t push a fixed interpretation. The work leaves space for projection. One viewer might see calm, another might feel restraint. Both readings can exist at the same time.
What lingers is a quiet question. Not about escape, but about awareness.
Are we inside something we haven’t yet recognised?