THE NEW CLASSICS OF MOUNTAINS AND SEAS: RECONFIGURING MYTH IN AN ERA OF DISRUPTION

Born in China in 1972, Guo Xiaojun is a multidisciplinary artist working across installation, photography, and painting. His formative years were shaped by a rapidly shifting cultural landscape, influenced by the ideological transitions of the late 20th century. The intellectual revival of literature and art, fuelled by growing global exchanges, introduced new possibilities in artistic language and historical reflection. Guo’s works embody this evolving discourse, critically engaging with the past while addressing the fractures and paradoxes of modernity.

Guo’s visual language is a constant dialogue between historical consciousness and contemporary critique. His approach is not about reconstructing history but dissecting its structure—questioning how narratives are told, altered, and consumed. By interweaving mythology, literature, and sociopolitical realities, he builds a framework that challenges conventional perceptions of time and existence. His work has been widely exhibited, including Red Figure 01, 03, 08, 09 at the Damyang International Photography Festival in South Korea (2020) and East Wind Blows at the Art of Action - Contemporary Art Invitational at the European Union Embassy (2019).

A defining element of Guo’s practice lies in his ability to navigate between historical narrative and contemporary reality. His work does not seek to replicate mythology but to reconstruct it as a lens through which to examine modern anxieties. Through the juxtaposition of imagined and documentary imagery, Guo creates a layered dialogue where the past is not static but continuously reshaped by the present. His compositions challenge the viewer to question the reliability of historical memory, emphasizing the tensions between permanence and erosion, myth and fact, construction and collapse.

The New Classics of Mountains and Seas (山海新经)

Drawing from The Classic of Mountains and Seas (Shan Hai Jing), Guo Xiaojun’s The New Classics of Mountains and Seas is not merely a visual homage but a methodical re-narration of mythology as a veiled commentary on the present. In this series, mythology serves as a structured framework in which contemporary reality is embedded, offering subtle yet potent critiques on modern society.

In Guo’s compositions, the grand narratives of mythology remain within the medium of painting, meticulously constructed with surreal landscapes and figures. However, interspersed within these mythic scenes are direct visual intrusions - raw, unedited fragments of photographic reality. These images, sourced from documentary footage and observational recordings, are seamlessly collaged into the painted works, creating an immediate tension between the imagined and the real. By juxtaposing the refined aesthetic of myth with the stark, unfiltered documentation of contemporary life, Guo presents an unsettling dialogue between past and present, fiction and fact, allegory and actuality.

Mountains collapse, floods engulf cities, and mythical beasts wander through dystopian landscapes - visual metaphors that parallel modern ecological and societal anxieties. Guo’s approach raises a fundamental question: is chaos an external force to be tamed, or an intrinsic part of existence that must be confronted? The series invites viewers to reconsider how mythology is repurposed, examining its role not only as cultural heritage but as a lens through which contemporary reality is continuously reinterpreted.

The New Classics of Mountains and Seas 02, 2023

Mixed Media on Paper, 119 x 214cm

The New Classics of Mountains and Seas 03, 2023

Mixed Media on Paper, 119 x 119cm

The New Classics of Mountains and Seas 09, 2024

Mixed Media on Paper, 109 x 109 cm

The New Classics of Mountains and Seas 04, 2023

Mixed Media on Paper, 161 x 109cm

Mayhem (怪打怪)

In Mayhem, Guo employs Journey to the West as a conceptual framework to dissect the complexities of modern urban society. Central to this exploration is the iconic figure of Sun Wukong (the Monkey King), whose mythic persona is reimagined as a lens through which to interrogate the tensions and contradictions of contemporary life. As one of the most enduring archetypes in Chinese mythology, Sun Wukong embodies a duality of rebellion and adaptation - simultaneously a disruptor of order and a participant within systems of control, a symbol of individual autonomy as well as collective resilience.

Set against the backdrop of sprawling metropolises such as Beijing and Hong Kong, the conflicts involving Sun Wukong and his mythical companions are reframed within a modern context, mirroring the multifaceted struggles of politics, economics, and ideology in today’s society. Through this recontextualization, the work invites a deeper reflection on the dynamics of power, agency, and identity within the structured chaos of urban existence, while underscoring the enduring relevance of myth as a tool for understanding the present.

A key material in this series is Mulberry Paper, a handcrafted medium that enhances the cyanotype’s ethereal effect. The production process of Mulberry Paper is labor-intensive: raw mulberry bark fibers are steamed, beaten into pulp, and sun-dried to create a fibrous surface that absorbs chemicals in unpredictable ways. The organic inconsistencies in tone and density become an extension of Guo’s conceptual framework, reinforcing the instability of historical and mythical narratives. The fragility of the material mirrors the fragility of memory itself, emphasising how history is neither fixed nor neutral, but shaped by the medium through which it is recorded and transmitted.

In Mayhem, the clash between myth and modernity is further heightened by the structural interplay of the compositions. Skyscrapers loom like deities, city streets become the stage for celestial warfare, and industrial structures merge with legendary battlefields. Through these visual disruptions, Guo asks: where does power reside in contemporary society, and how do individuals navigate between compliance and defiance when authority is omnipresent yet intangible?

Mayhem 24, 2020

Mixed Media on Mulberry Paper, 39 x 29cm

Mayhem 23, 2020

Mixed Media on Mulberry Paper, 39 x 29cm

Mayhem 14, 2020

Mixed Media on Mulberry Paper, 39 x 29cm

The Green Mountains and Rivers Atlas

Blending cartographic tradition with contemporary critique, The Green Mountains and Rivers Atlas reinterprets ancient Chinese mapping techniques through a critical lens. Inspired by Che Yu Tu (车舆图), an early form of relational mapping, Guo overlays historical maps with fragmented photographic documentation, constructing a landscape that is both familiar and unstable.

By deliberately inverting spatial orientation - where east and west, north and south are reversed - Guo disrupts linear navigation, forcing viewers to question the reliability of spatial and historical representation. The collaged images, extracted from real-world archives, fracture the visual continuity of the maps, presenting a landscape that oscillates between coherence and disarray. Here, mapping is not just an act of geographic recording but an exercise in historical reconfiguration, where meaning is dictated by perspective, ideology, and the selective act of remembering.

The Green Mountains and Rivers Atlas, 2023

Cyanotype on Paper

600 x 240 cm, Composed of Six Panels, 240 cm x 100 cm each

The Green Mountains and Rivers Atlas, 2023, Detail

Images: © Guo Xiaojun, Courtesy of the Artist

Editor: MIAO