Miao Xiaochun: Microcosm 　　　　　 Jonathan Thomson
　　

 

　　 In his newest work Microcosm Chinese artist Miao Xiaochun re-imagines Hieronymus Bosch’s famous fifteenth century masterpiece the Garden of Earthly Delights.Bosch’s work is a three-part altarpiece with a large central panel flanked by two wings.When the wings are closed, we see a monochrome image of the Creation of the World, represented as a glass sphere, with the earth filling the bottom half and with roiling clouds and a rainbow above.But when the wings are opened we are presented with one of the world’s most wildly extravagant examples of unbridled imagination.On the left wing we see paradise, in the centre mankind pursuing earthly pleasures, and on the right wing hell.In his version Miao has recreated each of these three panels using the original structure of the composition but has populated it with his own motifs and characters.Then, using three dimensional software, Miao looks past the straightforward image which is presented in the front view of each section in order to see that which lies beyond.

　　 In his work Miao shows us what we might see if we were standing firmly on the earth and aware of the life around us yet able to look out into paradise, or by glancing the other way, into the fiery torments of hell.More than this, he also shows us what we might see if we were in paradise and able to look across the expanse of earth to his vision of hell beyond, and vice versa.His work does not represent each of these three elements separately in isolation from one another but as part of a continuum.

　　 In some respects Miao’s approach may be compared to some of the more distinctive aspects of traditional Chinese painting.In the Song dynasty, the great