Chinese contemporary art, man on an ox under the stars against a red background — Gao Xiang, *The Dreams - The Stars*, 2013, oil on canvas, 120 x 60cm

For Gao Xiang - a Chinese contemporary artist hailing from Kunming, the capital of the picturesque and spiritual Yunnan Province - the ox is also a metaphor for intelligence and the enduring power of love to overcome all obstacles.

This story highlights two of his artworks available from the gallery and inspired by a beautiful ancient cosmology myth - The Oxherd and the Weaver Girl, about an ox-herder and a Goddess who fall in love.

The lovers’ alliance was forbidden by the Gods, but the ox sacrificed itself to allow the young herder to reach the heavens.

Seeing the ox’s love for the herder, and the herder’s love for the young Goddess, the Gods relented - somewhat. They banished the lovers to opposite sides of the heavenly river (the Milky Way) but allowed them to reunite once a year, on the 7th day of the 7th Lunar month, over a bridge built by magpies for that one day.

There are many variations of this myth which arises from an ancient poem from The Book of Songs (Shijing) dating over 2600 years ago.

The paintings show the ox herder deep in thought about his love. In rendering the star constellation, Gao Xiang was inspired by an antique star chart he happened upon in a rare book shop.

Gao Xiang (b. 1971, Kunming, China) focuses on the place of tradition in contemporary society. His dream-like oil paintings, ink works on paper, and installations balance between tradition and modernity, East and West, dreams and reality.

Widely collected, his works have been exhibited by major museums in China, Paris and Norway.

You can see more of his art and biography on his Artist Page on my website, here.

Legend of the Stars