Guanyu Xu
The Dining Room

The Dining Room

© 2018 Guanyu Xu

The Dining Room
The Dining Room
ArtistChinese, born 1993
CultureChinese
Titles
  • The Dining Room
  • from the series Temporarily Censored Home
Date2018
MediumInkjet print
DimensionsImage: 40 1/8 × 50 1/8 in. (101.9 × 127.3 cm)
Sheet: 40 1/8 × 50 1/8 in. (101.9 × 127.3 cm)
Mount: 40 3/16 × 50 1/8 in. (102 × 127.3 × 0.3 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by Bryn Larsen
Object number2020.23
Non exposé

Explore Further

Department
Photography
Special Collections
Object Type
Description

Guanyu Xu grew
up in a military-housing complex in Beijing, the son of a Chinese army official
and a civil-servant mother. Although he now lives an openly queer life in the United
States, his visits home necessitate a return to conformity. His parents do not
know he is gay, and Chinese censorship laws and regulations still severely
limit LGBTQ+ visibility. But when Xu’s parents are away at work, he secretly alters
their home by inserting countless photographs that he has made or collected. Disrupting
the domesticity he finds smothering, Xu transforms his parents’ home into a complex
tableaux of his dual identities.




ProvenanceThe artist, Chicago; purchased by MFAH, 2020.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
[no inscriptions recto or verso]

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.

Overall recto.
Xu Bing
1988
Woodcut on Japan paper, edition 31/50
2023.469.1
Overall recto.
Xu Bing
1987
Woodcut on Japan paper, edition 31/50
2023.469.8
Overall recto.
Xu Bing
1987
Woodcut on Japan paper, edition 31/50
2023.469.7
Overall recto.
Xu Bing
1988
Woodcut on Japan paper, edition 31/100
2023.469.6
Overall recto.
Xu Bing
1987
Woodcut on Japan paper, edition 31/50
2023.469.5
Overall recto.
Xu Bing
1987
Woodcut on Japan paper, edition 31/50
2023.469.4
Overall recto.
Xu Bing
1987
Woodcut on Japan paper, edition 31/50
2023.469.3
Overall recto.
Xu Bing
1987
Woodcut on Japan paper, edition 31/50
2023.469.2
Overall recto.
Xu Bing
1988
Woodcut on Japan paper, edition 31/50
2023.469.10
Overall recto.
Xu Bing
1988
Woodcut on Japan paper, edition 31/50
2023.469.9
Miami, South Beach (2 Men in Green Dining Room)
Gay Block
1982–1985, printed 2017
Inkjet print
2022.36.139
The Dining Room at Camp Pinecliffe
Gay Block
1981
Gelatin silver print
2022.36.29