"the sensation of distance is largely self-induced"

I have admired the artist, Xu Bing, for many years. His use of type and his investigation into the way we 'read' and construct meaning is compelling. I like the process of taking a step outside and looking in. Of looking at the banal, our everyday language and writing, and noticing both the universal and the very particular. I love to teach. And I teach because I love to learn. Xu Bing's work, The Glassy Surface of the Lake, depicts a lovely interpretation of Henry David Thoreau's Walden. And his 1994 interactive, Square Calligraphy Classroom, is an eye-opening comparison of our comfort-zone within our written language. An artist of post Cultural Revolution China, his work reminds me that I am very small in this world and still finding my voice (and this is a good thing).