Xiangyin "Tom" Gu

X Tom Gu works primarily in photography as well as writing and installation. Concentrating on modern-day human condition and self-expression, Tom's work tackles the concept of self and others in the context of modern life. Regarding daily practices as signs and symbols that resonate with public psychology situation, he shoots various footages and combine assorted archival materials to find the patterns behind universal problems related to family and self-consciousness across generations. Always critical of public opinions and diverse categorization of contemporary images, Tom uses his work to help people understand varied human conditions and approach philosophical issues while prioritizing his goals over different genres.

In 2022, X is going to further pursue his MSc in Psychology after graduation. It is his greatest ambition to combine his pharmaceutical background, photography practices and psychological visions altogether in art. Here below exhibiting online is a preview of his latest book Gestalt Lost in Time, which is also shown as a more detailed version on his website.

Birds stopped

mid in the air.

Now it’s there,

at present,

intervals bring illusions and visions.

It is not there,

we could only guess

its next position,

its next juncture

and its next presence.

a spoon of sugar sprinkled into

the boiling water,

hereon any moment of it

can not be dispensed.

Everything

in this world combines

into a large monad,

here isolation of the individuals

is merely hypothesis out of convenience.

webs of the spiders,

connections of being spray out

intricately yet obediently,

adhering all their prey.

like a spoon of sugar by X Tom Gu (2021)

Summer 2021, I decided to burn my photograph negatives and one important project of mine collected over the years. This projected was henceforth followed by a piece of writing called farewell and resu

Launch Project

Summer 2021, I decided to burn my photograph negatives and one important project of mine collected over the years. This projected was henceforth followed by a piece of writing called farewell and resurrection. Here I use it as the beginning for the book as a form of memorization.

Gestalt Lost in Time, images contained in rice paper

Karenin was not overjoyed by the move to Switzerland. Karenin hated change. Dog time cannot be plotted along a straight line; it does not move on and on, from one thing to the next. It moves in a circle like the hands of a clock, which—they, too, unwilling to dash madly ahead—turn round and round the face, day in and day out following the same path. In Prague, when Tomas and Tereza bought a new chair or moved a flower pot, Karenin would look on in displeasure. It disturbed his sense of time. It was as though they were trying to dupe the hands of the clock by changing the numbers on its face.

Milan Kundera

Medium:

images contained in rice paper

Size:

242 x 190 mm, soft cover

Fragmented Ocean, images contained in rice paper

Nothing can be forced to live.

The earth is like a drug now, like a voice from far away,

a lover or master. In the end, you do what the voice tells you.

It says forget, you forget.

It says begin again, you begin again.

Louise Glück

In Collaboration with:

Yucun Meng

Many thanks to Yucun Meng's help during installation which made this piece come into being.

Medium:

images contained in rice paper

Size:

2000 x 2000 mm, sliced into equally sized squares

China Conceptual Film Photography Fragment Installation Photography Poetic Stream of consciousness Time Water

Xiangyin "Tom" Gu

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Royal College of Art