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His applications and employment of diverse medium, bronze, stainless steel, resin and wood, as well as diversity and experimentation within his creative manifestations are exemplary, and while a personal signature has yet to appear, great promise is readily apparent given the spectrum of his artwork as well as minute attention to detail. Of the present series, attention is immediately drawn to two seminal series. The first is held within the latent power of abstract geometric creations which recall the initial phase of modernist sculpture, yet distinct in that the works incorporate reflective plates and panels which refract the surrounding spatiality in a manner which surpasses the invention of geometrical asymmetry as denoted by the European school of that period. We may observe an architectural dimension in their composition, yet the element of refraction serves as a counterpoint and the materials employed equally surmount suppositions of a travesty of post-modernist conceptions.

The second lies in the semi-organic glass encased resin casts which are reminiscent of embryonic material, internal organs, and equally, fungi of diverse origin. The uniformity of the series is held solely within the absence of colour and the glass environments which render them simultaneously static and neutral to the observer, hence amplifying the contrastive employment of materials which resound with the artifice of manufactured materials and those derived, herein as a visual allusion, from nature. The subjects are curious in that they neither resemble to greatly the direct appearance of the original natural form, nor have obtained the obscure and visceral impact of sheer abstraction. While many contemporary sculptors of his generation seem driven to pursue one of two paths, Tan Xun’s creation denotes a more subtle, and hence, accessible interpretation of matter within a spatial context.

The body of his creation houses experiments with cut wood and stone, the sheer brilliance implied by stainless steel casts (reminiscent of the hands of Sakyamuni disembodied from their master) and the artistic strata remains in example of a polymath expertise quite remarkable for a sculptor of his comparatively early years.

This same diversity bears of the artists intelligence and apparent non-conformism with a more commercially accessible or marketable production as borne by certain peers of his generation (ie. Cai Zhisong who remains held within a trajectory of experimentation in material questions yet confined to figurative realism, or, Xia Jing whose nuance in gesture and coloration have won recent international acclaim yet equally confined to compositions of scale rather than surpassing form and gestural, figurative elements.)

The evolution of the artist over the past year has broadened his sphere of his dexterity with materials, equally, the manner which he has sought to incorporate found objects and those associated with mundane chores & alternative functions and transform them as "objet's d'art". It is an essential phase in the transition of the artist, in close examination, the new creations demarcate a tendency towards a more comprehensive latitude in his personal creative philosophy. In employing the found Tan Xun enacts a personal rupture with a conscious manipulation or transformation of material within the artist's conscious control of the medium: while he insists "himself" and certain deliberate or intentional modus operandi, the partial sphere between cognitive/in cognitive, accidental and intentional which the differing series inherently create in their contrastive stylization reflects the spirit of humility and innovation of such luminaries as Vadim Sidur, whom once cited..."the artist whom soley adheres to whatever preconception or precept in the act of creation betrays not only him (her) self, yet art itself...", as he ascribed to a process oriented action within the creative impulse, wherein the artist and medium find a unison in the spontaneity of the moment of creation.

One series reveals the use of a leitmotif associated with Shan Shui ink paintings of tradition, rather than a strict mimetic or replicative manner of re-invention, here form surpasses content as the iconographic and nostalgic visions of mountains and cascading falls is literally re-wrought in iron and successive layerings of steel, a complex layering process which finds itself upon the surfaces of washbasins and urns once intended for domestic or industrial purposes. The relief is re-created by the artists conscious forge technique, an indentation of the rear surface towards an amplified third dimension of the visual plane: a new sphere where the material in transformation delivers a unique visual impact and artistic aspect due to forging and the sculptural embellishments upon the items of everyday usage. Further, the series, which appears more conceptual and neo-Dadaist in nature than past works, incorporates tin boxes, pen cases and similar in the new found representation of natural landscapes now rendered near surreal in the hands of the artist. The transformation leaves little to random chance and while the original selection of materials may have been intuited or selected by chance, the message is an intentional address of themes which run as a parallel to the artist's unconscious, yet conscientious, concerns regarding the intransigence of the Chinese character and heritage in the face of the urban flux and consumerist societies which are experienced in the brutal cultural and metropolitan changes which grip the PRC.

The artist's strength as a visual artist is revealed in a series of 60cm by 60 cm bronze encased illustrations upon metal. Resembling etching and ink wash, the semi-figurative depictions echo a similar tendency to portray either nature or the human form in an original manner. The bronze cast frames themselves create for a distinct "atmosphere: as they unequivocally evoke industry and machination, yet the two dimensional planes housed within yield visions of a delicate and sensitive hand which has captured the essence of the human and natural state in a minimalistic and refined manner of execution. The graphic quality of the compositions is thus enhanced by this unique employment of materials, ethereal, opaque and yet profound in their simplicity, the illustrations are a manifestation of what lies close to the heart of Chinese artists, poets, thinkers and philosophers alike: an intrinsic affinity towards nature itself. The works represent a near exclusive departure from Tan Xuns’ engagement as a "sculptor" alone, while the creations are spatial, the emphasis of the work lies in the polarization of the visual field due to the contrastive presence of materials wherein the observers eye is immediately drawn to the placid and serene renderings which recall a poetic testament of a near spiritual quality. The poetic and spiritual held within the static confines of industrial material bears witness to our current condition in an era wherein the myths of urban expansion, renewal & of progress are predominant yet widely contested in the wakening of China' new economic embrace. The series acts as an epitomal statement rather than conscious act of cathartic origin: one is held by the intrinsic beauty of the work in answer.

A highly aesthetic treatment drawn from a similar creative impulse offers four wooden columns, pillars which bear miniscule carvings and etchings upon the peak surface of the pillars. The wood belongs to history, once support beams from the construction sites of the Qing Dynasty, and a narrative work is born testament to as the slight manipulations upon the original surface relate the artist's affirmation to the intrinsic nature of materials, and their relation to the "animus" or "soul" of the nation's people. The barely visible images carved into the wooden surface depict scenes associated, despite whatever degree of abstraction, with classic literary and poetic texts from the Song Dynasty in reference. Without either foundation or support, the massive columnar sculptures seem to be suspended of their own, and the dense red lacquers, internal metallic structure and aged external metallic locks and pins which bound the individual planes of wood to create a mass able to support the weight and pull of an era’s usage echoes the complexity of the artist's address to time, testament of history and perhaps, the first evidence of his experimentation beyond form itself.

The use of the "found" is extenuated yet in a manner both more original and aesthetically intriguing in large single planes of wood standing over two metres in height and over half of that in breadth. Aged and weathered doors of some obscure origin house semi-abstract figurative forms which appear non-identifiable and without the slightest trace of detail in either their visage, physicality or dress. The fluidity of the pictorial renderings in ink is actually held upon enormous ceramic plaques, individually housed with a shallow indentation within the surface of the original door panes. The use of materials is contrastive, and the fluidity of the ink/ceramic illustrations somehow merges in a curious fusion with the massive & highly textured wooden "frames".

The later works are intelligent and sensitive in nature, bear testimony to the artists' ingenuity and genuine depth of thought at the heart of his creative impulse. The cast away, found and transformative aspects of the separate series allow for an interpretation of the body of work as a representational whole: and entirety in concept and manner rather exceptionally illustrated in his attempts to surpass his former creations & boundaries of the "sculptural" with that of the "spatial". It demonstrates a bold departure for the artist well beyond the constraints or, perhaps, limitations of an otherwise didactic academic formation. We may perceive an influence of such prominent conceptual artists such as Joseph Beuys, yet without the sublimation of an essentially "Chinese" inner trait or intrinsic spirit, due to the artist by his fidelity to his nation and cultural language.

The employment of materials and language of art knows no cultural boundaries, yet what is unique in the art of Tan Xun is that while experimenting with this absolute in mind, he has surpassed his training and vocation yet married abstract realizations of the cultural collective which is the legacy of China in his embrace of the new in a pioneering spirit. Consciously or not, the artist provokes the audience to re-interpret and think once again on the predominant stereotypes of the Chinese nation, the question of the organic itself in artistic processes & pre-establishes a new personal dichotomy between what had been called an influence due to "cultural hegemony" and "globalization" with an accrued sensitivity towards his country and era. History plays upon itself, and the artist offers an un-ironical, objective perspective and original creative stance in his work.

The transformations which now embrace China now devour themselves and the aftermath of confusion and misinformation, misperception meet with a counter-point in the expression of a sole sculptor whom now "crosses the river by feeling for the stones"...taking up a few fallen icons and stray objects along the way and impregnating them with a diverse literary and rare visual vocabulary.

R A Suri is a writer and critic. He lives in Shanghai, P.R.China