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SELECTED WORKS
Tyrian Purple《推罗紫》, 2024. 117x116x13cm. Oil, lacquer, linen, emulsion, wood. 油彩、大漆、麻布、混合水、木板
Su has always had a reverence for colors. The story of Tyrian Purple is contained within the name itself—a color that carries its own legend.
Su Xiaobai became fascinated by the concept of purple when he saw a painting by Peter Paul Rubens, Hercules’s Dog Discovers Purple Dye (1636). This encounter led him down a path of extensive research, learning about the seafaring ancient Phoenicians who inhabited the port city of Tyre, in modern-day Lebanon, around 800 BCE.
There, the Phoenicians extracted a rare purple secretion from sea snails to produce the purple-dyed fabrics that were among the region’s most prized exports. The process of creating these coveted textiles was highly labor-intensive. Each snail yielded only a minuscule drop of the precious purple fluid, and one gram of pure Tyrian purple powder required the extraction of liquid from tens of thousands of snails.
Tyre witnessed centuries of warfare and dynastic shifts as a result of its strategic position between the Greek colonies and the Persian Empire. The city eventually sank beneath the waves, and today the site (occupied by a small fishing village) presents minimal traces of its former glory—a few weathered and broken columns standing in the sea, and patches of purple stains upon the shore.
Moved by the story of Tyrian purple, Su decided to honor the color’s rich history by creating his first small painting on a modest panel. The painting received widespread acclaim, encouraging Su to continue his exploration. He used lacquer that had been sun-cured for half a year, blending the material with large amounts of purple powder. The mixture was carefully milled on a triple-cylinder grinding machine until it reached a perfect consistency. Taking inspiration from ancient techniques, he applied it evenly onto a rectangular wooden panel with sharply defined edges.
The process involved coating the panel with three layers of clear lacquer, each applied over three days, exposing the canvas to light during the day and resting in darkness at night. The piece was then left to cure in a shaded room for several days, allowing it to develop a luminous, ethereal glow.
Tyrian Purple is one of the few cases in which the name of the artwork preceded its making. It is also Su’s only painting that bears no “wounds”—a work unmarked by cracks, scars, and fissures.
Su Xiaobai became fascinated by the concept of purple when he saw a painting by Peter Paul Rubens, Hercules’s Dog Discovers Purple Dye (1636). This encounter led him down a path of extensive research, learning about the seafaring ancient Phoenicians who inhabited the port city of Tyre, in modern-day Lebanon, around 800 BCE.
There, the Phoenicians extracted a rare purple secretion from sea snails to produce the purple-dyed fabrics that were among the region’s most prized exports. The process of creating these coveted textiles was highly labor-intensive. Each snail yielded only a minuscule drop of the precious purple fluid, and one gram of pure Tyrian purple powder required the extraction of liquid from tens of thousands of snails.
Tyre witnessed centuries of warfare and dynastic shifts as a result of its strategic position between the Greek colonies and the Persian Empire. The city eventually sank beneath the waves, and today the site (occupied by a small fishing village) presents minimal traces of its former glory—a few weathered and broken columns standing in the sea, and patches of purple stains upon the shore.
Moved by the story of Tyrian purple, Su decided to honor the color’s rich history by creating his first small painting on a modest panel. The painting received widespread acclaim, encouraging Su to continue his exploration. He used lacquer that had been sun-cured for half a year, blending the material with large amounts of purple powder. The mixture was carefully milled on a triple-cylinder grinding machine until it reached a perfect consistency. Taking inspiration from ancient techniques, he applied it evenly onto a rectangular wooden panel with sharply defined edges.
The process involved coating the panel with three layers of clear lacquer, each applied over three days, exposing the canvas to light during the day and resting in darkness at night. The piece was then left to cure in a shaded room for several days, allowing it to develop a luminous, ethereal glow.
Tyrian Purple is one of the few cases in which the name of the artwork preceded its making. It is also Su’s only painting that bears no “wounds”—a work unmarked by cracks, scars, and fissures.
Poppy Red 《罂粟红》, 2024. 154x388x10cm. cochineal powder, lacquer, linen, emulsion, wood. 胭脂蟲紅、大漆、麻布、混合水、木板
In the contemporary world of mass-produced chemical pigments, every hue is cataloged and assigned a precise number. The exclusive "Poppy Red" (Mohnrot) produced by the Schmincke company in Düsseldorf is labeled 11304. These pigments in tubes offer rich saturation and are convenient to use. For Su Xiaobai, however, they lack a certain aura.
You won't find the colors that Su creates in any manufacturer's catalog. The handcrafted colors of his paintings are entirely unique, developed by creating a custom “soup” of lacquer and other tinted materials.
Take, for instance, his paintings titled Shang Yellow, Pin Yellow, and Tian Yellow. Here, the naming is of central importance. The yellows have a physical presence, while the characters "Shang," "Pin," and "Tian" are prompted by his literary musings, serving as vessels for his thoughts. For Su, the name of a piece is often as significant as its color. A good name carries depth and history; it is ancient, mysterious, and always rooted in original natural hues.
During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2022, Su Xiaobai was confined to a quarantine center in Shanghai for 21 days (a so-called "2 x 7 + 7" safety quarantine). On the second day after his release from the quarantine hotel, he rushed to his studio. He wanted to reclaim the three weeks that he had lost. However, even after exhausting all the “Poppy Red” pigment at his disposal, he could not complete a single work.
A year later, he learned from a friend about the natural dying techniques developed by the Aztecs and the Mayans. Their primary colors were sapphire, yellow petals, and the crimson derived from cochineal insects—parasites that lived on cacti. Of these, the crimson from the cochineal was the most vivid.
Not long after, Su acquired an oil pastel stick made from cochineal red, ground into a gel-like powder. He combined it with a lacquer mixture that included the waxy remnants of cochineal shells, and applied it to a canvas with raised, beveled edges. In doing so, he completed the work that had eluded him when using the manufactured pigment “Poppy Red.”
This piece is the second of his "colors with stories” paintings, following his earlier work, Crackle · R.
You won't find the colors that Su creates in any manufacturer's catalog. The handcrafted colors of his paintings are entirely unique, developed by creating a custom “soup” of lacquer and other tinted materials.
Take, for instance, his paintings titled Shang Yellow, Pin Yellow, and Tian Yellow. Here, the naming is of central importance. The yellows have a physical presence, while the characters "Shang," "Pin," and "Tian" are prompted by his literary musings, serving as vessels for his thoughts. For Su, the name of a piece is often as significant as its color. A good name carries depth and history; it is ancient, mysterious, and always rooted in original natural hues.
During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2022, Su Xiaobai was confined to a quarantine center in Shanghai for 21 days (a so-called "2 x 7 + 7" safety quarantine). On the second day after his release from the quarantine hotel, he rushed to his studio. He wanted to reclaim the three weeks that he had lost. However, even after exhausting all the “Poppy Red” pigment at his disposal, he could not complete a single work.
A year later, he learned from a friend about the natural dying techniques developed by the Aztecs and the Mayans. Their primary colors were sapphire, yellow petals, and the crimson derived from cochineal insects—parasites that lived on cacti. Of these, the crimson from the cochineal was the most vivid.
Not long after, Su acquired an oil pastel stick made from cochineal red, ground into a gel-like powder. He combined it with a lacquer mixture that included the waxy remnants of cochineal shells, and applied it to a canvas with raised, beveled edges. In doing so, he completed the work that had eluded him when using the manufactured pigment “Poppy Red.”
This piece is the second of his "colors with stories” paintings, following his earlier work, Crackle · R.
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