In his ‘China China’ series, Chinese artist Ah Xian produces a series of porcelain busts with traditional designs painted on the surface. One would see iconic symbols of China such as the pagodas and temples, chinese landscape of mountains or bamboo, dragons from Chinese legends. Steeped in his Chinese culture and roots, Ah Xian brings out pertinent issues of identity. Now living in Sydney, Ah Xian has held solo exhibitions in various places around Asia, Australia and Europe. Taken from an article in Asia Society: 

“These sculptures by Ah Xian establish a series of multilayered oppositions. The most overt is the tension between the sculptural form of the bust and the painted surface designs, which the artist likens to the oppositions of West and East. The bust is part of a Western portraiture tradition dating back to the busts of ancient Roman times and the designs are derived from Chinese decorative traditions, unique to China and in some cases to the studio-kilns at Jingdezhen. Such an opposition can also be seen as the relationship between the personal (since many of the busts are of Ah Xian’s family, including his wife, brother, and father) and the political (a statement about the artist’s own Chinese heritage articulated outside China).” 

See more of his works here.