Based in Paris, the Chinese photographer has become in a few years a driving force in the fashion world through his portraits of rare pictorial beauty connected to his cultural roots.
Kiki Xue is one of the rising stars of the photography scene. A native of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, China, he initially studied mathematics before embarking on his journey into fashion and art photography in 2010. Since then, the thirty-something has passionately explored and transcended concepts of beauty, drawing on detail and color, imperfection and sensitivity, natural light and aesthetic refinement. Kiki Xue finds inspiration in the great masters of the Renaissance, as well as in Eastern and Western cultures. But his creations are also driven by his desires in the moment and his cultural roots. His delicate portfolio explores emotions to the point of rupture, sublimating models, nudity, traditional costumes, objects, and still lifes. In 2011, he won the PhotoVogue Milan festival prize, opening doors for the legendary fashion magazine in its Italian, Chinese, Greek, and Arabic editions. But also those of Harper's Bazaar in China.
TIMELESS BEAUTY
« For me, portrait photography gives a face to the story in my mind. It's a combination or collision of two stories, producing a feeling of beauty or shock. “,” explains the artist, who settled in Paris in 2014. In this meticulous work, Kiki Xue manipulates both digital and film cameras. His body of work defies norms, transcending the boundaries of fashion and pictorial art in a play of composition, staging, textures, vibrant colors, and movement. Painting is one of the most important components in my practice: when I want to take photos, I extract interesting and meaningful elements from a set of paintings to develop my own works. "In 2022, his delicate artistic approach was the subject of a first book, Kiki Xue: Portraits (Skira editions), where journalist and art critic Denise Wendel explores the practice of this photographer who is absolutely one to watch.
ACUMEN PRESENTS KIKI XUE: BEYONG BEAUTY
The Chinese photographer continues to captivate the fashion world with his pictorial portraits, transcending the beauty of his models' bodies and faces to the point of ecstasy. His work is a collection of emotions and sensitivity where clothing acts as a catalyst in a play of compositions that transcends the boundaries of fashion and pictorial art.
