Fun
- Artist: Xiyadie
- Date: 2017
- Medium: Paper
- Dimensions: support: 301 × 296 mm
- Museum: Tate Modern
- Collection record: Tate Modern website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is the "Fun" by Xiyadie. A small papercut in bright red on white, created in 2017, it’s part of a quartet of square works that echo traditional Chinese red‑cutting. Xiyadie, born in 1963, started as a folk artist before turning to contemporary practice. He uses the ancient craft of folded‑paper cutting—passed down by women in households—to conceal modern queer narratives. In "Fun", the stylised forms look like flowers or simple silhouettes, but a closer look reveals two men embracing in a bicycle scene or the suggestion of intimate gestures. The paper is hand‑painted with food‑colouring, the same hues that label the fillings of bao buns on street stalls, adding a layer of everyday familiarity. The work subverts the expectation that papercuts are purely decorative, turning the medium into a Trojan horse that quietly celebrates same‑sex love amid a society that has historically marginalized it.
See it in person
Fun is in the collection of Tate Modern on Bankside, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
