Peter Xiao's “Thingamajigs & Right-Facing Nudes" at Rozz-Tox -- through October 30 (pictured: Xiao's "Yeah and Nay")

Through Sunday, October 30

Rozz-Tox, 2108 Third Avenue, Rock Island IL

The talents of one of the area's most respected and educators will be on display at Rozz-Tox from October 7 through 30 when the Rock Island venue houses Peter Xiao's Thingamajigs & Right-Facing Nudes, a collection of new works by the gifted painter who has also taught drawing and painting at Rock Island's Augustana College since 1989.

Born in Beijing, Peter Tong Xiao grew up during China’s Cultural Revolution. The year Chairman Mao died, Xiao was farming on a People’s Commune outside the capital and narrowly escaped injury when the stone wall tumbled onto his mud-baked bed during the Tangshan earthquake. A year later, he passed a national exam to enter the Beijing Normal University to study English. In his junior year, following his father’s participation in University of Iowa’s International Writers’ Program as the first Chinese writer, Xiao transferred to Coe College in Cedar Rapids, where the man formerly referred to as "Tong" first began going by "Peter," a name given by his English “godmother” Tina Bailey. After completing a BA in fine arts and English at Coe, Xiao went on to Temple University for his MFA in painting, was employed by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, taught art part-time, and exhibited in Philadelphia, New York, and at Chicago’s Art Expo.

Peter Xiao's "Double-Masked Self-Portrait"

Describing the works in Thingamajigs & Right-Facing Nudes, Xiao says, "Shown here are my paintings of thingamajigs used up and tossed out daily by us without thought or care, as concrete things – even if nondescript – deserve our attention and building up nowadays, not to mention minute reflections, fleeting, unnamable color tones that shift as if playing games each time one looks at them. The nude studies were made in the company of my doing the same, which explains why they face the same direction, in homage to the tradition, to people who model for artists and to the beauty of the human form. I thank Ben [Fawks] of Rozz Tox for an opportunity to show and toast all viewers good health and merriment!"

Peter Xiao'sThingamajigs & Right-Facing Nudes will be on display through October 30, with the Rock Island venue open on Wednesdays through Fridays from 5 p.m. to midnight, Saturdays from 10 a.m. to midnight, and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. For more information, call (309)200-0978 and visit RozzTox.com.

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